As in so many other fields of enquiry, good, well-balanced , books on the state of the world's water are hard to find. There seem to be several reasons for this. There are really not a very large number of water professionals who have worked enough around the world, and at all levels in the field, to have a broad, well informed, and pragmatic view of the situation. Among those who have this background , there are hardly any willing and qualified to write the definitive book on the subject.

As a result the publishing field is left open primarily to writers without any particular competence in the subject, who choose it as an evocative subject, likely to garner substantial book sales, particularly when they select eye-catching titles like "Water Wars". The others are frequently ideologically driven, no doubt a more admirable motive than money. However, as so often happens in our popular press, most people who care enough to go to all the work associated with writing and publishing a serious book bring more passion than pragmatism to their work.

One real exception to this is Sandra Postel, of the Worldwatch Instite in Washington, DC, who is both a highly trained professional and deeply committed to the preservation of the environment. Her exceptional book The Last Oasis (Norton, New York, 1992) is short, highly readable, and as well-balanced as can be expected from someone who cares as much as she does about the mess we are making of this world of ours.

Other appparently dated, but still very worthwhile books include Drawers of Water by Gilbert White, a geographer, and The Water Planet by Lyall Watson, a biologist. Drawers of Water (University of Chicago, 1972) describes the circumstances of the lives of the millions of women in Africa who have to depend on inadeqaute water sources; often having to walk 5-10 km each day with a bucket. Though it was written thirty years ago, very little has changed. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand about people and water in rural Africa.

Lyall Watson's Water Planet (Crown, 1988) is very different. Almost a coffee table book, it has the most amazing collection of beautiful water photographs, along with some of the most succinct (and scientifically correct) descriptions of water you will ever see. It is entirely accurately sub-titled "A Celebration of the Wonder of Water".