In the 2006 movie Borat, the title character is a journalist from Kazakhstan making a documentary about America. As he and his producer travel through the country (in an ice cream truck, no less), they meet not actors but honest Americans, such as a polite southern lady who invites them to dinner. They are summarily thrown out after Borat uses her modern bathroom and brings to her his feces in a plastic bag. What the lady (and most of us reading) doesn't understand is that water, as found in the toilet, is considered too sacred and precious by Borat to ever contaminate. While getting rid of waste needs to be done, we too should consider how we use--and--abuse essential, exhaustible water.

Robert Glennon has written a second non-fiction book about water after 2002's Water Follies. After speaking around the country about that book and reflecting on tough questions from the audiences, he prepared extensively for his 2009 book, Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis And What To Do About It. He acknowledges the invaluable help of dozens of people, not only those university audiences, including the financial support of the National Science Foundation so he could study water transfers in the American West, research support from the University of Arizona, and interviews with water managers and friends too. He lives in Tucson, one of three cities (the others are San Antonio and Albuquerque) he recommends as models for water conservation we can learn from.

You may not realize this, but while Earth is two-thirds covered by water, less than one percent of that is drinkable. It's even more precious than fossil fuels for our energy and domestic needs and yet most Americans take it for granted as if it simply comes out of our taps by magic. The ugly fact is that there's only so much drinkable water in the world and most of us are not doing a good job of conserving it. Here in Nebraska we rely mostly on the vast Ogallala Aquifer, but only fifteen percent of it is unsaturated and accessible and it's declined by nine percent or more in many places south of here.

In three sections (The Crisis, Real and Surreal Solutions, A New Approach) Glennon helps us to understand how we've misused our water in America, especially in the desert-lying cities which import water and irresponsible states like Georgia and Florida. Nebraska is often criticized for its greed for water from the Republic River and the aquifer that underlies most of the state, supported by no water meters and easy access by irrigating farmers. He also examines how we've tried seeding clouds for rain with dubious success, desalination, reclaiming wastewater, planting native, low-water-use trees and shrubs, mandatory restrictions, harvesting water, using composting or icinerating toilets and waterless urinals.

In the last section he continues to investigate what has worked to some extent, what hasn't and why we need a new approach. Because there's so much important information Unquenchable covers, I offer you a breakdown of his advice as found in the nicely-summarized Conclusion called "A Blueprint for Reform":

*encouraging creative conservation
*using price signals
*creating market incentives
*reexamining how we dispose of human waste
*requiring developers to pay their own way
*reconsidering the location of wastewater plants
*separating storm and sewer water
*creating infrastructure with dual pipes to supply potable and reclaimed water
*abandoning business as usual (more dams, diversions, wells)
*recognizing link between energy and water
*appreciating critical role played by water in the economy
*removing barriers to water transfers while providing gov't oversight
*creating incentives for homeowners and others to harvest water
*stimulating alternative waste disposal technologies
*metering water use
*securing water for environment

(Not included in this overview was his comment about the need for population control. Overpopulation burdening certain areas is a major reason for water shortages.)

There wasn't much to laugh about in this well-researched book, yet Glennon knew how to engage me with not only illustrations and compelling research of the past century and last decade, but knowledge of pertinent movies like Borat and The Milagro Beanfield War and the Tony-winning Urinetown musical. I also enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of the chapters, such as one by Mark Twain: Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Glennon is right that we, the people, must become actively involved in this issue because politicians on their own will not. It's a matter of good or bad health, good or bad environment, good or bad government and a good or bad future.

I found Unquenchable quite absorbing and informative because I've read little on America's struggles with water. Glennon started out with a wild chapter on how Las Vegas began with the mob and kept reinventing itself and fighting for imported water to this day. It ended with a sober look at the Salton Sea, an unnatural, polluted body of water in southern California. I can only complain that some statistics are out-of-date, nothing is said about other countries (only that water-rich Canada is only country that charges less for water) and Glennon may be targeting his anger at my home state, which might be deserved but upsets me. That aside it's a valuable book for all Americans, not simply those who want to help make our limited water supply last for as long as possible, but those skeptics thinking we can fix the problem like we usually have. Glennon shows over and over again why a new, responsible approach is crucial and can work. Let's do it right and soon, okay?

Recommended: Yes