Water: Almost Enough for Everyone

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-Using a combination of broad-picture reporting and interviews with interesting individuals, Ocko's account of the world's water problems will engage readers more effectively than the most widely used books on the subject, though it won't replace them. Beginning with the situation facing one small town in Iowa, the author shows how people learned to conserve water and how the town had to cooperate with others when the wells ran dry. She then covers droughts throughout history; changes in climate; human attempts to create rain; drought on the island of Antigua, in California, and in the Sahel (Africa); and concludes abruptly with a brief chapter on how much water use is too much. In general, she handles the complexities of the problems quite well, describing how pollution, weather patterns, and maldistribution interact to cause and worsen shortages. Her prose, while not always graceful, is clear, and her inclusion of first-person testimonies makes specific points in a lively fashion. The black-and-white photographs are relevant, well captioned, and well keyed to the text, and the diagrams are clear. Some of the facts may be outdated; e.g., in some states the ``ultra-low flush toilet'' is now the standard, not the one that uses five gallons. There is a list of organizations, but no bibliography, glossary, or source notes. Olga Cossi's Water Wars (New Discovery, 1993) concentrates on conflicts between groups over water rights and lacks illustrations. Karen Barss's Clean Water (Chelsea, 1992) is well documented and well written, as is Eileen Lucas's Water (Childrens, 1991), which is particularly well designed and illustrated and includes an excellent glossary. None of them will be updated by Ocko's book, which is recommended as a popularizing supplement.-Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA

Merri Monks

Ocko begins her well-written study with a chapter about the 1990 drought in Redding, Iowa, thus bringing the concept of the Earth's finite water supply close to the experiences of young Americans. Subsequently, she tells of parallel situations in other locations, including Antigua and the African Sahel. She explains the complex relationships between air and ocean currents that result in shortages or excesses of rainfall, and she also points out that water shortages are often exacerbated by human carelessness with the environment, such as the destruction of the rain forests in Antigua. An epilogue lists ways in which individuals, including children, can conserve the earth's precious water supply. The book is valuable not only for its factual reporting of world climate patterns and water shortages, but also for Ocko's enlightened view of the earth's interconnected ecosystems and of human responsibility for their care and well-being. Black-and-white photographs, graphs, and diagrams are included.