Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West
Order paperback here.
Excerpt: From Chapter 1
From the UC Press description
“Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir that has become an emblem of this story. Powell shows why an urgent threat during the first half of the twenty-first century will come not from the rising of the seas but from the falling of the reservoirs.”
Reviews
“At once a suspense thriller, a history in the tradition of Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert, and an informed warning, Dead Pool deserves to be read now.”—High Country News
"A solid primer on the history of use of Colorado River water and the science of climate change."—Science (AAAS)
"A historically important, well-timed, and memorable addition to the growing library of books about water and the West."—Wilson Quarterly
"Dead Pool is the best book I know about the current state of the Colorado River and the policy issues facing it."
Order paperback here.
Excerpt: From Chapter 1
From the UC Press description
“Where will the water come from to sustain the great desert cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix? In a provocative exploration of the past, present, and future of water in the West, James Lawrence Powell begins at Lake Powell, the vast reservoir that has become an emblem of this story. Powell shows why an urgent threat during the first half of the twenty-first century will come not from the rising of the seas but from the falling of the reservoirs.”
Reviews
“At once a suspense thriller, a history in the tradition of Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert, and an informed warning, Dead Pool deserves to be read now.”—High Country News
"A solid primer on the history of use of Colorado River water and the science of climate change."—Science (AAAS)
"A historically important, well-timed, and memorable addition to the growing library of books about water and the West."—Wilson Quarterly
"Dead Pool is the best book I know about the current state of the Colorado River and the policy issues facing it."
Donald Worster, author of Rivers of Empire and A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell.
"Dead Pool offers a powerful epitaph to the era of big dams. Carefully researched and cogently argued, it shows how the self-serving promoters of the Colorado River's dams have consistently ignored natural limits imposed by water supply, silt, and salt, creating a long-term crisis that may make ghost towns out of many of the overpopulated cities of the American West."
Jacques Leslie, author of Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment.