Dirty, Sacred Rivers

Confronting South Asia's Water Crisis

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, Environment, Rivers, Science, Biological Sciences, Environmental Science
Cover of the book Dirty, Sacred Rivers by Cheryl Colopy, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Cheryl Colopy ISBN: 9780199977000
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: October 1, 2012
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Cheryl Colopy
ISBN: 9780199977000
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: October 1, 2012
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Dirty, Sacred Rivers explores South Asia's increasingly urgent water crisis, taking readers on a journey through North India, Nepal and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. The book shows how rivers, traditionally revered by the people of the Indian subcontinent, have in recent decades deteriorated dramatically due to economic progress and gross mismanagement. Dams and ill-advised embankments strangle the Ganges and its sacred tributaries. Rivers have become sewage channels for a burgeoning population. To tell the story of this enormous river basin, environmental journalist Cheryl Colopy treks to high mountain glaciers with hydrologists; bumps around the rough embankments of India's poorest state in a jeep with social workers; and takes a boat excursion through the Sundarbans, the mangrove forests at the end of the Ganges watershed. She lingers in key places and hot spots in the debate over water: the megacity Delhi, a paradigm of water mismanagement; Bihar, India's poorest, most crime-ridden state, thanks largely to the blunders of engineers who tried to tame powerful Himalayan rivers with embankments but instead created annual floods; and Kathmandu, the home of one of the most elegant and ancient traditional water systems on the subcontinent, now the site of a water-development boondoggle. Colopy's vivid first-person narrative brings exotic places and complex issues to life, introducing the reader to a memorable cast of characters, ranging from the most humble members of South Asian society to engineers and former ministers. Here we find real-life heroes, bucking current trends, trying to find rational ways to manage rivers and water. They are reviving ingenious methods of water management that thrived for centuries in South Asia and may point the way to water sustainability and healthy rivers.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Dirty, Sacred Rivers explores South Asia's increasingly urgent water crisis, taking readers on a journey through North India, Nepal and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. The book shows how rivers, traditionally revered by the people of the Indian subcontinent, have in recent decades deteriorated dramatically due to economic progress and gross mismanagement. Dams and ill-advised embankments strangle the Ganges and its sacred tributaries. Rivers have become sewage channels for a burgeoning population. To tell the story of this enormous river basin, environmental journalist Cheryl Colopy treks to high mountain glaciers with hydrologists; bumps around the rough embankments of India's poorest state in a jeep with social workers; and takes a boat excursion through the Sundarbans, the mangrove forests at the end of the Ganges watershed. She lingers in key places and hot spots in the debate over water: the megacity Delhi, a paradigm of water mismanagement; Bihar, India's poorest, most crime-ridden state, thanks largely to the blunders of engineers who tried to tame powerful Himalayan rivers with embankments but instead created annual floods; and Kathmandu, the home of one of the most elegant and ancient traditional water systems on the subcontinent, now the site of a water-development boondoggle. Colopy's vivid first-person narrative brings exotic places and complex issues to life, introducing the reader to a memorable cast of characters, ranging from the most humble members of South Asian society to engineers and former ministers. Here we find real-life heroes, bucking current trends, trying to find rational ways to manage rivers and water. They are reviving ingenious methods of water management that thrived for centuries in South Asia and may point the way to water sustainability and healthy rivers.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Cities and Stability by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Waging Peace by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Genesis of the Big Bang by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Gotham by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Prohibition by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Process by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Madeleine's Children by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Talking with the President by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Oxford American Handbook Of Emergency Medicine by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Bad Boys, Bad Men: Confronting Antisocial Personality Disorder (Sociopathy) by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Levinas by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Between God & Green by Cheryl Colopy
Cover of the book Religion in American Life by Cheryl Colopy
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy