"Mankind has always taken water for granted. For the first time, we must face a new reality: Not only is this precious resource not inexhaustible, it's already so scarce that great swaths of our planet are under serious threat. Asia's Aral Sea, once one of the largest inland bodies of water, is now a salty desert; 90 percent of California's wetlands have vanished; the once-mighty Nile, Ganges, and Colorado Rivers barely reach the sea in dry seasons." "In this book, 14 prominent environmental writers address every aspect of the looming crisis. They explore the paradox that, on a blue planet like ours, little of that resource is actually available for use, and offer alarming and persuasive evidence that we are using what we have much faster than it can be replenished - a problem that will only grow worse as the global population grows and the rate of climate change and airborne pollution quickens. They show the dire consequences of current trends, from desertification to epidemic disease to increasingly bitter battles over who "owns" water and how to apportion our dwindling supply."--Jacket.