Jeffery Rothfeder

Every Drop for Sale is a short book, only 191 pages, that tackles the long-ignored problem of water rights and access through the world. From the Hoover Dam to projects in Egypt, Bolivia, and Malaysia, author Rothfeder takes the reader on a journey through numerous water-centric anecdotes to support his thesis that water rights and access are a vital challenge for our world right now and must be a central concern for year to come. He touches on privatization and globalization of water, and offers a balanced view of the role each has (and may) play in the struggle for clean, available water. Each instance is light reading and doesn't involve much in the way of the science behind the water cycle, instead remaining at a social, political, and logistical discussion.

For what this book attemps, namely to educate he reader on the wide variety of water-related troubles facing locales around the world, this book is excellent and easily digested. However, I offer two main reasons for giving this book a 3/5. First, it is very light on personal advice. This is by design, no doubt, but a bit of encouragement on how the reader might get involved and make a difference seems like a natural extention of the book's theme and is an opportunity missed by the author. Second, the book was written in 2001 and the stories the author relates are now greatly out of date. The points of emphasis at each story locale still stand, but many of the discussions of specific locales involve now-dated material. This is no fault of the author and happens with any current events book. A reader picking up this book for current info should be aware of this second point, however, and read the book for its thesis and not for its details. Well worth a quick read and is both eye-opening and enjoyable, even if a bit light on in-depth coverage of the issues. Three stars.… (més)