or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
39 used & new from $10.55

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
The Great Lakes Water Wars
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Great Lakes Water Wars (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: diversion request, cfs limit, diversion applicants, Lake Michigan, Mud Creek, Pleasant Prairie (more...)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

List Price: $26.95
Price: $15.12 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $11.83 (44%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Tuesday, November 10? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
23 new from $12.28 16 used from $10.55

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover $15.12 $12.28 $10.55
  Paperback $13.57 $12.43 $18.07

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 by Dave Eggers

The Great Lakes Water Wars + The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008
  • This item: The Great Lakes Water Wars by Peter Annin

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 by Dave Eggers

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Breakfast Of Biodiversity: The Political Ecology of Rain Forest Destruction

Breakfast Of Biodiversity: The Political Ecology of Rain Forest Destruction

by John Vandermeer
4.8 out of 5 stars (8)  $13.22
On the Brink: The Great Lakes in the 21st Century

On the Brink: The Great Lakes in the 21st Century

by Dave Dempsey
4.8 out of 5 stars (4)  $16.47
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

by Michael Harvey
4.4 out of 5 stars (15)  $7.50
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World

by Dan Koeppel
4.6 out of 5 stars (42)  $6.40
Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters

Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America's Fresh Waters

by Robert Glennon
4.6 out of 5 stars (12)  $18.95
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating and ambitious book . . . . Annin . . . breathes life into the subject of water laws and their related policy." - Toledo Blade (Tom Henry Toledo Blade 20061217)

"Well-written volume...offers an intriguing, comphrensive look...and should be a valuable reference for water and international policy makers, academics, and public officials . . . . Highly recommended." - Choice (Choice 20070401)

We are definitely leaving the century of oil behind, and we are entering the century of water. The value globally of fresh, potable water is expected to increase significantly. (Dispatch.com 20061106)

"Excellent primer for getting up to speed on what could be one of the region''s most important - and contentious - issues in the coming decades." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Dan Egan Milwaukee Journal Sentinel )


Product Description

The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. Will we divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area and 75 percent of its volume since 1960? Or will we come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic?



Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind these battles. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policymakers, The Great Lakes Water Wars is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past-and future-of this globally significant resource.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (August 16, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1559630876
  • ISBN-13: 978-1559630870
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #381,713 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #33 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Ecology > Lakes & Ponds
    #54 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Conservation > Water
    #64 in  Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Regional Planning

More About the Author

Peter Annin
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Peter Annin Page

Inside This Book (learn more)



What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The real fight begins, February 25, 2007
On May 8, 1892, a gang of workmen hired by Chicago entrepreneur Mr. McElroy invaded the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. This gang was intent on laying a pipeline from Waukesha's Hygeia Spring to a suburb of Chicago. They were turned back by the citizens of that city in one of the few (to date) physical confrontations over water east of the Mississippi river.
In 2006, with their wells dry or contaminated, Waukesha, which lies just outside the edge of the Great Lakes basin, insisted on exemption from the return clause of the water compact signed the year before. The compact was the latest evolution of agreements between the 8 Great Lakes states and 2 provinces of Canada. The latest agreement was so troubled that only two governors attended the signing. As with all the other agreements, it stood on bog of technical and legal details that could easily be upset by the smallest challenge. "Waukesha is a poster child," admits Dan Duchniak, the embattled head of the Waukesha Water Utility, adding that the debate over Waukesha is "almost like a cyst that has grown into a cancerous tumor, and we need to figure out a way to treat it." (pg. 245)

With this and other examples, such as an attempt to ship a tanker of Great Lakes water to China, the author explains the difficulties in protecting this great natural resource. The chapter on the Aral Sea foretells the future of the lakes if governments can't find a way to appease industry while maintaining the lakes for future generations.

Anyone trying understand what we, those of us blessed to grow up along their shores, must do to protect the Great Lakes should read this book. Although the material is fairly complex, the author presents several anecdotal stories that are readable.

As the author says, the fight has only just begun. Over the past 20 years, the states and provinces around the Great Lakes have produced a basic framework. Unfortunately, companies like Nestle have fought in court for the right to export bottle water from the Great Lakes basin; as one official asked,what is the difference between a tanker of bottle water and a tanker of water? --Damn good point! Although they are fighting a losing battle, other challenges are on the horizon in a world running short of clean, fresh water.

If this review was helpful, please vote and thanks.

Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars At War Over Great Lakes Water, November 29, 2006
Schemes to keep Great Lakes waters in the Great Lakes may look good on paper, but how they actually work or do not work is shown in The Great Lakes Water Wars. It is a practical book thoroughly researched by a veteran investigative reporter, Peter Annin and published by Island Press.

According to Annin, the key to keeping these freshwater lakes viable is to return the water to the lakes: that is to keep the waters in the Great Lakes watersheds and to take measures to conserve water. Diversions outside of these watersheds will deplete the lakes of water. Although the Great Lakes are large, they are fragile. Annin shows the consequences of unwise uses of water on other parts of the planet, for example the Aral Sea that has been depleted of most of its water.

This is an important book with words of caution for those who live in the Great Lakes watersheds.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Lakes aren't bottomless, May 24, 2007
By A. Kozak (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
As a former resident of northeastern Ohio, growing up near the shores of Lake Erie, I expected to be captivated by Peter Annin's treatise on the water resources issues of the Great Lakes, and it did not disappoint. But I think there's plenty here for anyone interested in the expanding issue of water resource diversion, as it spreads from the notoriously thirsty southwest to the Great Lakes, which house 20% of the world's fresh surface waters.

The five lakes in the Great Lakes surface water drainage basin seem inexhaustible and have, for centuries, been treated that way by neighboring states and provinces. Massive pollution identified in the 1960s raised the first indication of the Lakes' vulnerability. Annin tackles the issues of water resource allocation in three sections. The first sets the stage by talking about surface water resource challenges generally, from the difference between water rights assumptions in the eastern and western US, to the disastrous overuse of the Aral Sea in the former USSR, to the unknown problems that will result from global warming.

The second section uses stories to articulate the political and economic challenges surrounding six specific water diversion cases in the Great Lakes basin. The third explains the attempts by the eight states and two provinces within the Great Lakes basin to agree on political and legal mechanisms for protecting and preserving this enormous resource. His book ends with a cliffhanger; in late 2005, an historic regional agreement was signed by all the states and provinces in the basin but it must be codified into law by each state and US Congress. His website tracks its progress: [..]
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Battle for Water
This 2006 book by Peter Annin, is a comprehensive and well balanced accounting of the 20 year "under the radar" battles between states and provinces regarding water use and water... Read more
Published 1 month ago by R. Perry

2.0 out of 5 stars Fluffy
This is the kind of book that gives the people who oppose careful stewardship of our natural resources the opportunity to paint environmentalists as out of touch kooks... Read more
Published 2 months ago by John Mccarrier

5.0 out of 5 stars A choice read, ideal for understanding the biggest threats to the Great Lakes today
Could the Great Lakes become something not so great? "The Great Lakes Water Wars" discusses the trouble that could be coming to the people of the Great Lakes soon, as unregulated... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Midwest Book Review

1.0 out of 5 stars SO SO DULL
This book was so dull. The only good about it was the fact that it proved to me that I could read anything. I think that is why my teacher assigned it. It was so boring. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ready McBook

4.0 out of 5 stars A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
This is a plainly written, informative book about the attempts being made to manage the increasingly scarce resource of Great Lakes fresh water. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. Schultz

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for a precious resource!
This is an incredibly knowledgeable analysis of a vital problem facing this country; nonetheless, the author explains and charts the material in an easy to grasp presentation.
Published 7 months ago by ypekia

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Lakes Wars
I live in the Great Lakes region and I find this topic very interesting and will be using this book for the spring semester.
Published 9 months ago by Robby M

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read.
As a hydrologist in the Great Lakes' basin, this book is a great read. It brings the science into lay terms, without making gross generalizations. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Magirck

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Take Water for Granted
Every day, twice a day, I travel along the shores of Lake Erie. When traffic permits, I can't help but look out over the waters of the lake. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Gregg Eldred

4.0 out of 5 stars Water Wars - how America Works or doesn't work
"Water Wars" is not only a fascinating study of the controversies over fresh water, but also a dissection of the political process. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Andrea Hofmeister

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.