Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #851021 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 286 pages

Amazon.com Review
It's a strange paradox: the earth's water supply is constantly growing, yet humankind--or so scientists now warn us--is facing a potentially catastrophic shortage of potable water in the next century. "Fresh water," writes Canadian scientist Pielou, "will turn out to be the factor that limits population growth," largely because so much of that growing supply is locked up in arctic ice or lies deep beneath the surface of the earth. In her thoughtful survey of the physics and chemistry of water, Pielou introduces readers to such concepts as the water cycle, in which rainwater becomes groundwater and eventually returns to the sky from whence it came; examines the economics of water surpluses and deficits in the natural world; and studies the formation and behavior of rivers and lakes, among many other topics. Building more dams, she warns, is no solution to the impending water crisis: "Channelization and diversion both have the effect of increasing a river's rate of discharge (equivalently, speeding its flow), which may be as undesirable as decreasing the discharge (slowing the flow)." Her thoroughly interesting natural history of fresh water in all its forms makes for a fine introduction to hydrology and for a solid contribution to environmental literacy. --Gregory McNamee

From Library Journal
Our planet is composed primarily of water, much of which is the ocean and not the subject of this book. Naturalist Pielou (A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic, LJ 11/1/94) concentrates on fresh water (usable by humans), which is a much smaller resource. Pielou describes the natural history of fresh water?where it comes from, where it goes, and how it moves under and over the earth and into the atmosphere. Even though scientists now believe that water is being added to our environment by "snowball" comets entering our atmosphere, the world's supply of fresh water is dwindling?and a shortage of usable fresh water ultimately limits population growth. Pielou's book would make an excellent textbook for any college class studying water. However, while the text is highly informative, it will not appeal to the average reader because of its technical nature. Recommended for academic libraries only.?Gloria Maxwell, Kansas City P.L., KS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Acute observation and a fluid writing style characterize this detailed, but not overly technical description of the hydrological cycle. An attractive aspect of Pielou's presentation is her encouragement to the reader to copy her observational techniques, for example, wading into a stream to measure its flow and carefully watching the water in order to understand a landscape's shape. Her chapters correspond to where fresh water accumulates: underground, in streams and rivers, in wetlands, in lakes natural and artificial, and in clouds. She explains particularly well water's unusual chemical properties--its surface tension as a liquid, its expansion as a solid--that influence the depth of the water table, or how a lake freezes. Numerous line drawings help readers understand particular hydraulic situations; the text's calmness elicits concern for how civilization uses this limited resource, whether drilling for it or damming it up. A rare resource itself, Pielou's soft-sell presentation will probably sensitize more people to the cause of water conservation than hectoring tracts from environmental advocacy groups. Gilbert Taylor

Customer Reviews

Learn all about groundwater,rivers, dams, permafrost, & more
The author gives us a rare combination of the technical terms with thoroughly understandable explanations of water and what it does and what it means for us. The book seems comlete in its explanations of how water works whereever it occurs, which is all over our world. I thought, for example, I knew how water worked underground; now I really know, and that is important to efficient agriculture which will also preserve adjacent flora and fauna. Pielou tells both the good and the bad of human intervention with water no matter whether it is flowing in rivers and lakes or bound in permafrost or geological configurations. Even if you think you don't really care, this book will let you understand more about the arguments about dams and rivers and reservoirs and all that contentious stuff.

Good review of limnology
This is a good introduction to limnology. It isn't boring and not too technical. It is just an explaination of how freshwater behaves on earth. It explains groudwater, rivers, lakes, water cycle, and the functioning of aquifers. The focus of the book was on North America and in particular Canada and the North of the United States, that's okay but she spends several pages about bogs and fens and one small paragraph about the forested wetlands and mangrove wetlands. I think the lady is Canadian, so she writes aboput what is around her. That is fine, it liked that book and would recommend it to somebody who has an interest in the science of things around us. Many poeple think that water comes from the faucet and that is all. She provides an excellent explaination of where is goes from and where it goes.

This book flows
As a professional whitewater guide this book caught my attention as I was looking to better understand my "office". While I found the early chapters on groundwater a bit dry, (no pun intended) I was unable to put down Fresh Water once it got above the vadose layer. I found it informative without being overly scientific, and now have an entirely different outlook on the water cycle. It is obvious this book was written by someone who truly enjoys the subject matter.