Last Call at the Oasis

Water woes are everywhere, and in a host of forms: floods and droughts, shortages of potable water, pollution and contamination, overuse and misuse in developed countries, lack of access in developing countries, crumbling infrastructure, endangered water habitats, excessive and ecologically dangerous damming, political and military battles over water rights . . . the list goes on and on. This poses the question: How have we humans allowed ourselves to reach such a crisis point with one of the most vital necessities of life (second only to the air we breathe)?

That's the question that the important new documentary film Last Call at the Oasis sets out to explore—and the same question we tackle in this book.

If you've seen the movie, you've probably picked up this companion book in hopes of learning more about the complex issues so vividly depicted by filmmaker Jessica Yu. If you haven't seen the movie, we strongly recommend it—and we hope you'll also read this book to enjoy a deeper, wider-ranging exploration of many of the crucial water challenges our planet faces today.

Here's an overview of the book's contents.

After a brief prologue, "All Bets Are Off," which sets the stage through an excerpt from a prescient novel about a devastating water shortage in New York City—originally published almost fifty years ago!—Part One offers several perspectives on the worsening water crises the peoples of the world face. "Water Realities" presents a summary of key facts, statistics, trends, and relationships, painting a stark picture of our reliance on dwindling, endangered water supplies and the challenges we'll face in remedying the problem. In "Exploring Oasis," director Jessica Yu describes the experience of researching and filming Last Call at the Oasis, and what she learned about the psychology of water use—and water abuse—in the process.

Next, heroic pollution fighter Lynn Henning tells her own story in "From Farmer to Water Activist," explaining how industrial farming is threatening an age-old way of life in America's Midwest—as well as the water supplies on which we all rely. In "Clean Water—The Price of Gold?" hydrogeologist Robert Moran reveals how "resource extraction" industries such as energy and mining are damaging water supplies worldwide, and often doing so in near-total secrecy created by uncontrolled corporate power. Finally Alex Prud'homme, author of the book The Ripple Effect, which helped inspire Last Call at the Oasis, recounts his own education in the realities of the world's water, and warns us that, as the title of his chapter states, there's "No Time to Waste."

In Part Two of the book, we shift from reviewing the problems with water to describing possible solutions. First, today's leading expert on water and the environment, Peter H. Gleick of the Pacific Institute, explains his famous concept of the "soft path"—a more sustainable approach to improving global water supply than traditional massive infrastructure projects—in his chapter "A Way Forward?" Then Gary White, CEO of Water.org, explains in "In Our Lifetime" how creative ways of thinking about, organizing, funding, and managing water projects can bring essential water resources for the first time to the billions of people in the developing world. In their chapter, "Drawing Water," visionary designers Hadley Arnold and Peter Arnold describe their new approach to urban planning, which is already beginning to transform how western cities, such as Burbank, California, handle their precious water resources. And in her chapter, "From Crisis to Competitive Advantage," Robyn Beavers explains how farseeing companies, such as Google, are recognizing the importance of sustainable water management and altering their resource-use policies accordingly.

Next, in "Diamonds in Disguise," legal expert and acclaimed author Robert Glennon discusses the market and regulatory failures that underlie today's water crises, and explains how redesigned systems for organizing the distribution and use of water can encourage conservation and ensure that all people have enough water for their needs. Two chapters of highly practical advice come next. In "Ten Simple Ways You Can Help Protect Our Water," the National Resources Defense Council offers ideas everyone can begin following today to reduce pollution and end needless water waste. And in "Nine Ecofabulous Ways to Save Water at Home—And Do It with Style," Zem Joaquin offers tips for smarter ways of using water in your bathroom, kitchen, and elsewhere at home, including recommendations of new products and technologies that are making sustainable living not just practical but fun.

Finally, in "Endless Resourcefulness," William McDonough, perhaps today's most acclaimed thinker about the relationship between humans and the planet they inhabit, offers a series of provocative, fascinating observations about the value of water and the power of intelligent design to enhance and expand that value. McDonough's insights conclude Part Two on an optimistic note: water, he says, is a potentially infinite resource—providing we have the wisdom and the will to use it correctly.

The last section of the book, Part Three, is a resource guide containing five annotated lists that readers wanting to get further involved in water issues will find useful. Included are a list of water-related organizations that deserve your support, lists of online information tools and activist campaigns you'll find illuminating and inspiring, an annotated list of some of the best books about water and the global challenges we face in managing and conserving it, and finally, a hat-tip to the people who brought Last Call at the Oasis to a theater near you.

In the course of editing this book and working with the brilliant, committed authors who've contributed to it, I've come to learn how complex, fascinating, and important are the water issues our species is grappling with. No single book could hope to capture every nuance of these issues. But I hope you'll find Last Call at the Oasis—this book as well as the film of the same name—to be a valuable introduction to the challenges of water and a small but meaningful step toward discovering a more sustainable, water-friendly way of life for you, your family, and the larger human community.

"Realistically," he said, "there are five possibilities. The first one is that it rains like hell. That'll take care of our problem right there. I mean rain rain rain. And it looks like this just isn't going to happen.

"Number two—the city can cut off the water a certain number of hours per day. I mean just plain cut it off. Serve places like hospitals with tank trucks if necessary, but for x number of hours a day just stop the delivery of water."

A voice said: "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with that," Marlowe said, "is not when you stop it but where you stop it. And what do people do when it's stopped? Do they use toilets? Do they wash clothes? Does the brewery in Long Island City make beer? Can the fire department fight fires?" His voice dropped. "Worst of all, what is there to keep people from hoarding water while it's turned on, against the time when it's off? Oh . . ." he nodded ". . . you can do it. It takes what amounts to a police state, but you can do it. I wouldn't recommend it."

Again he nodded. "Number three, you can tap new sources. The Hudson's there." He paused imperceptibly. "The Delaware's there. But you have to look at your equipment. There are places right now, up the Hudson, where, emergency pipes lead to the river, in case delivery from farther upstate is interrupted. But those pipes are for that purpose. They don't contemplate drought. If the river's down, then the pipes have to be lowered some way to get into it. And then you have an added purification problem. We're not set up to tap river water."

Again he nodded. "Number four, we can figure out a way to take what's already been done and literally talk the people into conserving water. I take it that this is what this meeting's for. I don't mean not sprinkling or not shaving or not washing cars or not cleaning streets. That's already been done. I mean a totally new, additional approach to the entire problem. Gentlemen, more than fifty percent of our water usage is straight residential. These are the people who read the papers and the signs and the television commercials. And that's what I suggest here. I don't know what else this meeting is for."

A voice at the table: "Those are the four possibilities?" Marlowe gazed at his notes. "Just about. Actually, there are five."

"What's the fifth?"

"That we get less than normal rainfall."

"Then what?"

"Then all bets are off."