Water hoarding in a California drought -- How a coup opened Chile's water markets -- South Africa's water apartheid -- Mother Ganga is not for sale -- A revolution of the thirsty in Egypt -- Targeting Iraq's water -- Conclusion: imagining a water-secure world.
Summary:
"There's Money in Thirst," reads a headline in the New York Times. The CEO of NestleĢ, purveyor of bottled water, heartily agrees. It is important to give water a market value, he says in a promotional video, so "we're all aware that it has a price." But for those who have no access to clean water, a fifth of the world's population, the price is thirst. This is the frightening landscape that Karen Piper conducts us through in The Price of Thirst--one where thirst is political, drought is a business opportunity, and more and more of our most necessary natural resource is controlled by multinational corporations. The product of seven years of investigation across six continents and a dozen countries, and scores of interviews with CEOs, activists, environmentalists, and climate change specialists, The Price of Thirst paints a harrowing picture of a world out of balance, with the distance between the haves and have-nots of water inexorably widening and the coming crisis moving ever closer.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.