Allan distinguishes usefully, too, between “blue water” (rivers and lakes) versus “green water” (in plants and soil), the latter hard to cost.
He considers water policy in Spain, the United States, Egypt and China (in water terms, the one-child policy “saved the world”, he claims provocatively), and argues that the “hydrological mission” of irrigation and damming is always wrong, while explaining the connections between water, food and “energy security”.
The book is rather rambling, but it is friendly and clear. I was only saddened to see yet again the story of the poor frog which, according to the cliché, won’t jump out of a slowly heated pan of water. This amphibian libel must end now.
Virtual Water
Tony Allan
IB Tauris, 2011
— By Steven Poole
https://www.guardian.co.uk/
Copyright © Guardian News & Media, 2011