Book Says Beware of Possible Hidden Costs of Groundwater Use

Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters, by Robert J. Glennon. Washington, D.C. Island Press, 314 pages. $25 cloth.

There is no shortage of water problems in need of attention. What is needed is some way to attract notice to these problems, to promote public understanding, concern, even outrage and ultimately a commitment to resolving troublesome water issues.

The book, "Water Follies," is an effort along these lines. Author Robert Glennon focuses on the damaging effects of excessive groundwater pumping in various areas of the country. His would seem to be a formidable task, to capture the attention of a distracted public, already overburdened with messages and information, so that citizens actually take an interest in the workings of an aquifer and realize the perils of overdraft.

The book measures up to the challenge.

Robert Glennon's book, "Water Follies," is subtitled "Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters." Above is a photo of the Santa Cruz River, circa 1890, before suffering the fate of excessive groundwater pumping. A cruel fate may have left this section of river in Santa Cruz County with little natural flow, but effluent from a downstream wastewater treatment now replenishes river segments near Tubac. (Photo: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Archives Division, Phoenix, #97-6151)

At the outset, Glennon, the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the a University of Arizona, lets his readers know that water affairs are not without their inviting incongruities. When he writes in the introduction, "Writing about water use, policy, management, and the law demands both a sense of irony and a sense of humor," the reader knows the volume in hand is not a textbook. That such authority figures as law and public policy are to be approached with irony and humor engages readers, many of whom may already share a suspicion of the vagaries of laws and policies.

The book is made up of various narratives or, if you will, stories, each with a plot of the hazards and follies of careless groundwater pumping. The action takes place in different parts of the country, from Maine to California and points in between, including Arizona's Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers and Black Mesa.

Much of the dramatic effect of the stories depends on the incongruity between a decided course of action and its consequences. For example, McDonalds wants white, blemish-free french fries of a uniform length. This means buying potatoes that are irrigated rather than dry-land farmed. To accommodate McDonald's potato preference Minnesota farmers pump water adjacent to one of Minnesota's better trout streams. So much is willingly wagered to accommodate a whimsical preference.

Irony verges toward satire when Glennon tells of an incident in Florida in which the perceived solution to a problem is in fact the problem. The adopted solution to the problem of several lakes receding because of an overpumped aquifer was to pump more water from the aquifer to refill the lakes. This example leaves the reader aghast, uncertain whether it demonstrates hitting bottom or whether mismanagement this extreme transcends the usual run of miscalculations, to achieve a heightened, almost mythic status, provoking wonder as much as condemnation.

The narratives or stories serve to emphasize that water problems arise in the course of human affairs, that water follies are ultimately human follies. This might seem an obvious point, but the narratives' range of coverage, including descriptions of local characters and regional details, brings the idea home with greater emphasis.

Further, Glennon lets us know that groundwater overdraft is a problem nationwide. Those of us living in arid and semiarid regions tend to claim ownership of water problems as part of our heritage. Glennon's book provides a service by reminding us that other areas of the country, even those with abundant rainfall, experience some of the same water problems we do, such as groundwater overdraft. (High Country News missed this point when it began its review of "Water Follies" with the head, "A Western water parable.") Knowledge of a shared burden, that we all in this together, provides grounds for mutual understanding and concerted actions.

That the book has garnered national attention is testimony to more than its literary quality and its instructive narratives. With the widespread occurrence of drought and the increasing demand on the nation's water resources, water is often billed as a notable current affair. There is a need therefore for such books as "Water Follies." A book that takes on troublesome water issues with wit and verve, blending journalism and literary nonfiction and providing insightful and informative analysis of public policy, all done in a style to appeal both to the water professional and the non-professional, will likely find a receptive audience.

Excessive groundwater pumping is not the only water follies show in town. Other such water spectacles also are ongoing, whenever human callousness and disregard takes a toll on water resources. These water follies deserve the kind of attention Glennon's book devotes to groundwater pumping.

Water Center Home -- AWR Home -- Search