WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
A brilliant and disturbing look at the most crucial ecological issue of the new century—now thoroughly revised and updated.
Water—where it is, who owns it, how much we’ll need, and how to make sure we’ll have it—is quickly emerging as one of the most important ecological issues of the new century.

First published in 1999, Water, Marq de Villiers’s brilliant look at the condition of water resources around the world, won a Governor General’s Literary Award and earned glowing praise from such respected figures as Maurice Strong, formerly of the Earth Council.

In compelling and lucid prose, de Villiers describes the grim situations in arid regions—in the southwestern United States, southern Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Israel, India, and Asia—and makes it clear just how serious the ramifications can be. He outlines how water is being manipulated by technology, used as a political bargaining chip, or imperilled by ignorance—and what this could mean to us in the future and how it could shape the way we live.

This new edition—completely updated—of what has become a standard book on a crucial subject makes for vitally important reading.

Born in South Africa, Marq de Villiers is a veteran Canadian journalist and the author of thirteen books on exploration, history, politics, and travel, including Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource (winner of the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction), Down the Volga in a Time of Troubles, and Into Africa: A Journey Through the Ancient Empires, written with Sheila Hirtle. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and through Eastern Europe and spent many years as Editor and then Publisher of Toronto Life magazine. Most recently he was Editorial Director of WHERE Magazines International.

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Marq de Villiers' profile page

• Winner, Governor General's Literary Award - Nonfiction

“This book is compelling and lucid as it is powerful. I couldn’t put it down. As dire as the statistics are with regard to the world’s imperiled and dwindling unpolluted aquifers, it is somehow a comfort to realize that all nations, ‘developed’ and ‘undeveloped,’ share the same challenges; and a comfort, too, to have the situation chronicled and documented with such detail. Water is a gift to the future. Whether we will accept it, and listen, remains to be seen. I thank de Villiers for writing it.” —Rick Bass, author of Where the Sea Used to Be

“[De Villiers] describes . . . dire events in arid regions all over the world: southwest Africa, the southwest United States and Mexico, Egypt and Israel, and parts of India and Central Asia. . . . You can feel the hot wind, taste the salt-laden air, see the clouds of wind-borne dust and sand, and feel the grit between your teeth. You can hear the scheming among local authorities who favour irrigation for the profit it brings, disregarding the damage it does. . . . thoroughly readable. . . . It will be fascinating to consult this book as the years pass.” —Globe and Mail

“Water is emerging as one of the central issues of the new century. Marq de Villiers presents in this book a compelling and engrossing account of why this is so, what it means to us, and what we must do about it. It is timely, authoritative, and eminently readable.” —Maurice Strong, chairman, Earth Council

“Having devoted my professional life to the world’s water problems, I can say that no book succeeds better than this one in making water issues accessible and engaging to a broad public. Marq de Villiers scans the globe through a water lens—and writes with eloquence, humour, and a rare kind of passionate intelligence about how water scarcity is shaping the human future. This is a wonderful book—and I highly recommend it.” —Sandra Postel, author of The Last Oasis and Pillar of Sand