Oil may make more headlines, but water is the world’s most indispensable resource, and a dwindling one. Water has powered the rise of the empires of Rome and medieval China, spurred the golden age of Islam and the rise of Europe, fueled the Industrial Revolution and the American century. Today, its scarcity spawns genocide, epidemic diseases and the collapse of states across parts of Africa and Asia; it threatens to ignite new wars in the bone-dry Middle East; its faltering supplies imperil the rise of China and India. Its smart management — and a major rethinking of domestic and foreign policy — could give water-wealthy Western democracies an opportunity to grab global leadership. What should we do about water? Journalist Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization, visits Zócalo to trace the history of water from ancient times to our dawning age of scarcity.

 

 

 

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