"Water Always Wins transports us around the world and back through time, exposing us to better ways to live with water. Gies introduces us to water experts the world over as they search for clues to water's past and present, using close observation, historical research, ancient animal and human wisdom, and cutting-edge science to effect change. We become more aware of the ways in which modern civilizations speed water away, erasing its slow phases...

Hal Crimmel has brought scientific research together with the experienced voices of environmental social scientists, humanists, and activists to provide a broad perspective on Utah water issues. The matters discussed are relevant beyond this one state, as similar conditions and concerns -- especially over supply and demand in the face of demographic and climate change -- exist throughout the West. Some of the essays are scientific and analytical;...

Chronicles the history of the quest for water in the American West, discussing the battles that have been waged in the political, economic, and environmental arenas over water rights; and contends that attempts to turn the desert into a green paradise will, in the long run, prove to be futile.

The Man Who Thought He Owned Water is author Tershia d’Elgin’s fresh take on the gravest challenge of our time — how to support urbanization without killing ourselves in the process. The gritty story of her family’s experience with water rights on its Colorado farm provides essential background about American farms, food, and water administration in the West in the context of growing cities and climate change. Enchanting and informative, The...

Taking Big Red is about present-day frays over the condition of the Colorado, who gets to use it, what for, how much, and when. We who run boats down the Colorado River for fun or adventure have no water rights or water allocations. We don't consume the river; we simply ride it as it rushes downstream. But although the unique experiences and considerable revenue provided by river runners (and sports fishermen and other recreational users) have invariably...

Describes the West as a modern hydraulic society, one that is dependent on its dams, reservoirs, and canals.

"Wars of the future will be fought over water, as they are today over oil, as the source of all life enters the global marketplace and political arena. Corporate giants, private investors, and corrupt governments vie for control of our dwindling fresh water supply, prompting protests, lawsuits, and revolutions from citizens fighting for the right to survive. Past civilizations have collapsed from poor water management. Will ours too?"--container....

The United States faces a water crisis as critical as the energy crisis that once dominated headlines. Like the energy crisis, a solution can be found. Pat Mulroy, for many years general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the lead negotiator on the Colorado River for the State of Nevada, and a Brookings fellow, has gathered a number of practitioners and scholars to show us why we face a crisis caused by climate change and what we can...

In low places consequences collect, and in all North America you cannot get much lower than the Imperial Valley of southern California, where one town, 186 feet below sea level, calls itself the Lowest Down City in the Western Hemisphere, and where the waters of the Colorado River sustain a billion-dollar agricultural industry. The consequences of that industry drain from the valley into the accidentally man-made Salton Sea, California’s largest...

"Western Water A-to-Z is the first field guide dedicated to Western water. Reinventing this twentieth-century genre for a twenty-first-century audience, Crifasi describes water projects, the culture of water, the ecosystems that water projects have created or destroyed, and the reliance of modern life on this critical resource."--