'Nature' Special Issue - Water: Under Pressure

Nature, arguably the world's most prestigious science magazine, has devoted its 20 March 2008 issue to "Water: Under Pressure".

Here is a description of the issue and the articles contained therein:

Over a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and over two billion have little or no sanitation. Do we have the resources — and the will — to provide the water to support a booming population? This issue of Nature (see introduction, p. 269 and Editorial, p. 253) tackles the science, economics and politics of the global water crisis. Climate scientists say that unreliable rains and drier summer soils will become more common: Quirin Schiermeier reports on water strategies for a drier world [p. 270]. The pressure is on farmers to get maximum crop yields with minimum water use. As Emma Marris reports [p. 273], the collaboration between plant breeders, agronomists and geneticists to that end has been far from smooth. As the population of India grows, the demand for water keeps rising. Daemon Fairless [p. 278] investigates an ambitious plan to redistribute the country’s water supplies by linking rivers in a vast canal network. Jamie Bartram [Commentary, p. 283] says it is time to improve the global targets for access to water and sanitation to make them relevant to all. In most countries, crop irrigation accounts for most freshwater use — more than drinking water and domestic consumption — but water use in energy production is catching up fast. Mike Hightower and Suzanne Pierce [Commentary, p. 285] describe the measures being developed to economize on water use in the energy sector. The need for research into water purification is pressing. In an extensive Review Article [p. 301], Mark Shannon et al. highlight the developing technologies that — it is hoped — can provide our drinking water in the decades ahead. Water is (almost) everywhere, yet physicists still trade theory and counter theory to explain its structure: Phil Ball explains [Essay p. 291]. And Books & Arts [p. 287] looks at a documentary on water security, and at art inspired by water’s surprising patterns. Here is the start-up page.

The editorial deals with a "fresh approach to water":

Download fresh_approach_to_waternature_editorial.pdf

This is what Nature says about the USA's water situation [emboldening mine]:

Here again, the fundamental challenge is to agree on who is in charge. The two countries doing best in that regard are Israel, where severely limited water supplies have led to a national system in which nearly every drop is recycled; and the Netherlands, where an overabundance of water encroaching from both sea and sky has led to a national strategy to control every aspect of the resource. But these countries are the exceptions, not the rule. More typical is the chaotic situation in the United States, where more than 20 federal agencies deal with some aspect of water — from flooding control to coastal commissions. Water policy is rarely coordinated at a regional or national level, and coherent solutions are almost impossible.

That situation has recently begun to change in the United States, as in the efforts to coordinate water usage in the Colorado River basin. But it has to change everywhere. Unless policy-makers want water resources to be constantly squabbled and fought over, with farmers pitted against city dwellers, upstream users against downstream users, and region against region, every nation needs to think about water strategically.

An excellent issue!

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -- Robert A. Heinlein