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Student Name

SUST 201

Library Resource Paper

Sample Version

Topic: Water crises around the world

(One source from each of the five required databases; Chicago Manual of Style citations)

From JSTOR:

Vijayasankar, P. S. "Water Crisis in Dewas: Is Rainfall the Culprit?" Economic and

Political Weekly 32, no. 24 (1997): 1416-425.

Vijayasankar traces the grave consequences of the water crisis in Dewas. The

article focuses on analyzing rainfall statistics over a (approximately) hundred-year

period, between 1891-1993, in order to see whether it has any correlation to the severe

drought and issues surrounding potable water in the region. After looking at the data, it is

concluded that total rainfall movements “do not significantly influence changes in water

supply” however the possibility that changes in the pattern of rainfall could have had an

adverse impact on water supply.

From GreenFile:

Carmichael, Mary, Sarah Schafer, and Sudip Mazumdar. "Troubled Waters," Newsweek

149, no. 23 (2007): 52-56.

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Carmichael, Schaefer and Mazumdar give brief glimpses into the problems

communities face in different regions of the world as a result of the growing global water

crisis. This article highlights the root of the problem; extreme pollution of clean water

sources and over-consumption/reckless wasteful tendencies of those who do have clean

water readily available to them. The main focus is on problems in developing countries

though, more specifically those located in Africa and Asia. The rivers of these continents

are seen to be slowly depleted of their clean water source “after decades of

mismanagement and climate change”, and in turn, the nations fight over resources. The

article also aims to emphasize the correlation between lack of viable resources and wars

(or violence) between nations.

From Academic OneFile:

Collinge, R. A. "Book Review: Glennon, R. (2009). Unquenchable: America's Water

Crisis and What to Do About It,” Public Works Management & Policy 15, no. 1 (2010):

57-60.

Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis puts much emphasis on the fact of

unequal water distribution throughout the United States, and this has fed into what is

rapidly leading up to be a global water crisis. Because of the vast ever-expanding and fast

growing cities, Collinge argues that soon major cities in the U.S. will inevitably start to

run dry. He also traces much of the problem back to unsustainable agricultural practices

that take place across the country. The book also discusses, as Glennon explains in his

review, the many interrelated uses of water, and the costs/effects they have on the

hydrologic ecosystem. Even though activities like watering the lawn are extremely

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wasteful, they still weigh very little in comparison to things like agriculture. However

energy producers also use water; both for hydroelectric production and to cool nuclear

power plants. Collinge also highlights profligate uses of water in places where it’s not

necessary, such as the casinos in Las Vegas. He concludes with ways that water can be

conserved efficiently and effectively in an urban landscape, in order to mitigate any

further loss or waste in the future.

From Project MUSE:

Jackson, Steven J. "Writing the Global Water Crisis," Technology and Culture 49, no. 3

(2008): 773-78.

Jackson traces a slew of contemporary that has come out about water shortage

around the globe, the causes of the problem, the problem that have already started to

emerge and the dire circumstances we face in the near future if things do not change.

Text that deals with “drought, flood, scarcity and ownership” among many other factors,

and the recognition of the fact that some parts of the world have already been catapulted

into a period of “peak water,” yet, as Jackson states, though we use water rather

carelessly, unlike oil it cannot be substituted for anything else. Jackson covers many

sources that deal with different regions around the world and how they are dealing with

problems that they face in relation to water; from the Great Lakes’ toxicity levels to

Southern California’s drought, to disasters like the Aral Sea and China’s Yellow River.

Jackson specifically discusses When the Rivers Run Dry: Water—the Defining Crisis of

the Twenty-First Century, a novel by Fred Pearce, in which he concludes with some

effective forgotten “water harvesting” techniques that had been created in pre-modern,

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historical times in different cultures. Things such as Chinese water cellars, English dew

ponds, Chilean fog harvesters, Indian water tanks, and Persian qanats.

From PrattCat:

Midkiff, Kenneth. “Introduction,” in Not a Drop to Drink: America's Water Crisis (and

What You Can Do). Novato, CA: New World Library, 2007. Xvii-xv.

Midkiff seeks to shed light upon the growing water crisis, more specifically the

crisis in the western United States. In the introduction, he gives a brief history of

humankind’s relationship to water; the way we used to view, treat and use water

resources versus the way we do in our present day society. He brings up a lot of good

points, but perhaps the most commonly occurring flaw that can be traced throughout all

of these various sources is that our global agriculture systems are largely to blame for the

depletion and contamination of the water supply. He also brings up the point of our

excessive wastefulness and failure to recognize water as a precious resource, stating that

we have arrived at this severe shortage because we’ve “excessively interfered with

nature’s hydrologic cycle.” (p. xviii)

Midkiff briefly explains the natural cycle of water throughout the atmosphere, and

how nature has designed it to be an innately renewable resource. However, we have

disrupted this system by pumping groundwater at exorbitant levels, removing water that

“would have otherwise been discharged from aquifers to rivers, streams and other surface

water bodies.” He attempts to drill the fact to his readers that no new water is being or

will ever be created- “all we will ever have is what is there now.” From this he goes on to

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say that there are still opportunities to mitigate this growing crisis, if only we organize to

collectively make a change in the way we view and consume our water.