"Establishment of tradable water rights could play an important role in improving the efficiency, equity, and sustainability of water use in developing countries. Well-defined tradable rights formalize and secure the existing water rights held by water users; economize on transactions costs; induce water users to consider the full opportunity cost of water; and provide incentives for water users to internalize and reduce many of the negative externalities inherent in irrigation. The institutional requirements, potential and feasibility of developing markets in tradable water rights should receive increased attention from researchers and policy makers."
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Here is an abstract from Drinking Water in Developing Countries -- Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, Vol. 23: 253-286 (Volume publication date November 1998), Ashok Gadgil, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720
"Safe drinking water remains inaccessible for about 1.1 billion people in the world, and the hourly toll from biological contamination of drinking water is 400 deaths of children (below age 5). This paper reviews the general guidelines for drinking water quality and the scale of the global problem. It reviews the various water disinfection technologies that may be applicable to achieve the desired quality of drinking water in developing countries. It then summarizes financing problems that deter extending access to safe drinking water to the unserved population and identifies feasible policy positions for enhancing availability of drinking water in these countries."
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Here is an abstract from Water and politics: levels, rational choice and South Indian canal irrigation by Peter P. Mollinga, Irrigation and Water Engineering Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen Agricultural University, Nieuwe Kanaal 11, 6709 PA Wageningen, The Netherlands
"The first part of the paper gives an overview of the “water and politics” literature, by distinguishing three levels: (1) official state and inter-state politics regarding water (or hydropolitics), (2) the politics of water resources policy (policy formulation and implementation as politically contested terrain), and (3) the everyday politics of water use (the day-to-day contestation of water resource use). The paper does not discuss the emerging level of the global politics of water. The second part of the paper discusses the dominance of the “new institutionalism” paradigm in debates on water resources management and politics. The appeal of the paradigm, despite the existence of fundamental critiques is analysed. Limitations of “new institutionalism” are located in limited concepts of human agency, the desire to universalise, absence of the concept of social power, and the problem of commensuration. Its appeal for policy makers lies in its suitability for designing standardised policy prescriptions, and its exclusion, or rephrasing, of the issues of power and politics. In the third part of the paper these considerations are illustrated through the discussion of a case: the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal irrigation system in South India. In the fourth concluding section it is argued that there is not just a multitude of levels and diversity in approaches, but that there is a connection between “politics and method.” Research on water and politics might benefit from more explicit engagement with the question from which political standpoint that research is undertaken, and whether and how that is related to method, approach and policy recommendations. This is all the the more necessary in an era with strong calls for institutional reform, to address the challenges of an increasingly problematic water future."
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Brief bibliography:
When the Rivers Run Dry -- The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century by Fred Pearce, Beacon Press, 2005, 336pp
Our Choice: a plan to solve the climate crisis by Al Gore, Rodale Press, 2009, 416pp
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Website Resources:
UN Water ( a program of the United Nations)
Water for Life (International decade for action, 2005-2015)
UNESCO Water (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
Water for People (Water For People helps people in developing countries improve quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs.)
UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Almost fifty per cent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.)
USGS: Water Science Resources for Schools (offers information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.)
Water.org (The water and sanitation problem in the developing world is far too big for charity alone. We are driving the water sector for new solutions, new financing models, greater transparency, and real partnerships to create lasting change. Our vision: the day when everyone in the world can take a safe drink of water.)
Food and Water Watch (works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.)
Elementary grade lesson plan: Earth's Water: a drop in your cup -- by the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Students will learn that the Earth has a finite amount of fresh water, consider ways to conserve this resource, and brainstorm ideas to increase usage of untapped water resources in their local area.)
Science Today: the Future of our Oceans -- video by the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Academy researchers and biologists discuss the possible future of the world’s oceans.)
Developing Solutions -- by California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Scientists are always coming up with high-tech ways to develop alternative energies or clean water. But often these solutions are cost prohibitive or impractical for many of us, especially those in developing nations. Scientists from two southern US universities have recently announced low-tech plant-based solutions to modern problems, hoping they’ll translate to the developing world.)
Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics -- a project of the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Human activities are changing the Earth faster than at any other time in the history of our species. Natural history museums play a critical role in understanding these changes. Their scientific collections serve as a record of life on Earth and provide a baseline against which we can measure change. Discovering and documenting life on Earth requires gathering and managing large amounts of information. In the Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics (CABI) we apply information technology to the full lifecycle of biodiversity information, from gathering data in the field and laboratories, through integration, interpretation, and dissemination. We are also conducting projects that integrate biodiversity data with spatial information about the Earth, such as climate and topography, to understand changing patterns of biodiversity. Our mapping and modeling projects contribute to some of the most exciting conservation initiatives of our time.)
Water for Food -- (More than 300 people from 13 countries participated in the 2010 international Water for Food Conference May 2-5 at the University of Nebraska)
Water and Food Security Country Profiles -- (The Water and Food Security Country Profiles provide focalized information on the state of water resources and food security globally in a country-specific format. The site harvests valuable information from FAO databases and information systems as well as those of its partners, to give users enriched results to enhance decision-making and promote advocacy in these areas.
FAO and its partners are concerned with the sustainable use and conservation of water in agriculture with a particular focus on water policy formulation and the promotion of irrigated agriculture and efficient water use. In addition, food security is a central FAO mandate aimed at helping those living in developing countries to improve their food security through rapid increases in food production and productivity, reducing year-to-year variability in food production on an economically and environmentally sustainable basis and improving people's access to food.
The interdependency of these two areas is evident. By combining them in this multi-stakeholder platform, the Water and Food Security Country Profiles strive to facilitate and catalyze innovative and effective use of the wealth of information currently available.)
Water and Sustainability -- The Pacific Institute (We envision a world where the basic needs of all people are met, where resources are managed sustainably and the natural world protected, and where conflicts over resources are resolved in a peaceful and democratic fashion.The Pacific Institute works to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. We conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in California, nationally, and internationally.)
The Global Water Crisis -- USAID (The world faces an unprecedented crisis in water resources management, with profound implications for global food security, protection of human health, and maintenance of aquatic ecosystems. Water shortages threaten to reduce global food supply, while the world’s population grows by 80 million people each year. With current trends, by 2025, one-third of all humans will face severe and chronic water shortages. Industrialization, irrigated agriculture, massive urbanization, rising standards of living, and, of course, more people are pushing the demand for freshwater to new heights, undermining already fragile water security for many nations.)
San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. Read the entire book online through Google Books.





