Book Reviews

Water without Borders? Canada, the United States, and Shared Waters, E.S. Norman, A. Cohen and K. Bakker (Editors). University of Toronto Press, 10 St. Mary's St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 2013. 275 pages. $33. ISBN 978-1-4426-1237-2. There are more than 263 waterways with multinational borders and a critical need to protect water sources in an era of global water challenges. This book defines and becomes the example for water governance not constrained by geopolitical boundaries. The editors use the more than 8,800 shared kilometers of the US/Canada border to highlight the most important trends within this historical shared water region. They also feature the key challenges and opportunities facing water managers, politicians, and users of water. Furthermore, they make recommendations for a successful transboundary water governance going forward. The authors take a balanced approach through a geopolitical lens covering the social, environmental, and economic perspectives. The book begins with a discussion of the sustainability and health of this sizable shared water boundary. Chapter 2 focuses on the construction of borders for flowing resources, specifically the colonial and socially constructed political borderline, while also discussing the indigenous impact and practices. Chapter 3 does a great job discussing the historical trends of the political issues over the past century and recommends strategies for meaningful local participation in the governance of the shared frontier. In chapter 4, the authors detail how the International Joint Commission (IJC) has evolved over 100 years to become more proactive when dealing with specific concerns; specifically including the First Nation as a third sovereign. Chapter 5 dispels the myths surrounding bulk water transfers and diversion schemes. Chapter 6 highlights the major challenges that the inter-basin will encounter, including climate change, groundwater threats, and water pollution in the future. Section two of the book: Flashpoints, Conflict, and Cooperation, begins to feature one of the strengths of the text. By having chapters jointly authored by experts from either side of the international border, the editors give a comprehensive understanding of the conflicts including creative ideas for resolution through case studies. Chapter 7 focuses on transboundary conflict through context of the negotiations in the Columbia River Basin, with special highlight on the omission of Indigenous peoples in the original iterations. Chapter 8 warns us to get ready; many of these existing difficulties could be complicated and exacerbated by degraded infrastructure, further creating conflict and retroactive management strategies. Chapter 9 covers a variety of topics including flooding, unauthorized interbasin transfer projects, and unilateral action at a state or provincial level. Chapter 10 uses the Flathead River Basin as the case study for effective land-use planning and policy making. Finally, Chapter 11 leaves the readers feeling positive about all of these challenges by highlighting the Great Lakes as a commitment to cooperation, and providing solutions for other flashpoints that might arise. Overall, the editors do a good job of ordering the chapters. They include good data and also provide very good Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps throughout the text. The references are very current and from reputable sources, adding to the success of this scientific analysis. While the book is geared toward academics interested in the debates that surround environmental governance, its affordable cost and pragmatic approach to the problems make it a useful book for policy makers, stakeholders, and students interested in issues and solutions to water conflicts at a variety of scales in many parts of the world. Daniel Moscovici Richard Stockton College 101 Vera King Farris Drive, A&S 237 Galloway, NJ 08205 Requiem for the Santa Cruz: An Environmental History of an Arizona River, R.H. Webb, J.L. Betancourt, R.R. Johnson and R.M. Turner. The University of Arizona Press, 1510 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721-0055. June 2014. 279 pages. $80. ISBN 978-0-8165-3072-4. A history of the Santa Cruz River in the south-central portion of Arizona stands out as a notable statement on the detailed attributes of a first-rate introduction. This is one of the carefully phrased and thorough aspects of an important and skilled review of an extensive area in southern Arizona and a smaller one in northern Mexico. The book contains a total of 182 pages and 11 chapters. The major areas of coverage include a variety of material that duplicates a thorough review on an array of detailed comments. The illustrations include a good mix of varying details, numerous photos, maps, and schematic diagrams. Detailed appendices on vertebrate species on pp. 182–235 include numerous comments. Note that the references on pp. 237–250 and pp. 251–272 are very thorough and detailed. The four authors' research team included undergraduate students, graduate students, and practicing professionals. All of the aforementioned individuals are clearly in a situation that facilitates ongoing depth where appropriate. Their contact with other researchers facilitates worthwhile material. As expected, the book has both strong and weak points. The details are clearly loaded within the text, but the magnitude of many other aspects can become difficult. For example, appendices on vertebrate species range from pp. 182–235 on 52 pages. The material is purportedly useful, but others may find it to be rather difficult to review, given the enormous amount of detail. The additional material can be overwhelming in the aforementioned chapter. The quality of the text is notably first-rate. The four authors have assembled a substantial array of useful comments, numerous photographs that also include pertinent detailed discussion, and many appropriate aspects that encourage commendable conclusions. The wealth of material certainly renders a truly enormous collection of intelligent details that stand out as worthy contenders for clarification of the subject matter. The authors have clearly maintained a striking example of putting together a book of high merit. Robert M. Hordon Professor Emeritus Rutgers University Protecting Wyoming's Share: Frank Emerson and the Colorado River Compact, M. Mackey. Western History Publications, 1623 Steffen Court, Sheridan, WY 82801. 2013. 227 pages. $25. ISBN 978-0-983-085-140. Mike Mackey, an experienced water district manager, has produced an exhaustively detailed history of the creation of the crucial Colorado River Compact from Wyoming's point of view. This is not a biography of State Engineer and then Governor Frank Emerson — his barely successful run for Governor in 1926 merits only two sentences, for example, though the impacts of his win on the Compact are addressed. And as Mackey points out, other books cover the general history of the Compact and its politics and other key players. This contribution portrays the Compact as essentially a struggle of wills among a handful of men, among whom Emerson was clever and consistent in pursuing Wyoming and Upper Basin interests. Mackey has done thorough and exhaustive research into locally available original letters, memos, meeting minutes, then-current news accounts, and other primary source materials. He presents virtually all of this in the course of the book: the blow-by-blow political maneuvers; long running, protracted negotiations and lawsuits; the often agonizing process that led to six of seven states ratifying the Compact. Yet all of this detail obscures the author's main point — that Frank Emerson was a pivotal character in the original Colorado River Compact and ably represented Upper Basin interests in the negotiations. For example, Mackey recounts for 10 pages the detailed arguments of Colorado in the landmark interstate water law case, Wyoming v. Colorado. But he buries on the seventh page the key significance of the arguments for the story of the Compact…“the second example Colorado used…is what worried the Upper Basin states most” regarding proposals for a Boulder Canyon dam, and thus the precedent of interstate water transfers. Those with a deep interest in Wyoming's water history, or in western water law, may find this intriguing. Water lawyers, particularly in Wyoming and Colorado, and engineers may find the detail revealing. But this book is, perhaps by design, of limited appeal to many AWRA members. Those familiar with western water policy today and the dynamics of the Basin states will recognize some common themes in the positions of the seven Basin states: how to measure water availability, growth and demand projections, potential irrigable acres, the role of tributary in-state streams, and interstate waters, Native American water rights. As a cautionary tale, though the author believes the Colorado Compact still stands up well today, he confirms that the Compact was based on an unrealistically generous amount of available water, and he cautions against the me-first lack of recognition that Colorado water issues are best approached collaboratively. Cindy Dyballa Sligo Creek Resources 515 Elm Ave. Takoma Park, MD 20912 Water Resilience for Human Prosperity, J. Rockström, C. Folke, M. Lannerstad, M. Falkenmark, J. Barron, E. Enfors, L. Gordon, J. Heinke, H. Hoff and C. Pahl-Wost. Cambridge Univ. Press, 100 Brook Hill Dr., West Nyack, NY 10994-2133. 2014. 292 pages. $85. ISBN 978-1-107-024-199. The book Water Resilience for Human Prosperity targets an important topic on water resource governance and management from the view of a social-ecological system. It provides valuable knowledge on the role of fresh water in social-ecological functions and services. This book will be an excellent reference for water resource researchers, as well as a good resource for students studying water resource management. Due to the increasing dominance of human activities in the biosphere, the water cycle faces fundamental shifts in perspectives. The traditional water resource and environmental management are still conducted with partial thinking and sectoral approaches. The book promotes a call for a broader and more comprehensive water perspective in globally integrated systems of humans and nature. The final goal is to encourage resilience thinking on social-ecological systems to deal with changing conditions and to find ways to secure water in the operation of the biosphere for human well-being. The book comprised four parts. Part I titled “A New Perspective” explores the emerging challenges of water resilience in an era of rapid global and regional change. It discusses the shifts of the water resilience from sustaining the life on the Earth to feeding the growing humanity and sustaining human prosperity in the Anthropocene era. The authors emphasize the significant acceleration of human enterprise since the 1950s. Based on the sharp change, the new conceptual framework of water resilience for human prosperity is presented by reconnecting the societies and ecosystem to biosphere. Part II, “Living in a Human-Dominated World,” covers several topics that are related to understanding human impacts on the global water system. It consists of three chapters that demonstrate the interactions between human's modification and the water-related feedbacks. The anthropogenic modification driven by demographic trends, economic development, urbanization, and technological development implies that the Earth System is entering the Anthropocene era and the social-ecological systems may approach several tipping points, which are critical thresholds beyond which regime shifts may occur. Many such regime shifts may result in water-related disturbances. To avoid water-related regime shifts the management should combine the ecological and social processes. Specifically, examples are given to show how various changes in the Earth System could slowly make the global water system less resilient. Part III, “Food Production Globally: In Hotspot Regions and in the Landscape,” makes the case for how the food production requirement is challenging the water resource at different scales. To feed a growing human population globally, the food and water requirements are dynamically related to many possible disturbances, such as droughts, climate change, etc. The adaptability and social-ecological resilience should enhance capacities to deal with changes and shift development onto a new pathway toward sustainability. For example, the investment in agricultural water management can contribute to closing the yield gap between actual and potential yields in the savannah zone. Other examples of increase production and water functions at different landscape scales are discussed. It concludes that water resilience in agro-ecological systems is human determined and embedded in the knowledge and management capacity. Part IV, “Governance and Pathways,” promotes the transformation of water governance and water resource sustainability in the Earth System, which is characterized by rising interdependence, turbulence, social-ecological interactions, and uncertainty. The Anthropocene era requires extension of integrated water resource management (IWRM). The authors note that barriers exist in the current IWRM due to limited cross-sectoral integration. They call for adopting an inward-looking perspective across different scales to overcome novel challenges for the governance and management of freshwater. Finally, the role of water in achieving global sustainability is summarized to integrate the social-ecological interactions at local and regional scales and even in the whole Earth System. The biggest strength of the book is that the author provides a comprehensive perspective of fresh water resource management and considers that the world is subject to rapid global environmental change. The book emphasizes the relations between freshwater and the living systems in the biosphere, so that the water resource management is related to the background of the social-ecological system. Furthermore, the new perspectives of water management and governance imply recognition of the broader role of freshwater in industrial development, urbanization, irrigation, and biosphere ecosystems. The book is well written with effective figures and eloquent text. Each chapter opens with a short resilience-oriented ingress and ends with a schematic summary. The glossary and appendix are well listed. The book is very informative, inspiring, and easy to navigate. One issue with the book is the limited study cases on water resource governance and management. As a civil engineer, I expect real-world applications of social-ecological management to maximize the sustainable use of limited available resources. The book has identified overwhelming challenges of water resource in the context of rapid global change. The concrete framework of water governance and management is still not explicitly elaborated. Xuan Yu Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Geological Sciences University of Delaware Newark, Delaware 19716 Ensuring Safe Drinking Water, S.E. Hrudey and E.J. Hrudey. Amer. Water Works Asso., 6666 West Quincy Ave., Denver, CO 80235-3098. 2014. 269 pages. $62. ISBN 978-1-58321-924-9. Safe drinking water is essential to human life. This book provides those responsible for ensuring safe drinking water an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others. This book presents 21 case studies — ten waterborne disease outbreaks, seven cases of severe chemical contamination, and four close calls. These are written largely from the perspective of frontline personnel involved in the events. For each case, background, operational details, illustrations, questions to ponder, and lessons learned, allow professionals to imagine themselves in similar situations and see how these experiences help them ensure the safety of their own systems. Hydrology in a Changing World: Environmental and Human Dimensions (Publ. 363), T. Daniell (Editor). IAHS Press, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB UK. 2014. 478 pages. £105. ISBN 978-1-906-161-414. This publication is the proceedings of a conference that had the objective of facilitation understanding about how climate, river basin, and human factors influence the spatial and temporal distribution of water. The 75 contributions share knowledge on changes in hydrologic processes and their impacts, including ecological flows, erosion and sedimentation, and the development of adaptable water management and water policies to account for these impacts, as well as changes in the frequency and variability of floods and droughts due to a variety of factors. Dams and Development in China: The Moral Economy of Water and Power, B. Tilt. Columbia Univ. Press, 61 West 62nd St., New York, NY 10023. 2015. 259 pages. $30. ISBN 978-0-231-170-116. China is home to half of the world's large dams. The benefits are considerable: hydropower generation, water for irrigation, protection of people and farms from flooding, and hydroelectric power production in a nation with an insatiable demand for energy. Dams are expected to reduce the demand for fossil fuels. Yet the advantages of dams come at a high cost for river ecosystems and for the social and economic well-being of the local people who face displacement and farm loss. This book examines the array of water management decisions faced by Chinese leaders and their consequences for local communities. The reader will be introduced to decision-making power in Beijing and the effects on rural villages. In the process, the author examines the contrasting values of government agencies, hydropower corporations, NGOs, and local communities. The author explores how these values are linked to the long-standing cultural norms. Enduring Acequias: Wisdom of the Land, Knowledge of the Water, J.E. Arellano. Univ. of New Mexico Press, Univ. of New Mexico, MSC053185, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001. 2014. 220 pages. $25. ISBN 978-0-826-355-072. The author explores the ways that people use water in dry places around the world and touches on the Middle East, Europe, South and Mexico to New Mexico. The author makes a case for the system and for a that the ecological of the The chapters at the issues from many history, and

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