Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters

"The Santa Cruz River that once flowed through Tucson, Arizona, is today a sad mirage of a river. Except for brief periods following heavy rainfall, it is bone dry. The cottonwood and willow trees that once lined its banks have died, and the profusion of birds and wildlife recorded by early settlers are nowhere to be seen. The river is dead. What happened? Where did the water go?" As Robert Glennon explains in Water Follies, what killed the Santa Cruz River - and has devastated other waters across the United States - was groundwater pumping. The excessive pumping of our aquifers has created an environmental catastrophe known to only a handful of scientists and water management experts, as well as those unfortunate enough to have suffered the direct consequences. Quite remarkably, no books or magazines have focused on this issue. In a striking collection of stories that brings to life the human and natural impacts of our growing national thirst, Glennon provides an occasionally wry and always fascinating account of groundwater pumping and the environmental problems it causes.