A review on the cover of this book by Fred Pearce describes it as “a world tour of hydrological madness” (Sunday Times), and that, in a nutshell, is exactly what it is.

For those who want to understand what happens to the world’s water supply and where it comes from, whether you live in or are interested in the Middle East, the UK, India, Pakistan, China or any number of countries and continents, dive in and swim deep of the situations and facts: if you are a despairing, cynical sort, you still need to read this book and get armed with the facts and figures.

“…mainly about rivers it is also about how we use water: about the quite staggering amount that it takes to feed and clothe us; about how the world trade in food and cotton and much more is also a trade in ‘virtual water’ – the water it takes to grow these crops; and how that implicates Western consumers directly in the emptying of many of the world’s great rivers.”

Fred Pearce, the UK’s leading environmental and investigative journalist, gets to visit people all over the world, stare into the parched, denuded reservoirs and diverted rivers; smell the poisoned, silted-up water that the world’s poorest farmers have to work with, kick over the salt and poisons deposited on parched soil, and reflect dryly upon these scenes for our pitiful benefit. Like his excellent ‘Confessions of an Eco-Sinner’ Pearce gets to follow his nose and his conscience and explore the issues that matter to him, the world over.

But this book is filled with more hard facts than the former – here he deals with the most important tangible product the world has, and uncovers how we misuse and abuse it – whether taking too much and draining reserves, or going to war to safeguard or grab it.