Blue Planet Run

S WITH A POPULATION of 18 million growing by almost 400,000 every year, the water needs of

the residents of Mumbai, India, are staggering. Because water is prohibitively expensive, many slum

dwellers rely on leaks found — or created — in the massive pipelines that carry water to more affluent

neighborhoods. Mumbai’s have-nots avoid the garbage and human waste surrounding their dwellings by

walking on top of the pipelines. Around the world, losses of fresh water due to leakage are routinely

reported as high as 70 percent in some major cities. Christopher Brown, Redux

1.1 billionThe number of people worldwide — 1 in every 6 — without access to clean water

We call our planet Earth, but its surface is mainly water. We

should call it Ocean. In the hollows of space, Earth abides as a

sparkling oasis, afloat with jumbo islands, and always half

hidden beneath a menagerie of clouds.

In my upstate New York town, seven waterfalls tumble and spume

in lofty dialects of water. Liquid scarves loop through glacier-carved gorges, and winter reminds

us that light, airy bits of water can hurdle fences, collapse buildings and bring a burly city to its

knees. In winter, ice forms a cataract on the eye of Lake Cayuga, but the lake never freezes

solid. It can’t.

Luckily for us. Eccentric right down to our atoms, we’d be impossible without water’s weird

bag of tricks. The litany of we’re-only-here-because begins with this chilling one: We’re only

here because ice floats. Other liquids contract and sink when they freeze, but water alone

expands, in the process growing minute triangular pyramids that clump to form spacious, holey

designs that float free. If ice didn’t rise, the oceans would have frozen solid long ago, along with

all the wells, springs and rivers. Without this presto-chango of water, an element that one

moment slips like silk through the hands and the next collapses rooftops and chisels gorges,

Earth would be barren.

Since life bloomed in the seas, we need perpetual sips of fresh water to thrive. Become

dehydrated, as I once did in Florida, and the brain’s salt flats dry out, mental life dulls, and only

electrolytes dripped into a vein keep death at bay. We are walking lagoons who quaff water S THERE IS NO MORE or no less water available for human use now than there

was at the dawn of humankind. But some areas of the planet have always had

more than others. In Canada, where karst limestone cliffs line Death Lake in the

Northwest Territories, a twentieth of the world’s population enjoys almost a tenth

of the world’s fresh surface water. Raymond Gehman, Getty ImagesDrinking Dinosaur Water 27

50 percentThe number of people who don’t have access to the quality of water available to the citizens of Rome 2,000 years ago

S THE ARAL SEA, once a glistening body of water, has lost two-thirds

of its volume because its source rivers were diverted for cotton irrigation

during the Soviet era. Previously the fourth-largest lake in the world – the

size of Southern California – much of it is now a dry graveyard of rusting

shipwrecks. This desertification has produced toxic dust, resulting in

respiratory diseases and cancers in communities downwind of the lake.

Gerd Ludwig

S SLUM DWELLERS scramble for water in Jai Hind Camp in the heart of

Delhi, India. The camp is home to more than 4,000 migrant workers who are

dependent on daily deliveries from public and private water trucks. Ironically,

the middle class in India, which receives water via home faucets, pays a tenth

of what the poor pay for their water delivered by truck. India has nearly 17

percent of the world’s population but only about 4 percent of its freshwater

resources. Stuart Freedman

5.3 billionThe number of people — two-thirds of the world’s population — who will suffer from water shortages by 2025

lawsuits and negotiations over water in the U.S. southeast, new residents of Atlanta may one day

soon turn on the tap to find it empty, southern Georgia farmlands could become permanently

parched, or economic growth in Florida and Alabama could be significantly stunted.

While the global water crisis is growing ever more dangerous, there are nonetheless a few

potential winners — namely, those nations or individuals who have a surfeit of the precious

commodity or who develop new ways to produce and distribute it. With a population of only 30

million and vast amounts of territory containing more than 20 percent of the world’s fresh water,

Canada stands to become the leader of an OPEC-like cartel as water takes its place next to oil

as a depleted essential resource. To ship this water from Canada, as well as places like Russia,

Greenland and the northern reaches of China, barges with massive liquid-holding bladders and

streamlined piping systems for bulk water transfers are already on the drawing boards, while new,

less expensive and more efficient desalination techniques to make saltwater fresh are close to

completion. All of these inventions and new ones beyond our imagination will become more and

more economical — and perhaps temper the water disputes — as the supply of water continues

to diminish and the price of water inexorably rises.

Other solutions that could minimize the inevitable water wars require viewing water in a

different light — that is, as a shared resource that demands global cooperation to manage

correctly. To that end, international funding agencies like the World Bank should use their

financial leverage to direct that water development projects be initiated solely under regional

umbrellas, jointly controlled by all of the nations in the area. And water mediation groups, such as

Green Cross International, founded by former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, should

be backed by a United Nations mandate to fulfill the charter of, as GCI describes it, “preventing

and resolving conflicts arising from environmental degradation.”

None of this will be easy. Ultimately, conflict is less difficult than cooperation. But we really have

no choice: The way we respond to the water crisis will determine whether we survive.

– JEFFREY ROTHFEDER

ARMED MEMBERS of the rebel group MEND (Movement for

Emancipation of the Niger Delta) have destroyed oil facilities and forced the

closure of a significant percentage of the area’s oil operations. They have

turned to violence to protest the pollution of their country’s waterways

and alleged degradation of the natural environment by foreign multinational

corporations. On May 1, 2007 MEND caused Chevron to shut down

some oil production when it reportedly attacked the company’s Oloibiri

floating production, storage and offloading vessel off southern Bayelsa state.

Michael Kamber

32 Blue Planet Run Drinking Dinosaur Water 33

134 Blue Planet Run

IN REGION AFTER REGION AROUND THE GLOBE, water — or put another way, control over

rapidly diminishing supplies of clean water — is at the heart of many of the world’s most

raw geopolitical disputes, some of which have already rippled into dangerously destabilizing

conflicts.

Not surprisingly, among the hottest flashpoints is the Middle East, where water is at a

premium and disagreements are in abundance. Virtually every political, social and military

strategy undertaken by Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and other nations in the area is

driven by its impact on access to water. Consider the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during

the Six-Day War in 1967. Formerly southwest Syria, this rugged plateau is home to headwaters

of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, two of Israel’s most essential sources of water.

Despite Syria’s saber rattling and widespread international condemnation for its occupation

of this territory, Israel refuses to retreat from the Golan Heights because it fears that Syria

would divert the water supply, as had been threatened in the early 1960s.

Similarly, the 2006 Lebanon-Israeli war was fought primarily in southern

Lebanon, where tributaries of the Jordan River lie. Hezbollah

has vowed to control the water resources for Lebanon, even if

Israel has to do with less.

Meanwhile, in a mirror image of these disputes, the Palestinian rejection of peace accords in

the late 1990s grew in large part out of concern that these pacts ensured that Israel could

determine how much water Palestinian areas receive. The Palestinians claim that Israel has

capped their per capita water consumption at about 18 gallons of water per day, compared to

about 92 gallons for the typical Israeli.

It’s no wonder that soon after signing peace treaties with Israel, the late King Hussein of Jordan

and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt pointedly noted that only a quarrel over water could bring

them back to war with Israel.

In large or small ways, similar brinksmanship occurs with disturbing regularity in regions already

tense with enmity that has evolved over generations:

S In Southern Africa, the waters of the Okavango River basin are pulled in four directions

by Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, with hardly a cordial word spoken;

S In the Indian-controlled territories of Kashmir, where headwaters of the Indus River

basin reside, Pakistan has threatened to use nuclear weapons against India if any of its

water supply is interrupted;

S AN ARMED GUIDE walks on a cliff above the Nile River near Amarna, Egypt. The Nile flows

through 10 countries in eastern Africa, but by force of a nearly 80-year-old treaty, Egypt commands

most of its waters, a source of dispute and strained relations for decades. Upstream countries, such as

Ethiopia and Sudan, have proposed dams on the river to aid their own development. But these plans

have been condemned by Egypt as it anticipates its population doubling over the next 50 years.

Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic, Getty Images

S In Sri Lanka, violent conflicts have broken out between government armies and a rebel

group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who closed a provincial sluice gate in protest

over government delays in improving the nation’s water system;

S In Kenya, dozens were killed and thousands fled their homes when youths from the

Maasai and Kikuyu tribal communities fought with machetes, spears, bows and arrows

and clubs over water in the Rift Valley.

The behavior is irrational, yet the motivation has an undeniable logic. Decades of poorly

designed irrigation techniques, the construction of massive dams, toxic dumping, wetlands and

forest destruction, industrial pollution, residential sprawl, lack of conservation and misuse have

taken a dire toll on global water resources, and clean fresh water is becoming scarcer in every

corner of the planet. The worst conditions are in places like Haiti, Gambia, Cambodia and

Mali, where residents subsist on an average of less than 2 gallons of water per day — fewer

than three large bottles of bottled water and well below the 13 gallons per day considered

the amount of water needed to meet a minimum quality of life. With less and less water to go

around, the idea that people would begin to fight over what’s left — and over who determines

who gets what remains — is anything but outlandish.

And while richer countries like the United States have been hiding water shortages with

engineering sleights of hand, this strategy is now backfiring. Southeast Florida, southern

California, Atlanta and parts of Texas are all likely to be dry within 20 years if their growth

patterns and management of water aren’t sharply altered.

In the United States, the water wars are more often waged in court. For example, after

30 years and no end to the amount of money being spent on attorney fees, three states in

the southeast are still feuding over the Chattahoochee River. Rising north of Atlanta, the

Chattahoochee is the sole water supply for the sprawling city’s metropolitan area as well as a

source of downstream water for two neighbor states, Alabama and Florida. Providing water

for Atlanta’s uncontrolled population boom — the city has grown from 2.2 million people in

1980 to 3.7 million people in 2000 — severely taxes the Chattahoochee. The city’s largest

treatment plant tapped 3.8 billion gallons a year of the river’s water when it opened in 1991;

now it pumps nearly 20 billion gallons annually. If, as expected, Atlanta’s population reaches 5

million by 2025, the Chattahoochee won’t be able to handle the load.

But that isn’t slowing Atlanta down. Instead, the city is aggressively making plans to squeeze

more water out of the Chattahoochee by building a dozen additional dams and reservoirs on

the river. This, in turn, has raised the ire of Alabama and Florida, which claim that Georgia is

stealing the river for itself. Farmers in southern Georgia are siding with Alabama and Florida

against Atlanta, as their irrigation allotment falls. Depending on the outcome of the many

KIBBUTZ HATZERIM gained a territorial foothold in Israel’s Negev Desert

and kicked off a global revolution in agriculture when it partnered with water

engineer Simcha Blass in 1965 to develop and mass-produce drip irrigation.

Netafim, the kibbutz’s irrigation business, now controls a large portion of the

drip market, with $400 million in sales last year. Manager Naty Barak checks

the kibbutz drip lines, which feed corn, cotton and tomato crops in an area that

receives less than 8 inches of rain annually. Alexandra Boulat

S TAEKO TERAUCHI-LOUTITT runs along the Donau River in Vienna,

Austria on June 18, 2007. Born in Tochigi, Japan, Taeko started running 16

years ago. Her selfless decision to run around the world had an unexpected

personal benefit when she fell in love with fellow runner Canadian Jason

Louttit during the three month relay race. Chris Emerick

Jin Zidell asked if we could meet because he wanted to do something to make a

difference in a world that appeared to be spinning out of control. Like Ashok, Jin had

lost a loved one, his wife, and had spent a long and profound period in mourning. To

those of us who were his friends, his heartache seemed bottomless and immeasurable.

But on that day we met for lunch, Jin seemed different. He wanted to do something

to honor Linda. What struck me as we spoke was the scope of Jin’s dreams. His eyes

were as big as his love for Linda. His grief had become resolve.

When Jin asked me to suggest a way he could make a real difference I suggested that

he do something that was measurable, something that could change an individual’s life

in a single day, that he focus on a global problem that could be solved in a decade,

an endeavor that could actually push the needle with respect to improving peoples’

lives and the environment. He looked at me puzzled and asked, what would that be?

I knew of only one thing: water. Ninety minutes later, he left determined to find a way

to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people for the rest of their lives by 2027.

Since that day, Jin has never looked back.

Five years later the Blue Planet Run Foundation has three major initiatives under way.

The first is the Peer Water Exchange, which aims to enjoin thousands of

non-governmental organizations to find, fund and share the best water projects around

the world. The second is the extraordinary photography book you are holding in

your hands, designed to bring home Jin’s belief that that pure water is a right, not a

commodity.

The third initiative of the Blue Planet Run Foundation is the circumnavigation of the

globe by runners, symbolizing a circle in our hearts and minds, a closing of the loop

of love, care and responsibility that people share for each other. From June 1 through

September 4, 2007, a team of 22 dedicated runners set aside their own lives for 95

days to carry a message to the entire planet that undrinkable water is unthinkable in

today’s world. If the Blue Planet Run Foundation can change the world to ensure that

no child will ever be harmed by the water he or she drinks, then it will be one of the

great miracles of the 21st century. And Jin’s dedication to the memory of the person he

loved most will have changed the world.

—PAUL HAWKEN

102 Blue Planet Run We're All Downstream 103

FOUL SMELLING WATER mixed with coal had been running from Kenny Stroud’s faucet for

more than a decade before clean tap water was finally provided by the city of Rawl, West Virginia, last

March. For years, residents of the Appalachian coal-mining town had to rely on water trucks and bottled

deliveries, a reality unknown to most citizens in the developed world. Their fight still continues in the

courts against Massey Energy, a mountaintop coal-mining corporation, who they blame for pollution and

illnesses disrupting their community. Melissa Farlow

ALLISON COLE says the water in her well in Sheridan, Wyoming, turned into slurry after

gas drilling operations began nearby. The rolling plains of the Powder River Basin have been

transformed by the drilling. Forty thousand wells and hundreds of miles of roads, pipelines and

power lines now cover the landscape. To access the methane, companies pump millions of gallons

of salty groundwater out from deep coal seams. Area residents have said the process pollutes their

surface water and groundwater. Joel Sartore

EVEN IN PROSPEROUS CITIES in India like New Delhi and Mumbai, city dwellers often have

water access for only a few hours a day. The public water distribution system is under so much

stress that residents must rise at 3 or 4 a.m. to pump water into rooftop storage tanks. Here

Vineela Bhardwaj vents her frustration to water authorities about frequent service failures. Battles

over the water supply have become so common that Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the Minister of

Water Resources, sometimes describes himself as the “Minister of Water Conflicts.”

Stuart Freedman

It will cost up to $1 trillion in the next 30 years to clean up contaminated groundwater at some 300,000 sites in the United States. The world’s major cities could save more than 40 percent of their annual water supplies by fixing leaks in water mains and pipes.

CREATED BY RICK SMOLAN

AND JENNIfER ERwITT

BL

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Smolan&

Erwitt

Blue Planet Run provides readers with an extraordinary look at the water problems facing humanity and some of the hopeful solutions being pursued by large and small companies, by entrepreneurs and activists, and by nongovernmental organizations and foundations. By the end of the book, readers are left to form their own conclusions as to whether or how the human race is capable of taking the steps necessary to solve this global crisis before it is too late.

Blue Planet Run is two books in one: First, it is about an extraordinary 15,000-mile relay race — the longest relay race in human history — in which 20 athletes spent 95 days running around the globe to spread awareness of the world’s water crisis. Secondly, it is a showcase of powerful, inspiring, disturbing and hopeful images captured by leading photojournalists around the world who documented the human face of the crisis and its possible solutions. The result of these two parallel projects is the book you hold in your hands.

One hundred percent of the royalties from this book will be used to provide clean water to people around the world who desperately need it.

www.BLUEPLANETRUN.ORG

Published by Earth Aware Editions17 Paul DriveSan Rafael, CA 94903800.688.2218Fax: 415.526.1394www.earthawareeditions.com

Against All OddsPO Box 1189Sausalito, CA 94966-1189www.againstallodds.com

Blue Planet Runwww.blueplanetrun.org

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Rick Smolan is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer best known as the creator of the Day in the Life book series. He and his partner, Jennifer Erwitt, are the principals of Against All Odds Productions, based in Sausalito, California. Fortune Magazine featured Against All Odds as “One of the 25 Coolest Companies in America.” Their global photography projects combine creative storytelling with state-of-the-art technology. Many of their books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller lists and have been featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Fortune. Their books include America 24/7, One Digital Day, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, Passage to Vietnam, The Power to Heal and From Alice to Ocean. They live with their two children, Phoebe and Jesse, in Northern California.

Cover image: Robert Randall

US Price $45.00ENVIRONMENT/PHOTOGRAPHY

9 7 8 1 6 0 1 0 9 0 1 7 1

5 4 5 0 0

US $45.00ISBN-13: 978-1-60109-017-1ISBN: 1-60109-017-X

It is estimated that one billion people across the planet now lack access to clean water. But, as the extraordinary images on the following pages show, there are solutions to the world’s fresh water crisis, and they are within reach. This book, ostensibly about a world crisis, is also a work of optimism and hope.

The Blue Planet Run volume you are holding in your hands represents two extraordinary projects. The first is the result of a worldwide search for images and stories to capture the human face of the global water crisis. For one month, 40 talented photojournalists crossed the globe taking photographs to show the extent of the problem. At the same time, a team of researchers contacted photographers on every continent to identify existing bodies of work focused on this crucial issue. Simultaneously, 20 runners representing 13 nationalities embarked on a 95-day nonstop relay race around the globe, serving as messengers to raise awareness of the severity of the water crisis.

The Blue Planet Run is designed to be a wake-up call to the world, sounding both a warning and a note of hope, letting us know that there is still time to solve this problem if we act now, before it is too late.

The book also features insightful original essays from an extraordinary range of noted writers, environmentalists, inventors and journalists includ-ing Diane Ackerman, Fred Pearce, Dean Kamen,

Michael Malone, Bill McKibben Jeffrey Rothfeder, Michael Specter, Paul Hawken and Mike Cerre.

In keeping with the theme of the book, two trees will be planted for each tree used in the production of this book and 100% of all royalties will fund safe drinking water projects. For more information on how you can help, visit www.BluePlanetRun.org

COntinuED On BACk FlAP

COntinuED FROm FROnt FlAP

Scott Harrison

This book was made possible by a generous granT from The blue planeT run foundaTion

Mark Laita

For centuries, brazil’s pantanal, the largest freshwater wetland in the world, has been home to 3,500 species of plants,

400 kinds of fish, 650 bird species, 100 kinds of mammals and 80 different types of reptiles. At 68,000 square miles, roughly 10

times the size of the Everglades, the region has served as a natural water treatment plant, removing chemicals and other pollutants

as water passes through its myriad winding channels. But today this delicate and remote environment is being affected by the rapid

growth of industries, including gold mining and the demands of a thriving ranching culture. Scott Warren, Aurora Photos

Earth Aware Editions/Against All Odds Productions17 Paul Drivesan rafael, Ca 94903www.earthawareeditions.com415-526-1370

Created by Rick Smolan and Jennifer ErwittAgainst All Odds ProductionsP.O. Box 1189Sausalito, CA 94966

www.againstallodds.com Copyright © 2007 Against All Odds Productions. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 1-60109-017-XISBN-13: 978-1-60109-017-1

palace press international, in association with global releaf, will plant two trees for each tree used in the manufacturing of this book. Global ReLeaf is an international campaign by American Forests, the nation’s oldest nonprofit conservation organization and a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in Korea by Palace Press Internationalwww.palacepress.com

REPLANTED PAPER

Created by Rick Smolan & JennifeR eRwitt

againSt all oddS pRoductionS

FOreWOrd by RoBeRt RedfoRd

IntrOduCtIOn by fRed peaRce

essays by diane ackeRman, paul Hawken

dean kamen, micHael malone, Bill mckiBBen

JeffRey RotHfedeR and micHael SpecteR

san raFael, CalIFOrnIa

With a population of 18 million growing by almost 400,000 every year, the water needs of

the residents of Mumbai, India, are staggering. Because water is prohibitively expensive, many slum

dwellers rely on leaks found — or created — in the massive pipelines that carry water to more affluent

neighborhoods. Mumbai’s have-nots avoid the garbage and human waste surrounding their dwellings by

walking on top of the pipelines. Around the world, losses of fresh water due to leakage are routinely

reported as high as 70 percent in some major cities. Christopher Brown, Redux

1.1 billionThe number of people worldwide — 1 in every 6 — without access to clean water

50 percentThe number of people who don’t have access to the quality of water available to the citizens of Rome 2,000 years ago

the aral sea, once a glistening body of water, has lost two-thirds

of its volume because its source rivers were diverted for cotton irrigation

during the Soviet era. Previously the fourth-largest lake in the world – the

size of Southern California – much of it is now a dry graveyard of rusting

shipwrecks. This desertification has produced toxic dust, resulting in

respiratory diseases and cancers in communities downwind of the lake.

Gerd Ludwig

these FiFth-grade students in Beijing are quickly discovering

that the environment is paying a steep price for their nation’s booming

economy: China’s water and air are becoming increasingly toxic. Seventy

percent of the country’s major rivers no longer support life, and 25 to 33

percent of the population — more than 300 million people — do not have

access to safe drinking water. fritz hoffmann

1.8 millionThe number of children who die every year from waterborne diseases – one every 15 seconds

Kenyan villagers on low-lying Pate Island gather

brackish drinking water from small holes in the sand, less

than 300 feet from the ocean. More than 2 billion people

around the world rely on wells for their water. Clean water

has become an increasingly scarce resource as water tables

continue to drop at an alarming rate. George Steinmetz

40 billionThe number of hours spent each year in Africa due to the need to collect and haul water

slum dWellers scramble for water in Jai Hind Camp in the heart of

Delhi, India. The camp is home to more than 4,000 migrant workers who are

dependent on daily deliveries from public and private water trucks. Ironically,

the middle class in India, which receives water via home faucets, pays a tenth

of what the poor pay for their water delivered by truck. India has nearly 17

percent of the world’s population but only about 4 percent of its freshwater

resources. Stuart Freedman

5.3 billionThe number of people — two-thirds of the world’s population — who will suffer from water shortages by 2025

unlike millions oF Women in Africa who must walk an average

of 4 miles to collect potable water every day, Violet Baloyi of South Africa

is fortunate to get her drinking water directly from a tap. Thanks to the

PlayPump water system, powered by the motion of children at play, Violet

and other residents of Vuma Village have access to free and clean drinking

water. samantha reinders

Foreword by Robert Redford 19

Introduction by Fred Pearce 20

Drinking Dinosaur Water 26Essay by Diane Ackerman

poisoning the well 44Essay by Bill McKibben

Water 2.0 80Essay by Michael Malone

we’re all downstream 90Essay by Michael Specter

Water : The New Oil 134Essay by Jeffrey Rothfeder

A Billion Slingshots 168Essay by Dean Kamen

Blue Planet Run 212Essays by Paul Hawken and Mike Cerre

There are many myths about water.

One is that we have an infinite supply, if we could just figure out how to liberate it — from

the sea, from aquifers deep in the ground, from ice caps and glaciers. Another myth is that

the cycle of evaporation and rain alone will continually provide us thirsty humans with clean

water to drink.

Yet another is that the rivers, streams and oceans are so vast, so deep, so plentiful that we

tiny human beings can just keep dumping our trash, our waste and our chemicals into these

waterways and nature will simply absorb it all and miraculously transform it back into clean

drinking water.

The final myth is the most disturbing. Many people in the developed world still assume the

global water crisis has nothing to do with them — that it’s a crisis for “those poor people,

over there.” The painful truth is the water crisis is now on every continent and in cities large

and small. The water crisis affects every human being on the planet, but most of us just aren’t

paying attention yet.

The cost of our neglect can be seen in the disturbing images in this book. It is estimated that

1 billion people across the planet now lack access to clean water — and that number is

growing by the day. This doesn’t have to happen. As the extraordinary images on the following

pages show, there are solutions to the world’s freshwater crisis, and they are within reach.

The idea of a billion people without access to clean water may seem too immense to ever be

solved. And yet, we already know the solution for half of those people: Five hundred million of

the world’s poorest people, particularly those living in rural areas, could obtain clean water for

life for a cost of just $30 each by using such simple techniques as wells, boreholes, gravity-fed

springs and rainwater harvesting. No fancy technologies, no big, expensive institutional projects

— just pragmatic applications of low-tech solutions can get us halfway to our goal of clean

water for every person on the planet. And we can do it right now.

It is facts like these that make this book, ostensibly about a world crisis, also a work of

optimism and hope. All that we need is the will to make that hope real; to make the emotional

and financial commitment to get the job done.

Water is life. As we share this Blue Planet, we must promise each other that no person will

ever again have to live — or die — without clean, fresh water. Fulfilling that promise is within

the reach of each of us.

Foreword by Robert Redford

You Are the Solution

s Boys play in polluted, oil-fouled water

near Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The Niger Delta

has been the scene of significant unrest in recent

years as rebel groups have emerged to protest

oil extraction by multinationals and the Nigerian

government. In the delta’s urban communities, less

than 50 percent of the people have access to safe

drinking water; the number drops to less than 25

percent in rural areas. Michael Kamber

foreword 19

It begins with a few thin clouds in the clear blue sky over the Indian Ocean.

The clouds are barely noticeable at first, as the wind picks up water vapor that has evaporated from

the ocean and carries it north toward land. The vapor condenses to form droplets, and the droplets

coalesce. The clouds grow and darken. Thunder claps, and the first giant raindrops fall on the

southern tip of India.

The monsoon, the planet’s greatest annual weather system, has begun its magic. The clouds sweep

north across the subcontinent, enveloping the land in curtains of rain and bringing relief to a parched

and overheated land. Life returns.

The drenching is brief but complete. In about 100 hours, spread across 100 days, millions of villages

across India receive virtually their only rain of the year. The rain swells rivers, floods low-lying land,

fills reservoirs and irrigation canals, turns deserts green and brings crops to life. The water then

percolates down through soils to fill the pores in rocks beneath.

Monsoon rituals are repeated all across Asia, and in modified form in communities around the world.

Almost everywhere, the first rains are a time for celebration and thanksgiving. In Southeast Asia,

fishermen and farmers wait for the first spring flows to revive the Mekong. In China, the Yangtze

River brings waters that will feed more than 1 billion people. In the Americas, farmers watch the

skies for the first hint of storms that have formed over the Caribbean. In Africa, there is a special

nervousness: If the rains fail, it can mean famine and starvation.

Water is our most fundamental natural resource. The stuff we drink today is the same water that the

first fish swam in and that froze across much of the globe during the ice ages. Our planet probably

has no more and no less water than it has ever had.

And yet, in some places, we are beginning to run out of water. Underground reserves that farmers

could once reach by dropping a bucket into a well only a few feet deep are now so low that a hole

bored half a mile down still finds no water. The great rivers we first heard about in geography

lessons — strong blue lines on our atlas maps stretching all the way from mountains to the oceans

Introduction by Fred Pearce

Blue Revolution

even though 70 percent of the planet is covered with water,

greenland's frozen landscape provides hard evidence that most of the

world's fresh water is locked up in glaciers and ice, leaving less than one

percent available for human consumption. NASA-JSC, Getty Images20 Blue Planet Run

— are running dry. In the real world, the blue lines have sometimes given way to desert. The Nile

in Egypt, the Ganges in India and Bangladesh, the Indus in Pakistan, the Yellow River in China and

the Colorado in the United States are among the rivers that no longer always make it to the sea.

Nature’s water cycle is not faltering. But our demands on it are increasing so much that, in some

places at some times, we are exhausting our water sources.

Few of us realize how much water it takes to get through the day. On average, we drink not much

more than a gallon of the stuff. Even after washing and flushing the toilet we consume only about

40 or 50 gallons each. But that is just the start. It is only when we add in the water needed to grow

what we eat and drink that the numbers really begin to soar. It takes between 250 and 650 gallons

of water to grow a pound of rice. That is more water than many households use in a week. For just

a bag of rice.

It takes 130 gallons to grow a pound of wheat, and 65 gallons for a pound of potatoes. And when

you start feeding grain to livestock for animal products like meat and milk, the numbers become yet

more startling. It takes 3,000 gallons to grow the feed for enough cow to make one quarter-pound

hamburger, and between 500 and 1,000 gallons for that cow to fill its udders with a quart of milk.

Agriculture is easily the biggest user of water in the world today. Two-thirds of all the water that we

take from nature ends up irrigating crops. Whenever you eat burgers made of meat from Central

America, or clothes made from Pakistani cotton, you are influencing the hydrology of those countries

— taking a share of the Indus River, the Mekong or the Costa Rican rains.

the seasonal runoFF from glaciers provides drinking water for a sixth of

the world’s population, more than 1 billion people. But with global warming expected

to permanently melt one quarter of the world’s glaciers by 2050, these natural frozen

reservoirs are beginning to disappear. sean nolan

Take cotton, the poster child of water consumption. Cotton grows best in hot lands with virtually

year-round sun. Deserts, in other words. But it needs huge volumes of water. In order to grow its

cotton, Pakistan consumes almost a third of the flow of the Indus River — enough to prevent any

water from reaching the Arabian Sea. Australia does much the same to the Murray River.

In many places around the world, we are taking two, three or even four times more water from local

rivers than we took a generation ago. And there is a surprising reason for this: It is the flip side of a

great global success story — the green revolution.

I am old enough to remember, back in the 1960s and 1970s, when the great fear was that the world

would not be able to feed itself. Population was expected to double in 30 years. And we asked

ourselves, how on Earth could food production double to keep up? California biologist Paul Ehrlich

announced: “The battle to feed the world is over…Billions will die in the 1980s.”

But it didn’t happen. The world’s population did double. But so did food production. Scientists came

to the rescue. They produced a new generation of high-yielding varieties of crops, like rice and corn

and wheat, that kept the world fed. But it now turns out that those super-crops use much more

water than those they replaced. So, while the world grows twice as much food as it did a generation

ago, it takes three times more water to do it. We thought we were going to run out of land to grow

food. Instead, we are running out of water.

In India, the rivers are so dry that farmers have sunk more than 20 million tube wells into the Earth

in the past decade to find water and irrigate their crops. But these farmers are essentially “mining”

ancient water, and now even these underground reserves are running out.

Economists estimate that by 2025, with current water use patterns and the growing population,

water scarcity will cut global food production by 350 million tons a year. That is rather more than the

current U.S. grain harvest, and the equivalent of a loaf of bread every week for every person on the

planet. For hundreds of millions of people, that disappearing loaf may be the only one they have. And

if the current boom of growing crops to make biofuels continues, then the demand for water from

the world’s farms will be even greater. If, say, the world converted a quarter of its fuels to biofuels,

that would effectively double our water demand for crops.

No wonder that in dozens of countries — Pakistan, Mexico, India, China and Indonesia among them

— there have been water riots in recent years. And soon, nations may even go to war over water.

In the Middle East, water is as big a source of conflict between Israel and its neighbors as politics and

religion. There are no treaties for the sharing of some of the world’s greatest international rivers,

upon which tens of millions of people depend for survival.

It all sounds like bad news. Yet I remain optimistic. Access to water is widely regarded as a human

right that no one can be denied. We need to come together over water. And to do that, two things

need to happen. First, we need to use the water cycle better — for instance, by catching the rain

where it falls. We need a modern version of the old water tank catching rainfall from the house roof.

And it is starting to happen: In Asia, farmers are reviving ancient methods of capturing the rain as it

falls on their fields, and then pouring it down their wells for storage underground. Whole villages join

in, and the effects on their crop yields are often profound.

Second, there needs to be a revolution in the way we use water. We have to begin treating it like

the scarce resource that it is. Municipalities need to reduce leaks in water mains — in most of the

world’s cities, between a quarter and half of the water put into distribution networks never reaches

homes because it simply leaks away. Similarly, we need to reduce the vast losses from evaporation

at reservoirs. Did you know, for example, that more water evaporates from behind the Aswan High

Dam on the Nile in Egypt than is delivered to homes and factories throughout Britain in a year?

Meanwhile, much, much more wastewater should be recycled by humans a few times before we give

it back to nature. We can do that in our homes. Changes to domestic plumbing would allow water

from the shower to be used to flush the toilet, for instance.

But the biggest water savings worldwide must be made by farmers, who are the biggest users of

water, especially in the driest countries. Tens of millions of farmers around the planet still irrigate

their crops by flooding their fields. It is an incredibly wasteful process: Most of the water evaporates

and little, in practice, reaches the plants. But cheap, modern systems of drip irrigation — delivering

water drop by drop close to the crop roots — can cut water demand by 40 or 50 percent, or in

some soils even 70 or 80 percent. We need a “blue revolution” to breed crops that use water better

and to train farmers to use water more sparingly.

The simple truth is that we are abusing nature’s water cycle. To protect our rivers and assure water

supplies in the future, we must use less water and leave more to nature. The days of seeing the stuff

as a free resource, available in unlimited quantities as a guaranteed human right, are over.

Clouds move toward ChiCago above Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes, which together hold a fifth

of the world’s — and 90 percent of U.S. — surface fresh water. Proposals to divert some of this water to fast growing cities

in the United States have prompted border states and Canada to ban bulk water transfers out of the region. However, due

to international trade agreements, like NAFTA, debate will continue over water’s classification as a commodity.

Jon Lowenstein, Aurora Photos

We call our planet Earth, but its surface is mainly water. We

should call it Ocean. In the hollows of space, Earth abides as a

sparkling oasis, afloat with jumbo islands, and always half

hidden beneath a menagerie of clouds.

In my upstate New York town, seven waterfalls tumble and spume

in lofty dialects of water. Liquid scarves loop through glacier-carved gorges, and winter reminds

us that light, airy bits of water can hurdle fences, collapse buildings and bring a burly city to its

knees. In winter, ice forms a cataract on the eye of Lake Cayuga, but the lake never freezes

solid. It can’t.

Luckily for us. Eccentric right down to our atoms, we’d be impossible without water’s weird

bag of tricks. The litany of we’re-only-here-because begins with this chilling one: We’re only

here because ice floats. Other liquids contract and sink when they freeze, but water alone

expands, in the process growing minute triangular pyramids that clump to form spacious, holey

designs that float free. If ice didn’t rise, the oceans would have frozen solid long ago, along with

all the wells, springs and rivers. Without this presto-chango of water, an element that one

moment slips like silk through the hands and the next collapses rooftops and chisels gorges,

Earth would be barren.

Since life bloomed in the seas, we need perpetual sips of fresh water to thrive. Become

dehydrated, as I once did in Florida, and the brain’s salt flats dry out, mental life dulls, and only

electrolytes dripped into a vein keep death at bay. We are walking lagoons who quaff water there is no more or no less water available for human use now than there

was at the dawn of humankind. But some areas of the planet have always had

more than others. In Canada, where karst limestone cliffs line Death Lake in the

Northwest Territories, a twentieth of the world’s population enjoys almost a tenth

of the world’s fresh surface water. Raymond Gehman, Getty ImagesDrinking Dinosaur Water 27

and also bathe in it, irrigate with it, paddle through it, simmer with it and are rained on by it, so

we rarely notice how magical water is. A natural insulator, it can cool overheated cars, mills or

humans, and it can slowly change the air temperature, giving us the gradualness of seasons.

Water can be solid, liquid, vapor, crystal. It can cascade or seep, be soothing or corrosive, act

as mirror or lens, serve as a traffic lane or a roadblock or a sacrament. And though water

often looks like glass, and in some brittle forms can shatter like glass, and in others flow thick

and slow as glass, it’s not made of silica as glass is. But it does sponsor glass. The sandy skirts

edging some oceans are a form of glass, crafted by water.

We live in bondage to hydrogen, a small, common waif of an atom, and fat, combustible

oxygen. When hydrogen cozies up to oxygen, the magnetic attraction is so fierce it’s hard to

pry them apart. They always assume the same open-armed pose, the three atoms angling at

precisely 104.5 degrees from each other. In portraits water looks animal: two hydrogen atoms

form the ears, one plump oxygen atom the face. This makes it versatile, flexible, dynamic, its

bonds continually breaking and reforging, and every puddle of water reacting as one electronic

whole, a fellowship that may extend to entire oceans.

A flowing thermos, water absorbs, holds and transports heat for long enough to create

hospitable coastlands. The Gulf Stream, a wide river inside the ocean, every hour delivers

millions of miles of warm water to northern shores. Rivers also churn through the air, as water

evaporating from the tropics becomes water vapor that drives the winds. Endlessly levitating,

falling and condensing, no water is new — all of it, every drop, is recycled from somewhere

and somewhen else. The water in the stalk of celery I am eating right now may have fallen as

rain in the Amazon last year, or it may have been slurped up by a dinosaur millions of years

ago. We’ve learned how to catch and carry water, but 97 percent of Earth’s water lies in the

oceans, 2 percent in snow; the rest falls to us for irrigation, drinking and survival.

Covering half of the planet, clouds look collaged onto the sky, Rorschach-like nomads that

collapse and fall as rain. Thousands of tons of water, millions of drops, they look serene but are

unstable, jostling hordes. In one form or another 70 cubic miles of water falls to Earth every

day, but not, alas, precisely where we may wish. Half of the world’s rain showers down on the

Amazon, where it falls thick as rubber. That’s the only place I know where the air can hold 100

percent humidity without raining.

Aerial water can’t compete with the oceans for sheer volume, of course, but snowmelt and

rain replenish lakes and rivers, springs and wells, and abounding life forms, including 6 billion

humans. Drinking, eating, excreting and thinking water, our tissues are marshes and estuaries,

underground aquiFers dozens of miles deep and hundreds of

miles wide, are the Earth’s second-largest reserve of fresh water (after ice

caps and glaciers). These vast underground repositories contain more than

100 times the amount of water held in rivers and lakes. Filled over billions

of years, aquifers are today being drained at two to four times their natural

recharge rate in order to supply a third of the world’s drinking and irrigation

water. Here, a team of recreational spelunkers drops into the 160-foot-deep

Neversink Pit in Alabama. george steinmetz

Our food is mainly water. Water connects us to every other facet of life on Earth, in one

large flowing enterprise. Predator and prey share water holes, friends and foes share oases.

Without water, cultures founder and civilizations die.

We may say and think humans walk, but what we really do is flow. When we lie down like

spirit levels, our waters flatten, but they keep moving, sliding, gliding, renewing. Does life

exist elsewhere in the universe? Look for water. Water allows even unrelated substances

to mix, tumble, blend and bark with electricity. Because water dissolves things, it’s easy to

pollute, and because water is persuadable, it’s easy to rule.

Water, water everywhere. Insistent, incessant, in torrents, in teacups, water clings to cool

rocks, wobbles prisms of dew, shapes pudgy fingers and eyes, inks the layout of cities and

the love life of squids, reflects so poignantly we use the image to describe our mental world,

tempers the rain-guzzling cottonwoods and willows, pools below ground in the water table

where life dines, swirls on invisible winds across the sky, bubbles saliva at the sight of a ripe

apricot, oozes sweat during a dragon boat race, imbues even the driest dust with a smidge of

damp, puffs up seed pods, supplies a bucket brigade of bees with coolant for summer hives,

corrupts the face of cliffs, incises granite, incants as it trickles over pebbles (whose echo lives

in the Aramaic word “poet”), excites the nutrients in broth, incubates life in womb-time,

incurs the wrath of both neighbors and nations (the word “rival” originally meant to share

the same stream), incites border wars, indents coastlines, invigorates farmlands, stiffens plant

stems, conducts traffic between empires, cools forges and whetstones, frets rock until it

leaches minerals, echoes with whale songs, crackles with fish talk, one moment shimmers

like a drape of shot silk and the next lies gray as pewter, twirls petticoats, hoists chemicals,

is easily indoctrinated or nimbly coaxed into silos, geysers up as life’s wellspring and, upon

reflection, heralds the beginning and end of all thirst.

So, protecting the planet’s fresh water becomes an act of self-preservation. Though we can’t

always see downstream from reckless events, we pay dearly for that short-sightedness. Not

if, but when. The web of life trembles on such fragile threads. Listen, now, in the distance, a

calamity, can you hear it? Like thunder warnings before a summer storm.

— diane aCkerman

our organs islands, our bloodstreams long rivers with creeks and feeders. Sloshing sacs of

chemicals on the move, we leak from many orifices throughout our lives and still carry the salty

ocean in our blood, skin, sweat and tears. Menstrual periods mirror the tides. We need water

to oil joints, digest food, build the smile-bright enamel on our teeth. We are water’s way of

reflecting on the life it promotes.

The soul of water is change. Colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless, water will dissolve

almost anything on its travels through the ground and body, carrying sap and serum, minerals

and blood, tiny chem-labs to power thought, and at times abominations. It sponges up the world

around it, absorbs new personas. And, then, for a while at least, it struts out of the shadows,

takes the stage and becomes visible, seasoned, a creature of substance with a real personality.

For one bushel of wheat, farmers need 20,000 gallons of water. A tree is 75 percent water,

an apple 80 percent water, a fetus 97 percent water, an adult man 70 percent water, an adult

woman 50 percent (more body fat). This means a 150-pound man is about 105 pounds of water.

Because we’re mostly water ourselves, surrounded by water, we go with the flow, water down

proposals, spend money like water, have liquid assets, dilute drinks, take the plunge, booze until

we’re pickled, go through baptisms of fire, try not to be bores or scoundrels of the first water.

No one wants to be shallow. Past events we banish as water under the bridge.

Gushing out alive after nine months afloat, we nonetheless fear death by water, fear getting in

over our heads, until we’re drowning in work, flooded by emotion and flailing just to keep our

head above water while we dissolve into tears. Unless we deep-six whatever was needling us.

Water can be docile, too, and so easily influenced that the slightest breeze blowing on it, or

the tiniest pebble dropping into it, is enough to roll small waves across the surface. And so we

picture laughter rippling around a table, or a few words setting off a froth of excitement.

On our planet at least, living plants and animals need to ferry nutrients and send messages.

Both require a benign liquid. Life is opportunistic, it adapts, and it exploits what’s available. In

one form or another, water greets us every day, from the liquid we splash on our faces to water

locked inside the cells of nutritious heads of grain. We water our plants, our homes, our bodies.

the Water cycle endlessly repeats itself. Every day, enough water

to cover the planet’s surface a tenth of an inch deep falls from the sky. And

roughly the same amount evaporates from the oceans and land. It stays in

the air for about 10 days until it eventually condenses to form clouds before

falling back to the Earth as rain. daniel beltrá


On average, no more than a third of the wastewater in developing countries is treated before being discharged into rivers, streams and lakes. 100 years ago, London, New York and Paris were centers of infectious waterborne disease, but today they boast some of the best public water systems in the world.

hindu pilgrims travel thousands of miles to collect a bottle of water from the headwaters

of the sacred Ganges River, and they proudly display the bottle in their homes for the rest of

their lives. An important part of ritual purification in Hinduism is the bathing of the entire body,

particularly in rivers considered holy. Qilai Shen, Panos Pictures

shamans perForm a soul-cleansing ritual at Peguche Falls in Ecuador during the Inti Raymi fiesta,

an ancient Incan celebration of the sun. The water is believed to give a person power to work and courage

to dance for the fiesta. Ivan Kashinsky, WPN

Drinking Dinosaur Water 37

Over the last three decades, the portion of India’s population with access to clean drinking water has grown from 17 percent to 86 percent.

Water plays a central role in many religions around the world.

In Varanasi, India, 60,000 Hindus bathe in the Ganges River every day. While

the faithful believe that water cleans and purifies the body, the World Wildlife

Fund considers the Ganges to be one of the world’s 10 most endangered

rivers due to the over-extraction and pollution of its waters.

Ami Vitale, Panos Pictures

orthodox JeWs in Jerusalem collect water from a mountain spring to

be used to bake matzoh (unleavened bread) after the Mayim Shelanu ceremony,

which involves letting water settle in a cool place overnight. Water is a source

of increasing conflict in this region because Israel controls water supplies for

both the West Bank and the Jordan River. Menahem Kahama, Getty Images

Drinking Dinosaur Water 39 Ivan Kashinsky

frozen assetsEVERY DAY, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE throughout the world

awaken in the fearful knowledge that, before anything else, they must

find fresh water to survive. And in their single-minded pursuit, these

multitudes often go to incredible — sometimes superhuman — lengths

to find, gather, carry, store and sometimes even sell to their thirsty

neighbors that precious fluid. In ways we can hardly imagine, their lives are

defined by the scarcity of clean, fresh water.

Take Baltasar Ushca, for example. Ushca, 64, is a hielero, an “ice man,”

and every week for a half-century he has climbed to the very top of the

world to collect that ice. Ushca spends four hours climbing to the summit

of Mount Chimborazo, the farthest point from the center of the Earth,

and uses his pickax to harvest as much glacier ice as his donkey can carry.

The precious cargo is wrapped in paja, a plant found high in the Andes,

and loaded onto the burdened animal. The two then trudge back down

to the mountain to the village of Riobamba. There, he puts the ice into a

covered hole to protect it from melting.

On market day, Ushca delivers the ice blocks to anxious local vendors,

who quickly chop the ice up to make hugely popular fruit drinks. Much

of the appeal of the drinks lies in the belief by locals that the pure glacier

water is especially good for their health.

Within hours the ice is gone. Only then is Ushca paid $7 for his efforts.

When the following week rolls around, the ice man and his long-suffering

donkey once again embark on their climb to the top of the mountain.

— MICHAEL MALONE


ushca uses axes and spades to hack away chunks of glacial ice before he loads his donkey for the return trip. Ivan Kashinsky

Baltasar ushca starts the four-hour trip up the Mount Chimborazo on his quest to bring back ice from ancient glaciers. Ivan Kashinsky

locals rave aBout the freshness of Maria Leonor Allauco’s fruit smoothies, which are blended with Ushca’s glacial ice. Ivan Kashinsky

at the markets of Riobamba, Ushca lugs the ice, still wrapped in straw to minimize melting, to local drink vendors. Ivan Kashinsky

40 Blue Planet Run

42 Blue Planet Run

According to the United Nations, children in the developed world consume 30 to 50 times as much water as they do in the developing world.

in iran, Sayed Shukrallah performs maintenance on a qanat, an ancient

subterranean water distribution system consisting of tunnels that can

transport groundwater to settlements almost 40 miles away. These plaster-

lined tunnels, some as deep as 30 feet, are difficult to dig and require almost

constant maintenance due to silt buildup. The arduous and dangerous work

is traditionally left to boys; their fathers stand near the entry shafts in case a

tunnel collapses and they have to rescue their children. george steinmetz

in July 2007, remote sensing experts at Boston University reported

the discovery of an enormous underground reservoir of water the size of

Massachusetts beneath Darfur in western Sudan. While this vast Sub-Saharan

region used to be among the most lush and fertile in the world, today it

is one of the driest and most troubled places on Earth. In recent years,

more than 200,000 people have died in Darfur, partly due to disputes over

water and other natural resources. Humanitarian groups working to end

the conflict in Darfur are optimistic that this “mega-lake” could help ease

tensions in the region. michael kamber

Poisoning the Well 45

It’s common knowledge that you can survive for weeks without food. But without water?

A few days, at the most. We are mostly water and our planet is mostly water — indeed it’s

often called the ‘water planet,’ its blue seas and white cloudy mists forming the dominant

features we see from space.

Yet in many ways water is scarce. Ninety seven percent of the planet’s water is undrinkable

sea water, most of the rest is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, or falls in places far from

people. Even so, we’d have enough places, if we hadn’t figured out a

staggering list of ways to pollute and squander our birthright.

The most obvious examples loom large in our collective memory.

Forty years ago America awoke one morning to discover that the

Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was on fire. When a river catches on

fire, that gets our attention. One would think that billions of dead fish

bobbing to the surface of ponds and lakes and rivers all over the world would be a clear sign

that something was seriously wrong, but in most places those warnings are still being ignored.

These are examples of our collective failure to see what is right before our eyes. But the

subterranean, slow-moving and subtle water disasters — many of them occurring literally

beneath our feet — should frighten us even more.

Consider, for instance, the ways the United States has managed to overpump the invisible

deep aquifers under its fields and cities. This might have been a warning to other nations,

but greed and short-term gains have a curious ability to blind us to the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, all of the major grain-producing countries adopted deep water pumping in the

years right after World War II. The United States implemented this technology quicker, and

thus encountered its problems first — but not by much, and by then, the rest of the world

was already deeply committed.

The result is that China, India and the United States, as well as scores of other countries,

are all starting to pump their reservoirs dry at the same time, which is right now. Over the

last decade the water table beneath the North China Plains and the Indian Punjab has been

dropping by meters each year — in some places, tens of meters. These deep aquifers took

millions of years to fill, and we are draining them in less than a century. This is not a resource

that can be replenished overnight; it may take decades, if it’s even possible at this late date.

And that’s only if we have the resolve to do it.

WasteWater gushes out of a pipe at the state-owned Lianhua factory

in China. Lianhua, which means “Lotus Flower,” is the largest producer of MSG

in China and the largest polluter in the Huai River Basin. Worldwide, it is estimated

that half of all major rivers are seriously polluted or depleted. Stephen Voss

Take Bangladesh, home to 150 million people and one of the wettest places on earth. It’s the delta of the great

sacred rivers of Asia — the Ganges and the Brahmaputra both reach the ocean here, finishing their descent from

the high Himalayas in slow and stately fashion. One might think that water would be the least of the country’s

problems — indeed, Bangladesh has so much water that travel in many seasons is easier by ferry than by bus.

But because Bangalesh’s water sits on the surface, it is vulnerable to many kinds of pollution — some from

industry, some from the spread of human waste. From the latter, for example, waterborne cholera has become

an endemic problem.

The United Nations thought it had a solution to the polluted surface water: Go underground. Mile-deep wells

were dug across much of the nation, and people were urged to stop drinking surface water. Unfortunately,

the U.N. forgot to check the underlying geology or to even test the underground water. Only when entire

communities of Bengalis fell sick did scientists determine that the new deep wells were bringing massive

quantities of arsenic to the surface, slowly poisoning the population.

Bangladesh is the canary in the coal mine for an impending water crisis that may well engulf us all: climate

change. Mankind, without much forethought, has been conducting the largest and most extensive hydrological

experiment in history — and, like the sinking cities and drying wells of the world, the disastrous results are only

now beginning to reveal themselves.

One result of this unconscionable and blind draining of humanity’s lifeblood is that a once-invisible disaster is

now suddenly surfacing. Just travel the countryside north of Beijing. You’ll meet scores of people who are in

despair because the same wells that their families had used for generations have suddenly run dry. China’s crisis

is so severe that the country is re-routing entire rivers in the south through thousands of miles of aqueduct in a

desperate attempt to serve the needs of the north.

But that diversion, in turn, is creating its own crisis. To deal with the water shortage, large regions of China are

now switching from growing wheat, a notoriously thirsty grain, to corn, which uses less water but also produces

lower yields. The impact of that shift is, in turn, depressingly predictable: With smaller harvests, China has been

forced for the first time to import grain from the West. In effect, China, for the very first time in its long history,

is importing “virtual water” in the form of goods.

The world has become too small in the 21st century for any nation to export its problems. And if you think these

problems are simply those of the developing world, then visit Las Vegas. Or Phoenix. Or…

This is just the beginning. When it comes to water, disasters cluster. Already, there are places on Earth where

water-based crises are mounting so fast that it is hard to know where to begin to solve them. The solution to

one problem exacerbates another.

Visitors are cautioned to stay away from the Las Vegas Wash, an artificial wetland that helps recycle

wastewater from the fastest-growing city in the United States. Approximately 65 million gallons of treated water, including

water from casinos, are returned to Lake Mead every day by the city’s Water Pollution Control Facility. Tiffany Brown

Consider the Ganges and Brahmaputra, both now fed by ever-faster melting glaciers. The

two rivers in turn pour into the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, an ocean that has now

begun to rise. That higher sea in turn acts as a kind of fluid dam, forcing the rivers to spread

out in a devastating flood. By mid-century, according to some estimates, much of Bangladesh

will be underwater.

Raising the planet’s temperature, in fact, will disrupt almost everything aquatic on earth.

The salient scientific fact is that warm air holds more water vapor than cold. Thus in arid

areas, one can expect more evaporation: Computer models show that virgin flows along the

Colorado River, for example, may drop by half as the century proceeds. That’s bad news for

a West that already strains that river to slake its thirst.

But if humanity seems to always ignore problems until they reach crisis proportions, so too

does it have the capacity, once mobilized, to bring vast amounts of energy and ingenuity to

solve those problems. And so it is good news that we’ve at least begun early experiments in

water-saving agriculture, such as new, less-thirsty varieties of plants, drip irrigation and water

recycling. In the United States, 35 years of the Clean Water Act have meant that we can swim

in and drink from far more of our lakes and rivers in the first years of the 21st century than

the last years of the 20th.

But will our solutions be efficient and sweeping enough to deal with what is now a rapidly

expanding world-wide water crisis? Can our experiments spread fast enough to keep up with

the pace of expanding consumer life, a life that, by its very nature, uses more and more water?

Perhaps the only real hope is a change in mind-set toward valuing clean, fresh water at its true

worth. Some of that new valuation will be, for lack of a better word, spiritual — learning to

once again see water not as a commodity, in infinite supply, but as something precious, to be

preserved and not taken for granted.

The most spiritual human moments involve water, whether it is baptism in the Christian

church or the ritual bathing by Hindus in the Mother Ganges. Pious Muslims wash before

prayer; pious Jews before marriage. Water has always cleaned us — cleaned us literally,

cleaned us of our sins, cleaned our minds and hearts. Now we must learn how to return the

favor, to wash water itself free of the thousand stains we’ve inflicted on it in our heedless

rush toward prosperity.

— BILL MCKIBBEN The UniTed naTions estimates that half the hospital beds in

the world are occupied by people with easily preventable water-related

diseases. Here a young boy with malaria lies in a hospital bed in Sierra Leone.

Worldwide, nearly 5,000 children die every day from water-related illnesses.

Brent Stirton, Getty Images

50 Blue Planet Run Poisoning the Well 51


Multiplication ProblemOVERPOPULATION Is THE ROOT Of mOsT, if not all, of the challenges facing mankind today,

including global warming, food shortages, air pollution, loss of plant and animal habitat, ocean

contamination and of course, water shortage.

The statistics are all too clear. During the 2 million years that human beings have been on the

planet, we amounted to less than a quarter of a million individuals. Worldwide population

didn’t hit the 1 billion mark until the early 1800s. But human growth has been exponential:

We reached 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1975, 5 billion in 1987 and 6 billion

in 1999. Today population experts believe there are now 6.5 billion of us, with another hungry

and thirsty 80 million mouths being added this year.

We no longer simply inhabit the planet, we overwhelm the planet. And there’s no end in

sight. According to the World Wildlife foundation, “Our collective exploitation of the world’s

resources has already reached a level that could only be sustained on a planet 25 percent larger

than our own.”

Ironically, the biggest problem is that we’ve become too good at prolonging our own

lives. Major advances in science, technology, hygiene and medicine have doubled our life

expectancies and dramatically lowered our mortality rates. Today, around the globe, six babies

are born per second and three people die per second.

At the same time that more of us are living longer, we are also reproducing more. More people

living longer lives means exponential population growth, since each person has the ability to

produce numerous offspring, and each offspring can birth many more.

The United Nations projects that by the year 2050 there will be somewhere between 8 billion

and 10 billion humans — an increase of roughly 50 percent over today’s world population.

Resources like fresh water are already at a straining point in many countries around the world.

What do we do when there are 50 percent more of us vying for the same dwindling resource?

Home to more than 10 million people, metropolitan Manila is one of the most

densely populated cities in the world. The world’s population has increased by 150

percent in the last 50 years, from 2.5 billion in 1950 to more than 6 billion in 2000.

The good news: national birthrates actually decrease as countries, like the Philippines,

become more affluent. Mads Nissen

cape town, soutH africa, has grown rapidly since the end

of apartheid in 1994, and it embodies a demographic sea change: Soon

a majority of the world’s population will live in cities for the first time in

history. Worldwide, population has tripled in the last century while water

use has grown sixfold. George Steinmetz

anna Hazare demonstrates the power of the indi-

vidual. A former army truck driver, he was a self-described

brawler before he decided to change his life, and his village,

Ralegan Siddhi. As a result of Hazare’s efforts, his village

has become a model of rural economic development in

India. He advocated the building of dams and canals, which

enabled villagers to grow new crops. Trees were planted

and slopes terraced to help retain rainwater. After 20 years

of such efforts, the village now has water all year round.

Hazare, strongly influenced by the teachings of Gandhi, says,

“It is impossible to change the village without transforming

the individual. Similarly, it is impossible to transform the

country without changing its villages.” Atul Loke


The United Nations has recognized 1,400 wetland areas around the world that are being protected from development, a collective area the size of southern Europe. Residue from antidepressants, birth control pills and antibiotics are found in 80 percent of U.S. waterways and groundwater, according to the EPA.

Green alGae is growing almost everywhere off the Florida Keys, even on an underwater

statue known as “Christ of the Abyss.” Divers often scrub the statue with wire brushes but have

a hard time keeping it clear of the algae. Sewage and water runoff that contains fertilizers feed the

growth of algae and bacteria, which in turn consume huge amounts of oxygen, choking plant and

animal life, including 220 miles of Florida coral. And every day, about 1 billion gallons of sewage is

pumped into the sea or into aquifers that leak into the ocean. Stephen Frink Collection, Alamy

water supplied by the public utility in the Brittany region of France has become

unsuitable for human consumption due to contamination from pesticides and intensive

livestock farming. Today nitrates, toxins, heavy metals and harmful microorganisms are

found in groundwater in nearly every European country and the former Soviet republics.

Johann Rousselot, Oeil Public

BeneatH tHe frozen ice of the Ural River in Russia, affected by

waste from Lenin steelworks, fish have become too contaminated for local

fishermen to eat. Instead, they send their catch to distant markets. The Ural

River is not an isolated case either. Many water sources have become so

polluted and overfished that 1 in every 5 of the world’s freshwater species have

become extinct, threatened or endangered in recent decades. Gerd Ludwig


U.S. cities began chlorinating water 100 years ago, saving thousands from diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and hepatitis.One quart of untreated wastewater pollutes 8 quarts of fresh water.

many residents of Queens, New York, say they won’t drink from

the tap anymore after officials in may 2007 found higher-than-normal levels of

tetrachloroethylene, or PERC, which is often used by dry cleaners and in auto

repair shops. Chronic exposure to elevated levels can lead to dizziness, confusion

and nausea, and the Environmental Protection Agency says it is a probable

carcinogen. fire hydrants are flushed to draw new water into the system, diluting

any chemicals that might linger. Uli Seit, The New York Times, Redux

in Varanasi, india, untreated sewage flows directly into the

Ganges River, the source of drinking, bathing and irrigation water for 500

million people. Despite the government’s best efforts, including $130 million

for the river’s cleanup, millions of gallons of raw sewage are dumped into

the Ganges every day. Worldwide, 2 million tons of human, industrial and

agricultural waste are discharged into rivers and lakes every day.

Amit Bhargava, Corbis


Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, infamous for catching fire in 1969, has been subsequently removed from the EPA’s National Priority List due to collaborative cleanup efforts. Half of the world’s 500 major rivers are seriously depleted or polluted by industrial, agriculture and human waste.

money contriButed by the leading industrial nations of the world has helped preserve

the natural lifestyles of Indians living on their ancestral homelands in the Amazon. Concerned

about the destruction of the rainforest, G8 countries set up a program that allowed 160 tribes in

the region to mark and preserve their own territories. Non-indigenous people are required to

have special permits to be in the area. Here, a Waipi family takes advantage of the fresh running

water of the Amazon. Gerd Ludwig

industrial pollution, garbage and human waste have fouled the Congo

River, yet those who live near its shores have no choice but to use it for their most basic

needs — hydration, sanitation and transportation. In the poorest parts of Kinshasa,

residents wind their way through mounds of garbage to obtain enough water to bathe

and cook. Per-Anders Pettersson, Getty Images


The People vs. ChevronTHE DAY THAT CRUDE OIL began to flow from Texaco’s wells in the

area around Lago Agrio in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 1972, was the

day that hundreds of square miles of surrounding rainforest began its

transformation into a toxic waste dump.

Today, Chevron (which acquired Texaco in 2001) is in a multi-year legal

battle with “Los Afectados,” 30,000 Amazonian settlers and indigenous

people who contend that Chevron should be held responsible for

the pollution and toxic compounds spread over 1,700 square miles of

rainforest that have contaminated the Amazon watershed.

Chevron presents itself as the victim and is spending millions of dollars a

year on a high-priced team of lawyers, claiming that it is being extorted

for problems it didn’t create. Interestingly, “Los Afectados” aren’t

asking for money for themselves; they are asking for Chevron to accept

responsibility for its actions and to invest the money needed to fix the

mess so future generations are spared the health problems that currently

plague the region. Even if the local inhabitants win, the cleanup could take

decades and cost upward of $6 billion — meaning this might represent a

landmark as the largest environmental lawsuit in history.

In the May 7, 2007, issue of Vanity Fair, writer William Langewiesche

commented on Chevron’s response to the lawsuit: “Chevron denies

that it contaminated the forest, denies that there is a link between the

drinking water and high rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and

skin disease and denies that it bears responsibility for any environmental

damage that might after all be found to exist. If Chevron can convince the

court of the validity of even a few of those points, it will win the case and

leave town. Worldwide the oil industry is watching.”

ecuadorian special forces stand in riot gear as hundreds march on the Superior

Court of Justice in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, on Oct. 21, 2003. It was the

first day of court proceedings in a lawsuit filed by indigenous people seeking environmental

cleanup costs from Chevron. Lou Dematteis, Redux

texaco sprayed crude oil on dirt

roads to keep dust down while it operated in the

Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 through 1992.

The practice still continues today in the town of

shushufindi. Lou Dematteis, Redux

anGel toala marin’s home is near an oil well in shushufindi, Ecuador, where waste has been dumped into local water supplies. When

Angel contracted stomach cancer, doctors who diagnosed him blamed the contaminated drinking water. “I don’t think the oil company worried if

they contaminated the water,” Angel’s wife, Luz Maria Marin, said the day after her husband died. “We knew the water was bad for our health, but

what could we do? There wasn’t water anywhere else.” Lou Dematteis, Redux

unlined waste pits filled with crude oil are a sad legacy of Texaco’s 28 years of drilling in Ecuador. It could cost as much as $6 billion to

ignore the waste oil left behind, but who will pay for it and how the oil will be cleaned up are still at issue. Lou Dematteis, Redux

Poisoning the Well 67

a tecHnician wearing a hazardous materials suit checks for life-threatening carcinogens in soil samples gathered in 2004 in the Ecuadorian

forest near the town of Sacha. Lou Dematteis, Redux

cHeVron Vice president Ricardo Reis Veiga holds a news conference after the first day of hearings in Ecuador in 2004. The company

denies that it contaminated the region and that the forest is polluted. It also dismisses the link between the water in the region and the high rates

of cancer, leukemia, birth defects and skin disease. Lou Dematteis, Redux

tHe case aGainst cHeVron has been going on for four years, and it may take many more to decide. Soldiers stand guard at one of the

company’s wells in 2004 as evidence is gathered for the case. Lou Dematteis, Redux

secoya indiGenous leader Humberto Piaguaje (in red) speaks at a demonstration after emerging from Chevron’s annual shareholder

meeting in san Ramon, California, on April 25, 2007. He announces, “Our struggle is not for money. We want you to repair the damage so our

children do not have to continue suffering.” Lou Dematteis, Redux

Poisoning the Well 6968 Blue Planet Run

indiGenous Group memBers use their bodies to spell out the

message “Long live Yasuni” on July 5, 2007. The demonstration was part of

a larger public awareness effort to protect Yasuni National Park, home to

some of the most biodiverse habitat in the world. To avoid repeating the

environmental disaster in the northern Amazon, Ecuadorian President Rafael

Correa has reached out to the international community for compensation to

protect the rainforest. Lou Dematteis, Redux

paBlo fajardo is the lead Ecuadorian lawyer repre-

senting indigenous people in their landmark environmental

case against ChevronTexaco. In many ways he personifies

the David vs. Goliath quality of the case. Fajardo, who was

born into extreme poverty, earned his college diploma at

night and then completed his law degree in correspondence

school. With only a year of law practice, he took over the

case against the oil giant, squaring off against some of the

most prominent U.S. corporate attorneys. But Fajardo says

he is not intimidated. He attributes his confidence to the

years he spent working in the oil fields of the rainforest,

where he learned about the problems of pollution firsthand.

Lou Dematteis, Redux


The world grows twice as much food as it did a generation ago, but it uses three times as much water to grow it. Drip irrigation reduces water use by 30 to 70 percent compared with traditional flood irrigation or sprinklers.

tHird-Generation farmer Matthew Procter uses a GPS-wired tractor to plot, seed

and lay out drip irrigation for 500 acres near Rocky Ford, Colorado. Water is scarce here, so low-

and high-tech solutions come in handy for growers: Concrete-lined irrigation ditches eliminate

seepage, and laser-leveled fields prevent runoff. With a computer, Procter can even set the water

flow for his crops on any given day. Sergio Ballivian

foreiGn workers harvest tomatoes on the edge of Saudi Arabia’s

Rub’ al Khali desert, also known as the Empty Quarter. Agriculture

accounts for 70 percent of all fresh water used every year, far more

than industry or domestic uses, and by 2050 farms will have to feed an

additional 2.7 billion people. George Steinmetz

center piVot irriGation systems feed alfalfa crops near Wadi Dawasir, Saudi Arabia.

farming is viable in this desert climate only four months a year, but fields need year-round water to

stop salt from building up in the soil. Even outside the Middle East, salination is a growing problem

in large-scale irrigated farming. Overhead sprinklers use less water than flood irrigation, but waste

far more than ground-level drip tubing. George Steinmetz

74 Blue Planet Run

Four quarts of oil discarded during an average oil change can contaminate up to 1 million gallons of water.

tHe cHildren standing next to these outhouses in the Niger River Delta

symbolize a paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. Despite the fact that multinational

oil companies have pumped more than $400 billion of wealth out of the world’s third-

largest wetland, local residents have little to show for it. Pollution has affected the air

quality, soil fertility, waterways and wildlife, and it has even resulted in acid rain. As a

result, fishing and agriculture are no longer productive enough to sustain the area.

Ed Kashi, Aurora Photos

outside sHanGHai, the village of Dongjin is known as “Cancer Village”

for its polluted waters and resultant illnesses. Farmers say the Julong Chemical

Co. plant’s wastewater poisoned the water supply, contaminated the region’s

crops and contributed to dozens of cancer-related deaths. Residents are now

trying to shut down the plant and restore the river to health. Mads Nissen


New water bottles engineered with cornstarch biodegrade in 80 days, compared with traditional plastics, which may take several hundred years.Americans now consume more than 28 gallons of bottled water per person per year. Only about 23 percent of the bottles are recycled.

a worker at a recycling center in Shanghai sifts through the plastic

bottles that arrive in China by the boatload. Bottled water is now a $100

billion a year industry, second only to soft drinks in the beverage sector.

In the United States, the leading consumer followed by Mexico and China,

fewer than 25 percent of the bottles are recycled, contributing 2 million tons

per year to landfills. Reuters

mountains of “e-waste” have been shipped to China, where

families who used to work on farms have taken to scavenging among the

piles of keyboards, motherboards and discarded computer components in

Chaoyang County in southern Guangdong Province, among other places.

The e-waste contains hundreds of extremely toxic substances, including

lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury and other heavy metals that leach into

the groundwater. Alessandro Digaetano


Over the last 30 years, 5,244 patents for water purification have been filed with the U.s. Patent and Trademark Office.More than 1 billion people live in slums around the world, often without access to water, due to utilities refusing connections without a formal property title.

tHere are 37 sHantytowns in the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, most of

which do not have reliable water services. The city has 2 million inhabitants, a tenfold

population increase in the past 30 years. People and animals bathe together in water

that is provided by the city but is not fit to drink. Shaul Schwarz, Getty Images

dean kamen is a man full of ideas and enthusiasm. Probably best known for his Segway

scooter, he recently turned his attention to the world’s water crisis. He has developed a small

refrigerator-sized machine called the Slingshot, which can transform the most polluted water into

clean water in just a few seconds. A team of engineers and scientists is working around the clock

at his DEKA laboratories to reduce production costs so the device can be made more widely

available. A veteran inventor, Kamen already holds more than 440 patents. And as the founder

of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), Kamen hopes to instill his

excitement for the prospects and promises of technology in the next generation of innovators.

Jason Grow

80 Blue Planet Run

When a crisis seems too big to solve, the real problem may be that we are applying the

wrong solution.

For the last 50 years, governments, foundations and other major institutions have tried to tackle

the global clean water crisis through big, and often hugely expensive, regional water projects.

Billions of dollars were spent, dams built, wells dug, rivers diverted.

The result? The crisis has only gotten worse. The big

water projects, while generally successful, also required

enormous funding; Even among more modest projects, it

is estimated that less than 50 percent of all ventures over the last half-century actually succeeded

in achieving their goals. There were successes, but not enough to keep up with the deteriorating

global situation.

None of this was the result of bad intentions; on the contrary, almost all of these projects, big and

small, were based upon goodwill. Yet cumulatively they still failed to solve — indeed, even make a

dent in — the problem.

And so, we fall ever further behind. Today, an estimated 1.1 billion people around the world

lack clean and safe water. And the crisis, once largely restricted to the rural poor in developing

countries, has now spread around the planet. At the beginning of the 21st century, most of

the world’s citizens facing shortages of fresh water were poor. But now millions can be found

everywhere from tiny farms and villages to giant metropolises. They live on every continent except

Antarctica. And right now, their prospects of ever enjoying safe drinking water are slim.

Change is the word of the day in the village of Ralegan

Siddhi in the Ahmednagar District of India. With funding from the Blue

Planet Run Foundation, the local community has transformed itself

into a model of self-sufficiency by repairing ponds to harvest rainwater,

planting trees and terracing hillsides to reduce soil erosion. Most

recently, the community has installed solar panels and windmills.

Atul Loke

Clearly, the strategies have failed. But if national governments and giant international institutions,

regional bureaucrats and community leaders can’t find the answer, who can?

The answer may lie at the nexus of two new powerful technologies: the Internet and online

communities. It just may be possible to harness the creativity and the real-life experiences of

the millions of people affected by the water crisis — and then tie them with potential funders,

together using the extraordinary collaborative power of the Web.

In other words, an online community could share best practices, monitor itself and be capable of

scaling up to deal with a vast number of unique local water challenges, all at the same time. Such a

scenario would be impossible for even the biggest traditional institution, but it is precisely the kind

of challenge solvable by the Web.

The Peer Water Exchange, or PWX, a project of the Blue Planet Run Foundation, is the brainchild

of a former high-tech executive, Rajesh Shah. PWX breaks with the traditional — and failed —

models for dealing with the world water crisis. Instead, it recognizes that the only real answer

for the needs of hundreds of millions of people in rural communities will come from thousands

of small projects, implemented and managed by locals and customized for the unique problems of

each community. PWX believes that it is these local projects that will ultimately find real, practical

and sustainable solutions.

The challenge becomes: How do you stay on top of all of these grassroots efforts? There are

likely to be more than one million new water project proposals over the next two decades, tens

of thousands of them worthy of funding. But how do you manage all of these projects efficiently?

Water 2.0 83

Vietnamese Children like Tran Quoc Xu, 11,

used to spend a significant portion of their day fetching

water. Today a water system funded by the Blue Planet Run

Foundation via PWX, in Dong Lam hamlet means villagers

no longer have to travel great distances for water nor pay

high prices to have it delivered. They previously paid $3.20

to have 250 gallons of water delivered by a truck vendor.

Now residents spend just 12 cents for the same amount.

Doan Bao Chao

Once funded, how do you track their progress? And, finally, how do you disseminate tested

principals from those that prove successful?

Shah readily admits that this kind of undertaking is beyond the ability of any individual organization

or agency. “My knowledge of water issues is intellectual,” Shah admits. “I’ve never dug a well or

organized a community. So, just because I can fund projects, does that mean they should take my

advice, too? No — they are far better off talking to each other.”

The answer, Shah believes, is to use the Internet to turn the traditional process upside-down —

beginning with how projects are selected and funded, how they are managed and staffed and how

their results are reported.

This is where Shah’s technology and consulting experience has served him well. He understands

that many of the most successful new enterprises in the 21st century are social networks. That is,

from MySpace to Wikipedia, to giant online games such as Second Life, the most powerful new

business model is one in which traditional top-down, “command and control,” business models

are replaced with a radically new one in which the participants themselves build, manage and

police the enterprise. As the hundreds of millions of users on these sites have quickly come to

appreciate, this new participatory model results in a richer and more customized experience with

greater flexibility and responsiveness.

These efficiencies are precisely the results Rajesh Shah is looking for with PWX, as it knits the

implementers in the field into a collaborative community so unique that the Blue Planet Run

Foundation has applied for a patent. What this means in practice is that PWX invites reputable

nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, to join the community. Periodically, PWX places funds

into the program and requests that participating NGOs submit their applications for funding. That

in turn sparks PWX’s most important innovation: peer review.

Participants are asked to review each other’s proposals. Each proposal is seen by as many as seven

participants — a process that not only results in large numbers of proposals being scrutinized

quickly, but also ensures that innovative new practices are shared amongst the reviewers

themselves. Funding is then awarded based upon these peer reviews. And the process begins again.

As the reviewers will be judged by the success of these projects, they are motivated to stay in

contact, offer advice and share best practices.

All of this creates a transparent experience for everyone involved, Shah believes, a break from

the old style of closed meetings held within giant foundations. “The participants are learning

from each other; in fact, by having to review each other’s projects, they are forced to.” Expertise

and experience can now be administered quickly where it is needed most. “We end up with a

distributed volunteer staff that is far more expert than any we might hire,” says Shah.

84 Blue Planet Run Water 2.0 8584 Blue Planet Run

Chilukwa Primary sChool provides 400 boys and girls in Malawi,

Africa, with a sound education, but until recently the school had no running

water or bathrooms. In addition, waterborne illnesses caused many students to

miss classes several times a month. To address the problem, a local organization

used PWX to apply for funding to build a community tap, latrines and bathing

facilities. Beth Gage

The result is a mutually supportive and collaborative community that

encourages, in fact requires, sharing and learning. It also enlists those

people closest to the problem — the hard-working practitioners in

the field — thus recruiting expert hands at extremely low cost and

overhead to address the problem. But most important, by enlisting

members into the decision-making process, PWX should be able

to scale up to almost any size and deal with almost any number of

programs on a global basis — all without having to increase its own

staffing or overhead. PWX can grow as big as the crisis it is taking on.

Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and one of the world’s

leading experts on the global water crisis, says of PWX: “I’ve seen

nothing else like it, and think it offers serious potential for improving

transparency, information availability to the user, and the ability to

understand what really works in the real world.”

The Blue Planet Run Foundation has a goal of bringing clean and

safe water to 200 million people by 2025. To achieve that, PWX is

committed to acting as both platform and process to fund more than

200,000 peer-managed water projects around the world efficiently,

transparently and effectively.

The global water crisis will be one of the biggest challenges facing

humanity in this century. But thanks to innovative ideas like PWX,

which mix new technologies and organizational models in an explosive

combination with the untapped genius of thousands of people, the goal

of clean water for everyone no longer seems impossible.

We may not have the right answers yet for the world water crisis, but

we may now at last be closer to implementing the right solution.

To experience the Peer Water Exchange, go online to www.peerwater.

org. There you can read the proposals as well as the review comments

…and perhaps be inspired to participate.

— Michael Malone

oVer the Past 30 years the famed “Barefoot College” organization, started

by Skoll Foundation Award winner Bunker Roy, has worked with the poorest of the

poor — women, dropouts and unemployable youths — in remote villages in 13 Indian

states. It has provided them with training through a self-help model that respects

local knowledge and capability and promotes local organizations to make community

decisions. The college’s heralded programs have been expanded thanks to funds

received through PWX. The Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia

100 percent of the donations to the Blue Planet Run Foundation goes directly to fund Peer Water Exchange-sponsored programs.On average, 30 percent of all charitable donations is consumed by administrative overhead.

alfred nysunda has spent the last three years helping to alleviate critical water shortages

at the Kisii hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. Rotary International has received funding through the Peer

Water Exchange and has broken ground on a system that will provide more than 80,000 gallons

of water per day — well above the hospital’s current daily need for 35,000 gallons. The hospital

serves a population of 585,000, many of whom suffer from AIDS and malaria. Stephen Digges

in las roChas and other rural communities in northern Nicaragua, El Porvenir works

closely with residents to install hundreds of wells and thousands of latrines, thanks to financial

support from the Blue Planet Run Foundation. In an effort to increase sustainability, the group limits

its projects to requests initiated by rural villages. At the same, it encourages residents to elect local

committees to oversee the long-term maintenance of the water systems. Tim Wagner

Water 2.0 87


A sAlmon counter at the Bonneville Dam in Oregon counts fish

as they swim upstream in the Columbia river. There are 45,000 large dams

around the world that generate almost 25 percent of the world’s power.

But dams are far from a perfect alternative to burning fossil fuels for energy

production. They have a dramatic impact on the environment and have

displaced millions of people from their homes. Joel Sartore

When used properly, nothing drives growth and eliminates

poverty more effectively than water.

Clean water has done more for the health of humanity than any medicine or scientific achievement. In developed

countries, diseases that were responsible for the great majority of deaths in human history — cholera, typhoid and

malaria, for example — have been washed away by clean water. Often, all it took was a working sewer system.

Good water has not only prevented illness, it has also produced the healthy crops that improve our nutrition.

Irrigation for agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of all water use. Sophisticated systems and giant water

projects have helped produce an ever-increasing yield of food to satisfy the surging population of the Earth. Nearly

a quarter of all electricity is powered by hydroelectric turbines. Our products and services, the building blocks of

our cities and towns, our ability to forge steel and build spaceships, water plays a role in everything we do.

Sadly, in most countries water is not used effectively or governed well or intelligently controlled. Nearly half the

people on Earth fail to receive the level of water services available 2,000 years ago to the citizens of ancient Rome.

The result is both predictable and staggering. Half the hospital beds on Earth are occupied by people with easily

preventable waterborne diseases. In just the past decade, more children have died from diarrhea than all the people

who have been killed in armed conflicts since World War II. If we did nothing other than provide access to clean

water, without any other medical intervention, we could save 2 million lives each year.

The tragedy is not just one of illness, it’s also the devastating loss of human productivity. Across vast stretches of the

developing world, there is a daily routine that has hardly changed throughout the course of human history. Every day,

for millions of women, the first duty is to forage for water. And as rivers run dry, sometimes along with the aquifers

beneath them, the women have to keep going farther to find that water.

In parts of India and Africa, these women walk an average of 3.7 miles simply to collect potable water and bring it back

to their families — a long march home with 44 pounds of water balanced precariously on their heads (more than most

airlines allow for luggage). Heavy as the burden may be, though, it is almost never enough. Back in the slums and huts

that half the planet’s population considers home, each person will need 1.3 gallons just to make it through the day,

roughly the amount of water used in a single flush of a standard American toilet.

Chronic pollution, promiscuous use, overcrowding and human waste have turned water into one of our most

profoundly endangered assets. Two thousand years ago, there were 300 million people on the planet. Within the next

50 years, demographers expect the number to grow to at least 8 billion — the great majority of whom will live in

developing countries — yet the amount of water we all share and depend upon remains a constant.

Without enough water, no country can achieve even modest economic goals. Irrigation helps communities overcome

poverty. When water is plentiful more children go to school, they are healthier, and their parents work more.

Yet, throughout the Middle East and south Asia and much of Africa, water is growing scarcer by the month. Since

reservoirs aren’t sufficient, and many rivers have turned into junkyards or fetid swamps, millions have turned to digging

wells to suck the groundwater from their land. But dig too deep and you’ll eventually hit arsenic, a deadly poison that

pollutes all the water above it. In Delhi there are fewer than 30 days of rain each year, so people simply force tubes

into deeper and deeper holes and take what they can get away with. But when that water is gone, it is gone forever.

The city and its 15 million residents already suffer; when the water disappears from the wells it will get infinitely worse.

Delhi isn’t alone: Many other great urban centers are suffering the same fate. The water table under Beijing has fallen

by 200 feet in just the past two decades. Mexico City was built on the edge of a lake that no longer exists.

When there are bountiful reservoirs and little threat of drought, nations thrive. But in the all too many places where

water policy amounts to little more than a distant dream and praying for rain, prosperity remains an empty promise.

We don’t think or even worry very much about water in the United States because here we have a per capita average

of 6,000 cubic meters of reservoir water capacity, the world’s largest. Middle-income countries such as Morocco have

about 500 cubic meters, and the poorest countries — Ethiopia, for example — have less than 50. Without adequate

storage, entire nations become hostage to the frequently violent whims of nature.

The number of illnesses caused by lack of water is hard to fathom. More than 3 million people — most of them

under age 5 — die each year of malaria and diarrhea alone. To put that another way, according to the World Health

Organization, nearly 10,000 people die every day from easily preventable water-related diseases. Simply providing

access to clean water, without any other medical intervention, could save 2 million of those lives each year. And

the solution is devastatingly simple: Studies show that access to piped water and sewers can, in many places, nearly

eliminate waterborne disease at a cost of less than $1,000 per death averted.

A thousand dollars. What is a life worth? It’s not a small sum, but we live in an era when it is possible to participate in

video conferences that link New York with China, or Tokyo with Tibet. There are people who earn millions of dollars

Oil spills from legal oil extraction as well as smuggling operations

have destroyed much of the natural environment and fishing grounds in the

Niger Delta. Although international oil companies have extracted billions

of dollars in oil from the impoverished region, little of the oil wealth is

distributed to residents by the Nigerian government, routinely rated one of

the most corrupt in the world by Transparency International. As a result,

most inhabitants live without clean drinking water or electricity.

Michael Kamber

The SalTon Sea is California’s largest lake and one of its biggest environmental

dilemmas. Early in the 20th century, water from the Colorado River was mistakenly

diverted into the Salton Sink, a prehistoric lake bed. Seeing an opportunity, developers

dreamed of creating a resort oasis, but the idea never took hold, and the lake

properties have since fallen into neglect. Now, the lake water is saltier than the ocean,

and only tilapia can live in it. Still, migratory birds have made the area a rest stop on the

Pacific Flyway, and more than 400 species visit the area. Gerd Ludwig

of interest income every day. What would it take to convince the rich world to spend enough so that African children

no longer die of illnesses that some of us don’t even realize still exist?

In 2000, the United Nations established a series of urgent targets, called the Millennium Development Goals, aimed

at eliminating the world’s most desperate poverty. One of the goals seeks, over the next decade, to cut by half the

proportion of people without access to clean drinking water. Another sets a similar target for improving sanitation

services. The United Nations, which has designated this the “Decade of Water for Life,” estimates that if both goals

are met, “only” 30 million to 70 million people would die in the next 15 years from preventable water-related diseases.

Yes, you read that right: “only” 30 million to 70 million.

Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, argues that

management failures and political myopia are at least as responsible for water problems as shortages and population

growth. “Providing enough water to grow food for the planet is and will continue to be a challenge,” he said. “So

is limiting the damage pollution has caused. Still, how can any government that cares for its people let them die

of something so simple as a lack of clean water? But they do, in numbers that are staggering. This problem is so

fundamental and so widespread, yet it’s not like curing AIDS or eradicating malaria. It is not scientifically challenging. It’s

just a matter of whether or not we care about the most vulnerable people on our planet.”

While Gleick can cite dreary statistics, evidence of governmental inaction, and worrisome trends with great rhetorical

force, his central message, which is often ignored by both planners and environmentalists, is surprisingly hopeful. “It is

a little-known fact that the United States today uses far less water per person, and less water in total, than we did 25

years ago,” he said. “It’s a shocker. People don’t believe it, but it’s true. We have changed the nature of our economy,

and we have become more efficient at doing what we want to do.”

It turns out that the biggest potential new source of water, not just in Delhi or Dar es Salaam but in Tokyo and San

Francisco as well, is us. By conserving water and pricing it more realistically, we can dramatically reduce our needs.

Agriculture will always require more water than any other human endeavor, but that doesn’t mean it has to be wasted.

Until the 1960s, none of the vineyards in California used drip irrigation, which applies minimal amounts of water

directly to the roots of crops. Today, 70 percent of them do, using less water to produce the same yield.

Some farmers have begun to level their fields with lasers, making irrigation even more precise. And although genetically

modified crops remain controversial, researchers have produced several strains of rice that require only a fraction of

the water most farmers use today.

“I would argue that almost everything we do on Earth we could do with less water,” Gleick told me. “This is really

good news, you know. Because it means we can do better. We don’t need to run out of water. We just need to think

more seriously about how we can avoid using it.”

Try to think about that the next time you water the lawn with federally funded filtered water, which is safe enough to

drink. Or brush your teeth. Or when we leave the shower running for a few minutes to answer the phone. Every drop

of water we casually waste is literally a drop of life taken from the mouth of someone else we will likely never meet,

but whose fate we will most certainly determine.

— MICHAEL SPECTER

HigH levels of bActeriA, fluoride and cancer-causing

hydroxybenzene have polluted the water in the village of Liu Kuai Zhuang,

China, where Ji Shaolian, with her daughter, weeps over the death of her

husband. He died of lung cancer at age 58. Villagers say that even after

government crackdowns and factory closings, smaller operations continue to

pollute secretly as local officials turn a blind eye. Natalie Behring, WPN

We're All Downstream 101

two cHinese soldiers check bottled water in Harbin after the

city’s 3.8 million residents lost access to drinking water for five days due

to a chemical plant explosion in 2005. The initial announcement of water

stoppages led to panic buying of water and food, sending prices soaring.

Authorities said there was no sign that the city’s water supply had been

contaminated, but the Beijing News showed pictures of dead fish washed

up on the banks of the Songhua River near the city of Jilin.

Chen Nan, epa, Corbis

lAgo de cHApAlA, in the Mexican state of Jalisco, has shrunk to

a quarter of its original size and has DDT levels 3,400 times higher than

regulations allow. Sewage and fertilizer runoff have fed huge algae blooms,

and at certain times of the year it becomes difficult for indigenous people to

navigate the lake in their small fishing boats. Anders Hansson, WPN

Developing countries with access to improved water and sanitation enjoy average annual growth rates more than 30 times countries without such access.


foul smelling wAter mixed with coal had been running from Kenny Stroud’s faucet for

more than a decade before clean tap water was finally provided by the city of Rawl, West Virginia, last

March. For years, residents of the Appalachian coal-mining town had to rely on water trucks and bottled

deliveries, a reality unknown to most citizens in the developed world. Their fight still continues in the

courts against Massey Energy, a mountaintop coal-mining corporation, who they blame for pollution and

illnesses disrupting their community. Melissa Farlow

Allison cole says the water in her well in Sheridan, Wyoming, turned into slurry after

gas drilling operations began nearby. The rolling plains of the Powder River Basin have been

transformed by the drilling. Forty thousand wells and hundreds of miles of roads, pipelines and

power lines now cover the landscape. To access the methane, companies pump millions of gallons

of salty groundwater out from deep coal seams. Area residents have said the process pollutes their

surface water and groundwater. Joel Sartore

even in prosperous cities in India like New Delhi and Mumbai, city dwellers often have

water access for only a few hours a day. The public water distribution system is under so much

stress that residents must rise at 3 or 4 a.m. to pump water into rooftop storage tanks. Here

Vineela Bhardwaj vents her frustration to water authorities about frequent service failures. Battles

over the water supply have become so common that Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the Minister of

Water Resources, sometimes describes himself as the “Minister of Water Conflicts.”

Stuart Freedman

It will cost up to $1 trillion in the next 30 years to clean up contaminated groundwater at some 300,000 sites in the United States. The world’s major cities could save more than 40 percent of their annual water supplies by fixing leaks in water mains and pipes.


Since 2000, floods, droughts and other water disasters have killed nearly half a million people and affected 1.5 billion people.

wHen severe monsoons hit Bangladesh in 2004, only water pumped from wells was safe

in the district of Munshiganj, about an hour from the capital of Dhaka. The worst flooding in 15 years

killed 700 people and left 10 million homeless. And an estimated 76,000 became ill with symptoms of

diarrhea from drinking contaminated surface water. Dieter Telemans, Panos Pictures

beverly lAndrey’s well in Gillette, Wyoming, went dry after decades of regular use, so

she has to depend on bottled water from her neighbors. Landrey and other homeowners believe

the water supply disappeared because of nearby coal bed methane operations.

Kevin Moloney, Aurora Photos

Despite population growth in the United States, total water use today is lower than it was in 1980, and per capita use has dropped 25 percent in the last 30 years.


Freshwater wetlands, though threatened by human activity, are vital habitat to more plant and animal species than any other terrestrial ecosystem except rainforests.

nilAwAti sHelAke balances precariously as she retrieves water from

one of the 200 wells dug in the village of Sindhi Kalegoan, near Aurangabad,

India. She, like many women in the developing world, is the primary water

gatherer in her family. On any given day, she may make five to seven trips to

her well to meet the needs of her farm and family of five. Atul Loke

tHe dry seAson in kenyA puts animals on the move in search of

water. Elephants arrive from the arid surrounding plains to the green grasses

at Lake Amboseli in Amboseli National Reserve, Kenya. An elephant will

never stray far from a water supply because it needs to drink about 40 gallons

a day. Over the course of a year, an elephant can drink more than 15,000

gallons of water. African elephants can detect water flowing underground and

when desperate will dig down to find water in a riverbed that has run dry.

George Steinmetz


tHe dAily rituAl of collecting water has worn a pattern into the Bandiagara escarpment of

the legendary cliffside village of the Dogon Valley in Mali. Less than half of Mali’s 12 million people

and only a third of its rural inhabitants have access to safe water.

Dieter Telemans, Panos Pictures

indiA is digging more wells in a desperate search for fresh water.

There were just 2 million wells in India 30 years ago; today there are 23

million. But as more water is taken from aquifers beneath villages like Dudu,

Rajasthan, the country is running through its groundwater supplies faster than

they can be replenished. Ruth Fremson, The New York Times, Redux

The Blue Planet Run Foundation has found that it can provide one person with safe drinking water for a lifetime for just $30. In the developing world, when a water source is farther than half a mile away, per capita daily consumption drops from 5 gallons to approximately 1 gallon.


Hundreds of tHousAnds of people in the West Bengal area of

India have been affected by high levels of arsenic in the groundwater. Hafiza

Begam warns the villagers of Chandalati, outside Calcutta, about using the

tainted water for drinking and cooking. As India has had to sink its wells

ever deeper in the search for water, the danger of arsenic contamination has

increased. Thousands of people are suffering skin lesions caused by arsenic-

contaminated water. Sucheta Das, Reuters, Corbis

Simply washing hands with soap and water can help reduce the 2 million deaths attributed to diarrhea every year by more than 40 percent. At any given time, approximately half of all people in the developing world are suffering from a waterborne disease.

wHen bAnglAdesHis were advised by UNICEF in the 1970s to dig wells rather than use

dirty surface water, the results were unintentionally catastrophic. Millions of people were exposed

to toxic levels of arsenic, and 40,000 developed internal and external cancers, pulmonary diseases,

neurological disorders and arsenicosis, a painful combination of skin lesions. UNICEF has since

tested half of the country’s wells for arsenic. Michael Rubenstein, WPN

Abul HAssAm grew up in Bangladesh learning firsthand about the need for inexpensive

water filters that remove arsenic. Now, as a member of the faculty at George Mason University

in Washington, D.C., he has designed a filter that uses recycled materials, including sand, charcoal,

bits of brick and shards of porous iron. For his innovation, he was awarded a $1 million Grainger

Challange Award, 70 percent of which he has pledged to spend on making the filters more widely

available in Bangladesh. More than 30,000 filters have been distributed so far, and about 200

filtration systems are being made each week. Shahidul Alam


liu tiAnHeng looks at his X-ray at the Shenqiu County Hospital. Liu has

stomach cancer and brought his X-ray along with his medical records to meet with

the head of the cancer unit at the hospital, Dr. Wang Yong Zeng. Stephen Voss

Population in PerilTHE CANCER WARD OF SHENqIU COUNTY HOSPITAL is busy on this

weekday morning. Bicycles and motorbikes are scattered around the

dusty brick courtyard, and a doctor’s jacket hangs from a tree to dry.

People stand in a line outside a small one-story concrete building,

patiently waiting their turn for a few minutes with Dr. Wang Yong

Zeng, the chief oncologist. Most carry a life’s worth of medical records

with them, clutching the thick folders full of X-rays and documents

tightly to their chest.

Shenqiu County, in the eastern part of Henan Province, has seen

occurrences of stomach, liver, esophageal and intestinal cancer rise

dramatically in the past 15 years. Houses sit empty where whole

families have died, villagers are bedridden with sicknesses they are too

poor to have diagnosed, and many continue to drink the polluted water

because there is no other option. The majority of the 150 million

people who live along the Huai River Basin are farmers and depend on

the river water to irrigate their crops. Unfortunately, the Huai is one

of the most polluted stretches of water in the country.

“Many people come here after it’s too late,” says Dr. Yong Zeng as

he holds an X-ray up to the window light to examine it. Poor farmers

suffer for months and even years before they go to the hospital,

knowing that if they are diagnosed with cancer, they won’t be able to

afford any treatment. In many villages, entire families go into debt for

medical bills they will never be able to pay.

China’s handling of the environment has been nothing if not consistent

over the past 2,000 years. It is difficult to find a time in China’s history

when anything but environmental devastation occurred in the name of


Xue HuAqi is prepared for radiation treatment at Shenqiu County Hospital. Xue, 64, has lung cancer that has spread to his brain. His

records indicate the areas that will be targeted in the treatment. Stephen Voss

debris lies at the base of a pipe that releases black water from the Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company, which manufactures MSG,

among other products. It was only after villagers blamed their stomach and intestinal ailments on the dumping that Lianhua provided them

with clean tap water. However, the factory continues to pollute the water that runs through the village. Stephen Voss

economic and social progress. As far back as 202 B.C., the Han Dynasty dealt

with the growing population by urging its people to cut down forests to make

way for more farmland.

More recently, Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward sought to combat the

Industrial Revolution of the West by forcing people throughout the country

to build steel smelters. From 1958 to 1959, an estimated 10 percent of

China’s forests were cut down to fuel these backyard furnaces. Over China’s

long history, the lack of environmental regulation has led to the growing

desertification of China’s grasslands, massive flooding that has devastated

its farmlands, famine that has killed tens of millions of people and industrial

pollution that has poisoned the river.

“People don’t live here anymore,” explains Wang Zi qing, pointing to a

rundown house in Dong Cun Lou Village in the Henan Province. Like most

houses in the village, the floor is made of dirt, and steel bars in the windows

do little to block the cold wind. A faded red bed frame sits in a corner of the

main room, and dusty ceramic dishes are neatly stacked in a row on a woven

mat by the door. This house, however, is empty, left behind by an entire family

that died of cancer.

Zi qing lifts his shirt to reveal a thick red scar on his stomach from a recent

surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. His older brother and his younger

brother died of cancer within a month of each other. He has been a fisherman

for most of his 60 years, but he is no longer able to make a living or even feed

himself from the river.

Dong Cun Lou Village is similar to many of the villages in rural Shenqiu

County. Muddy dirt roads run through it, and chickens and stray dogs roam

freely. None of the one-story brick houses have running water, and only the

Party official in town can afford electricity. Its population of 1,500 used to

rely on the Shaying River, a major tributary of the Huai that runs by the town.

They fished, washed their clothes and even drank directly from the river.

The fish are mostly dead now, and contact with the water can bring on itchy

rashes and peeling skin.


Huo Daishan grew up near the Huai River and worked as a newspaper

photographer before he began hearing stories about the river pollution and

cancer cases. After seeing two of his friends die from cancer, he decided to

devote his life to cleaning up the river.

Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company is surrounded in every direction by

farmland. Daishan climbs the metal staircase to the top of the factory’s

massive wastewater treatment tanks during a recent and unexpected tour

of the factory, and they roar to life. The still, black water begins to swirl and

foam, turning a silty brown, while an acrid odor like rotting meat fills the air.

According to company executives, the treatment plant cost $430,000 to

build, and it appears to sit unused except when tours are given to outspoken

environmental activists. During a long lunch at the company hotel, executives

toasted to each other’s health with numerous glasses of sake. They talked at

length about the workings of the factory and the pollution, seemingly oblivious

to the illness and death occurring downstream. This openness was clearly

precipitated by their knowledge that as a state-owned business, as well as the

top taxpayer and top employer in the area, they are untouchable.

A mile away from the factory, steaming black water pours steadily into the

river from a large metal pipe. Young children play near the banks of the river,

and a noxious odor hangs in the air. While there are few stories of cancer in

this village, there is a history of birth defects, infertility and skin ailments that

began in the early 1990s. According to Daishan, this secret dumping site is one

of many that Lianhua has, ensuring that it will be a long time before it has to

answer any hard questions about what it does with its wastewater.

And at the cancer ward, a man is carefully helped into a metal trailer lined

with a canvas vegetable sack and attached to a motorbike. He has just finished

his radiation therapy for the day, and his family presses close to him, draping

blankets over his legs to make him comfortable for the long ride home. As he

is slowly driven away he looks up at no one in particular, saying, “Too many

diseases, too many diseases.”

— STEPHEN VOSS

JiA JiAle has lotion applied to her face by her grandmother to

treat rashes that have recently appeared. She has lived in other villages

and never had any health problems, but soon after she moved with her

family to Sunying in Shenqiu County, she began developing itchy rashes

all over her body. Stephen Voss

A fisHermAn examines his net for fish after casting it into the polluted

waters of a river in Shenqiu County. After an hour’s work, he had caught only

10 small bait fish that had blisters on their bodies. Stephen Voss

Huo dAisHAn carries a slight smile on his face, al-

most beatific at times. The smile is the same whether he’s

meeting with factory owners who dump their wastewater

into the river or singing an old folk song about the Huai.

Daishan was a former newspaper photographer before he

converted his small apartment into the headquarters for the

Guardians of the Huai River, a nonprofit group he formed

to clean up the river and bring attention to the situation. He

has become a tireless advocate for environmental reform.

“It is the mess that gives me the energy,” says Daishan.

Stephen Voss


drougHt is A fArmer’s nigHtmAre. In New South Wales, Australia, where drought

has persisted for the last five years, sacrifice has become a way of life. Water restrictions limit

consumption to 40 gallons per person per day, less than a quarter of normal usage levels.

Sheep are sold by the herds at deflated prices by farmers who are unable to support them and

desperately need money to pay off crushing debt. But most troubling is the staggering number of

farmers turning to suicide — one every four days, according to the BBC. Paul Blackmore

tHe HAdrAmAut vAlley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in Yemen, is a neighbor to one of the hottest and driest places

on Earth, the Rub’ al Khali, or Empty quarter. Temperatures rise to 131° F in the valley, which has an area the size of the Netherlands, Belgium and

France combined. As a result, it remains under persistent threat of desertification. To meet irrigation demands and hold off the desert, water is being

pulled out of the ground faster than it can be replenished, by a rate of almost 400 percent. George Steinmetz

moHAmmed Ali Zein uses trucked-in water to nourish a lone Balanites Aegyptiaca tree in

Yemen, making a stand against the advance of the desert. Global warming, overgrazing and poor

irrigation threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, as increasingly large regions of the

world become incapable of producing food. Desertification doesn’t just mean that there is more

sand; it means that the land has become incapable of supporting life. Gerd Ludwig

1,374 square miles of land turns to desert every year, an environmental crisis that affects 200 million people and threatens the lives of many more. Irrigation systems synchronized with satellite weather data can save nearly 24 billion gallons a year in the United States.

everytHing About tHe tHree gorges dAm is

huge: Engineering feats, financial costs, social consequences and

environmental impacts all loom large. When completed in 2009, it

will be the largest hydroelectric dam ever built, nearly five times the

size of the Hoover Dam, with an electrical capacity of up to 22.5

gigawatts. It will displace more than 1 million people from their home

and will cost China about $25 billion. Edward Burtynsky

We're All Downstream 125124 Blue Planet Run

indiAn dAm protesters and local homeowners stand prepared to drown themselves as waters rise

from monsoon rains, flooding homes on the banks of the Narmada River in 1997. The government plans to

build 30 large dams and thousands of smaller ones to provide water and electricity for the booming nation. But

the Save the Narmada Movement, which has campaigned against the dams for 20 years, says the government

is choosing to ignore the interests of thousands of poor people whose homes will be flooded in the state of

Madhya Pradesh without proper compensation. Karen Robinson, Panos Pictures

An Issue on the RiseWOODY GUTHRIE ONCE SANG AN ANTHEM to the Grand Coulee

dam, calling it “the greatest wonder in Uncle Sam’s fair land.” Half a

century ago, great dams like the Grand Coulee and the Hoover Dam

in the United States and the Aswan Dam on the Nile were symbols

of a brave new world, bringing electricity to the rural poor and

economic development to the world. Environmentalists praised them

as a clean source of renewable power. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first

prime minister, called his country’s dams “the new temples of India,

where I worship.”

During the 20th century, 45,000 large dams were built in 140

countries. Today, virtually none of the world’s major rivers is

without a dam. Many have been successes: Dams generate a fifth of

the world’s electricity and irrigate a quarter of the world’s crops.

Despite their contributions to humanity, many dams became mired

in corruption, engineering failures, cost overruns and social conflicts

even before they were finished. And, in operation, most have huge

and unintended environmental consequences.

Dams have flooded tens of millions of people from their land —

2 million from China’s Three Gorges Dam alone. They have inundated

fertile river valleys, destroyed fisheries, dried up wetlands and caused

the very floods and droughts that they were supposed to prevent.

Many reservoirs are now gradually clogging with silt brought down

from the hills.

126 Blue Planet Run

cHinese boAt trAckers pull a vessel upstream along a tributary

of the Yangtze River, just as their ancestors have done for thousands of

years. Starting in 2010, China plans to divert water from the Yangtze and

other central rivers to Beijing and the arid northern plain. Opponents fear

that the project, which includes three 700-mile channels, could dry up the

river in 30 years. They say the $60 billion proposed cost doesn’t take into

account the environmental toll or the 500,000 people who will need to find

new homes. Reuters

Although dams were built to capture and harness water, it turns out

they also lose it — especially to evaporation. More water evaporates

from the surface of Lake Nasser behind Egypt’s Aswan Dam than

the people of Britain use in an entire year. A tenth of the flow of the

Colorado River evaporates from the reservoir of Lake Powell. Other

dams swarm with malarial mosquitoes, and in some locations rotting

vegetation in reservoirs can emit as much greenhouse gas as a coal-

fired power station.

Today the relative value of dams is subject to widespread debate

around the world. Controversies range from environmental

destruction to water scarcity, the effect on indigenous people, loss of

biodiversity and inequality of water access between the poor and the

rich. How the dam debate is resolved will affect the lives of millions of

people in every corner of the globe.

— FRED PEARCE

We're All Downstream 127126 Blue Planet Run


yu XiAogAng founded the environmental group Green Watershed in 2002 as he worked to rebuild the area around Lashi Lake in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province. A dam had destroyed the local ecosystem, putting both fishermen and farmers out of business. Today, Lashi Lake is a model of sustainable development, with a community fishery, women’s schools and micro-credit loan programs. Yu, who won a Goldman Environmental Prize, is fighting plans to build a dam at Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze River. It is one of more than a dozen dams he is helping locals oppose throughout China. Tom Dusenbery

tHe primAry purpose of Iceland’s Karahnjukar Hydroelectric Project, meant to harness two of the nation’s great glacial rivers, is not water supply, but power supply. It is Iceland’s largest-ever construction project, and it will provide electricity to a new Alcoa aluminum smelter. The site has been a frequent target of environmentalists, as the area under construction is also is the second-largest unspoiled wilderness in Europe. David Maisel


tHe dAm At grimsel pAss, high in the Swiss Alps, is a popular site for ecotourism. Switzerland is able to make great use of dams because of

its mountainous geography and its ample supply of water. Overall, the developed world can store as many as 175,000 cubic feet of water per person,

but in some nations that figure can sink as low as 7,000 cubic feet, as it does in India. Chlaus Lotscher, Peter Arnold, Inc.

syriA, irAq And turkey almost went to war over control of the Euphrates River during the construction of the Keban Dam in southeastern

Turkey. It was the first of 22 dams proposed to expand agricultural production and double hydroelectic power capacity. The World Bank refused to

fund the $32 billion project because of its potential impact on other countries dependent on the river. Roberto Caccuri, contrasto

upon completion, the Three Gorges Dam will span one mile wide and will flood a reservoir 230 miles back upstream, roughly the distance

between New York and Washington, D.C. It will displace more than 1 million people, submerging their homes and businesses beneath 262 cubic

miles of reservoir water. Worldwide, dams have displaced an estimated 40 million to 80 million people. Fritz Hoffmann

engineers Are dwArfed by the turbines in one of the generators. When the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is completed in

2009, the project will generate 22.5 gigawatts, making it the world’s most powerful hydroelectric station. That’s enough electricity to meet the needs

of Shanghai’s 20 million people. Reuters


ArundHAti roy, center, walks with Medha Patkar during a protest

against the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River in India. Roy, author

of the Booker Prize-winning novel “The God of Small Things,” is a leading

anti-globalization activist. She has lent her support to India’s anti-dam

movement, even donating her entire prize purse to Patkar’s organizations.

“I suddenly realized,” Roy said, “I command the space to raise a dissenting

voice, and if I don’t do it, it’s as political an act as doing it. …To stay quiet is as

political an act as speaking out.” Joerg Boethling, Peter Arnold, Inc.

medHA pAtkAr is the founder of the Save Nar-

mada Movement, and she is one of the most prominent

civil-rights activists in modern India. In March 2006, she

began what ultimately became a 20-day hunger strike

against the construction of dams on the Narmada River,

a fight that resulted in an emergency hospital stay and a

case with the Supreme Court. News about her hunger

strike became so popular that the government could not

ignore it. A commission was established to hear claims

from people displaced by the rising dam waters. The

team found that the families were being urged to accept

cash settlements, but no long-term arrangements were

being made for their well-being. The Supreme Court

eventually decided that construction could continue, but

careful monitoring was needed to prevent further injus-

tices. Joerg Boethling/Peter Arnold, Inc.

134 Blue Planet Run

In RegIon afteR RegIon aRound the gloBe, water — or put another way, control over

rapidly diminishing supplies of clean water — is at the heart of many of the world’s most

raw geopolitical disputes, some of which have already rippled into dangerously destabilizing

conflicts.

Not surprisingly, among the hottest flashpoints is the Middle East, where water is at a

premium and disagreements are in abundance. Virtually every political, social and military

strategy undertaken by Israel, Syria, lebanon, Jordan, egypt and other nations in the area is

driven by its impact on access to water. Consider the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during

the Six-Day War in 1967. Formerly southwest Syria, this rugged plateau is home to headwaters

of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, two of Israel’s most essential sources of water.

despite Syria’s saber rattling and widespread international condemnation for its occupation

of this territory, Israel refuses to retreat from the golan heights because it fears that Syria

would divert the water supply, as had been threatened in the early 1960s.

Similarly, the 2006 lebanon-Israeli war was fought primarily in southern

Lebanon, where tributaries of the Jordan River lie. Hezbollah

has vowed to control the water resources for lebanon, even if

Israel has to do with less.

Meanwhile, in a mirror image of these disputes, the Palestinian rejection of peace accords in

the late 1990s grew in large part out of concern that these pacts ensured that Israel could

determine how much water Palestinian areas receive. The Palestinians claim that Israel has

capped their per capita water consumption at about 18 gallons of water per day, compared to

about 92 gallons for the typical Israeli.

It’s no wonder that soon after signing peace treaties with Israel, the late King hussein of Jordan

and President anwar Sadat of egypt pointedly noted that only a quarrel over water could bring

them back to war with Israel.

In large or small ways, similar brinksmanship occurs with disturbing regularity in regions already

tense with enmity that has evolved over generations:

In Southern africa, the waters of the okavango River basin are pulled in four directions

by angola, Botswana, namibia and Zimbabwe, with hardly a cordial word spoken;

In the Indian-controlled territories of Kashmir, where headwaters of the Indus River

basin reside, Pakistan has threatened to use nuclear weapons against India if any of its

water supply is interrupted;

An Armed guide walks on a cliff above the Nile River near Amarna, Egypt. The Nile flows

through 10 countries in eastern africa, but by force of a nearly 80-year-old treaty, egypt commands

most of its waters, a source of dispute and strained relations for decades. Upstream countries, such as

Ethiopia and Sudan, have proposed dams on the river to aid their own development. But these plans

have been condemned by Egypt as it anticipates its population doubling over the next 50 years.

Kenneth garrett, national geographic, getty Images

In Sri Lanka, violent conflicts have broken out between government armies and a rebel

group, liberation tigers of tamil eelam, who closed a provincial sluice gate in protest

over government delays in improving the nation’s water system;

In Kenya, dozens were killed and thousands fled their homes when youths from the

Maasai and Kikuyu tribal communities fought with machetes, spears, bows and arrows

and clubs over water in the Rift Valley.

The behavior is irrational, yet the motivation has an undeniable logic. Decades of poorly

designed irrigation techniques, the construction of massive dams, toxic dumping, wetlands and

forest destruction, industrial pollution, residential sprawl, lack of conservation and misuse have

taken a dire toll on global water resources, and clean fresh water is becoming scarcer in every

corner of the planet. The worst conditions are in places like Haiti, Gambia, Cambodia and

Mali, where residents subsist on an average of less than 2 gallons of water per day — fewer

than three large bottles of bottled water and well below the 13 gallons per day considered

the amount of water needed to meet a minimum quality of life. With less and less water to go

around, the idea that people would begin to fight over what’s left — and over who determines

who gets what remains — is anything but outlandish.

and while richer countries like the united States have been hiding water shortages with

engineering sleights of hand, this strategy is now backfiring. Southeast Florida, southern

California, Atlanta and parts of Texas are all likely to be dry within 20 years if their growth

patterns and management of water aren’t sharply altered.

In the United States, the water wars are more often waged in court. For example, after

30 years and no end to the amount of money being spent on attorney fees, three states in

the southeast are still feuding over the Chattahoochee River. Rising north of Atlanta, the

Chattahoochee is the sole water supply for the sprawling city’s metropolitan area as well as a

source of downstream water for two neighbor states, Alabama and Florida. Providing water

for Atlanta’s uncontrolled population boom — the city has grown from 2.2 million people in

1980 to 3.7 million people in 2000 — severely taxes the Chattahoochee. The city’s largest

treatment plant tapped 3.8 billion gallons a year of the river’s water when it opened in 1991;

now it pumps nearly 20 billion gallons annually. If, as expected, Atlanta’s population reaches 5

million by 2025, the Chattahoochee won’t be able to handle the load.

But that isn’t slowing Atlanta down. Instead, the city is aggressively making plans to squeeze

more water out of the Chattahoochee by building a dozen additional dams and reservoirs on

the river. This, in turn, has raised the ire of Alabama and Florida, which claim that Georgia is

stealing the river for itself. Farmers in southern Georgia are siding with Alabama and Florida

against Atlanta, as their irrigation allotment falls. Depending on the outcome of the many

Kibbutz HAtzerim gained a territorial foothold in Israel’s negev desert

and kicked off a global revolution in agriculture when it partnered with water

engineer Simcha Blass in 1965 to develop and mass-produce drip irrigation.

Netafim, the kibbutz’s irrigation business, now controls a large portion of the

drip market, with $400 million in sales last year. Manager Naty Barak checks

the kibbutz drip lines, which feed corn, cotton and tomato crops in an area that

receives less than 8 inches of rain annually. alexandra Boulat

lawsuits and negotiations over water in the U.S. southeast, new residents of Atlanta may one day

soon turn on the tap to find it empty, southern Georgia farmlands could become permanently

parched, or economic growth in Florida and Alabama could be significantly stunted.

While the global water crisis is growing ever more dangerous, there are nonetheless a few

potential winners — namely, those nations or individuals who have a surfeit of the precious

commodity or who develop new ways to produce and distribute it. With a population of only 30

million and vast amounts of territory containing more than 20 percent of the world’s fresh water,

Canada stands to become the leader of an OPEC-like cartel as water takes its place next to oil

as a depleted essential resource. To ship this water from Canada, as well as places like Russia,

Greenland and the northern reaches of China, barges with massive liquid-holding bladders and

streamlined piping systems for bulk water transfers are already on the drawing boards, while new,

less expensive and more efficient desalination techniques to make saltwater fresh are close to

completion. All of these inventions and new ones beyond our imagination will become more and

more economical — and perhaps temper the water disputes — as the supply of water continues

to diminish and the price of water inexorably rises.

other solutions that could minimize the inevitable water wars require viewing water in a

different light — that is, as a shared resource that demands global cooperation to manage

correctly. To that end, international funding agencies like the World Bank should use their

financial leverage to direct that water development projects be initiated solely under regional

umbrellas, jointly controlled by all of the nations in the area. And water mediation groups, such as

Green Cross International, founded by former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, should

be backed by a United Nations mandate to fulfill the charter of, as GCI describes it, “preventing

and resolving conflicts arising from environmental degradation.”

None of this will be easy. Ultimately, conflict is less difficult than cooperation. But we really have

no choice: The way we respond to the water crisis will determine whether we survive.

– JeffRey RothfedeR

Armed members of the rebel group MEND (Movement for

emancipation of the niger delta) have destroyed oil facilities and forced the

closure of a significant percentage of the area’s oil operations. They have

turned to violence to protest the pollution of their country’s waterways

and alleged degradation of the natural environment by foreign multinational

corporations. On May 1, 2007 MEND caused Chevron to shut down

some oil production when it reportedly attacked the company’s oloibiri

floating production, storage and offloading vessel off southern Bayelsa state.

Michael Kamber

Water: the new oil 141140 Blue Planet Run

tHere is less potAble wAter per capita in the gaza Strip than almost

anywhere else on Earth. Gaza inhabitants must make do with less than 22 gallons

per day, while the average American or Canadian uses almost four times as much.

Palestinian parents send their children to gather bottles of drinking water from the

nearest source: mini-desalination plants, such as this one in Khan Yunis. The small

stations treat gaza’s groundwater, which has grown increasingly polluted due to

overpumping and contamination by sewage and pesticides. alexandra Boulat

142 Blue Planet Run Water: the new oil 143

holy WaterIN THE RESOURCE-SCARCE MIDDLE EAST, water is a constant source

of economic and political tension. In Israel and Palestinian territories

the struggle over water involves not only economic and distribution

issues but central political, legal and territorial claims as well. Water,

essential to all parties, has emerged as a powerful bargaining chip and

a politicized commodity.

Since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank in

1967, land adjoining the Lower Jordan River has been declared a “closed

military zone.”

Water needs of both Israelis and of Palestinians in the gaza Strip and the

occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and east Jerusalem are

rising, and current extraction levels are unsustainable.

access to clean and consistent sources of water is imperative to meet

the present needs and future demands of both parties. Palestinians claim

the Israeli policy of restricted water allocation has exacerbated health

and nutrition problems and has adversely affected agricultural output and

domestic, commercial and industrial development.

the continuation of current extraction rates poses hydrological and

ecological challenges for Israel and Palestinian territories. Current water

use in Israel and in Israeli settlements inside the West Bank, coupled with

the increasing Palestinian population, exceeds the replenishment rate.

as a shared resource, water could actually provide the impetus for

cooperation toward renewed peace negotiations. Because Israeli and

Palestinian water needs are so interdependent, joint water management

and cooperation have great potential to serve as a stepping-stone to

bring both societies together.

— MAHER BITAR, THE FOUNDATION FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE

144 Blue Planet Run

tHe security fence around the West Bank has isolated many Palestinian villages from the wells they rely on for drinking and irrigation water. Israel controls 90 percent of the freshwater supply in the region, including the Jordan River and the large groundwater aquifer under the West Bank. Israel recognized Palestinians’ right to West Bank water in the 1995 oslo accords, but Palestinians say their use is limited to insufficient amounts or is altogether prohibited.

dieter telemans, Panos Pictures

Water: the new oil 145

for Hundreds of yeArs rural communities have been collecting rainwater where it falls: in the fields, in open tanks and in open wells. Now rainwater harvesting is commonplace in water-stressed cities as well. In Jerusalem, water tanks take their place among rooftop antennae. For many residents, these tanks are the only water source during the summer months when public service is frequently interrupted by shortages.

dieter telemans, Panos Pictures

By 2025, two thirds of the world’s people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress. By 2025, two thirds of the world’s people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress.

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feuisim inci et praesenit lut loboreet ercin uuis dolobor tissed do Katya able

146 Blue Planet Run

A pAlestiniAn bedouin complains about the sewage flowing into a stream

running through the West Bank region of Salfeet from the settlement of Ariel. The

herder claims the wells feeding this valley of olive trees have been contaminated and

that the stream is no longer fit for his goats. alexandra Boulat


giving 3-yeAr-old ibrAHim a bath in Mawasi, Gaza Strip, is not a simple task for

his mother, Naime Derbas. Piped water can be cut off for days due to electricity shortages

throughout the Gaza Strip. Tap water is also highly saline, a result of seawater intrusion caused by

the overpumping of its coastal aquifer. Here, Ibrahim’s bath is a mix of tap and potable water.

alexandra Boulat

148 Blue Planet Run Water: the new oil 149

Agriculture uses 70 percent of all fresh water — three times as much as industry and seven times as much as residential.

worKers in tHe indiAn stAte of Maharashtra bring in the cotton crop.

Worldwide, cotton growing is a $12 billion industry. Its current production of 20

million tons is expected to more than double by 2050. Cotton requires arid growing

climates and enormous amounts of water — up to 1 million gallons for every acre

or 2,000 gallons for every cotton T-shirt. Johann Rousselot, oeil Public

There are more than 3,800 multilateral declarations on water: 286 are treaties, referring to more than 200 international river basins.

A young girl harvests cotton in the harran Plain near Sanliurfa in

Turkey. The Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates River stores enough water to

allow farmers to irrigate the water-intensive crop in this desert landscape.

Cotton farming in the region is subsidized by a $32 billion project that

will eventually result in 22 dams and 19 electrical power stations on the

Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Aggressive river development in Turkey has led

to protests from Syria and Iraq, which also rely on the rivers as primary

water sources. dieter telemans, Panos Pictures

residents of A new delHi slum wrestle for control of a water hose

from a government water tanker truck. Across India, water networks are in

such disrepair that cities cannot provide water from a public tap for more than

a few hours a day. Even worse, although most of the 1 billion people worldwide

without access to safe drinking water live in rural areas, urban populations of the

developing world are expected to double by 2030, as 60 million people move into

cities every year. Ruth fremson, the new york times, Redux

152 Blue Planet Run

tim And AlissAndrA sweep and their children david,

Kara, erin and Jonathon use around 450 gallons per day in their

Henderson, Nevada home, about average for a U.S. household.

three bathrooms and daily showers give them a level of sanitation

unknown to half the world. They also have a backyard pool that uses

about 25,000 gallons, enough water to supply a person with the

U.N. minimum daily water requirement for 12 years.

tiffany Brown

AbdAlA sulimAn’s family gathers outside their home in

Kafr ad dik in the West Bank: 92-year-old Issam amin, and amin,

Mohamed, Ouar and Maen. Every day, for $2, they buy 250 gallons

of water from an Israeli-owned well 3 miles from their village. More

than 10,000 of their fellow villagers also depend on the same supply,

which leads to a daily scramble. Once the Israeli well owners have

sold 75,000 gallons, they close up shop for the day.

alexandra Boulat

fernAndo And glAdys vegA stand behind a collection

of their kitchen water containers with their children Katy, alex and

Andres in their Quito, Ecuador home. The Vegas use up to 180

gallons of water daily, well below the national average of 100 gallons

per person. The middle-class family conserves water to save money,

showering every other day, using the washing machine twice a week

and watering the garden only on the weekends. Ivan Kashinsky


AfgHAnistAn was already a nation in trouble before the

United States started bombing in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The

country was suffering its worst drought in 30 years, and the taliban

had disbanded many women-led hygiene education programs.

Kabul’s 3.4 million residents have no public sewage system and piped

city water reaches only 18 percent of the people. Mile-long walks to

fetch drinking water are common. Here family members gather on a

rooftop to socialize and share what supplies they have.

fardin Waezi

jurgen wernicK And cAtHerinA boscH live in an

ecovillage in Currumbin Valley in Queensland, Australia. Because

their house has no piped water supply, they rely on about 7,000

gallons of rainwater that runs off their roof into tanks every year.

the retired couple uses about 30 gallons a day, which would leave

them dry during the year — especially during australia’s frequent

droughts — if they didn’t also recycle water for use in washing their

clothes, watering the garden and filling the toilets.

Michael Amendolia

cHen wenming, his wife, Yang Meitang, and their son,

Qingyang, are taking advantage of China’s bottled water boom. They

started their own water business, making deliveries by scooter, after

moving from the countryside to Shanghai eight years ago. Bottled

water consumption in China has more than doubled in recent years

because people only limit tap water use for cooking and bathing. The

family sells five-gallon jugs — enough for a family of three for about

two weeks. Mads Nissen


conservAtion worKer Marco Negovschi takes a break at a Baker, Nevada

cafe. Residents are fighting attempts by the city of Las Vegas to build a pipeline for

its booming population, which is expected to outgrow the supplies of the Colorado

River water by 2013. Local farmers and ranchers worry that the pipeline would leave

no water for them. tiffany Brown

154 Blue Planet Run

Water and WealthFARMERS HAVE IRRIGATED THE FIELDS around Presidio, texas, on the

banks of the Rio Grande River, for more than 400 years.

But not much longer. Presidio’s farmers are deserting their fields as the

Rio grande, one of north america’s greatest rivers, has gone dry in

this part of texas as upstream farmers drain off water for their own

cotton, corn and alfalfa fields. The Rio Grande is now essentially two

rivers, divided by 200 miles of dry riverbed.

It has been said that the real history of the West is the story of who

controls the water, from the Colorado to the Columbia, the Missouri

to the Sacramento. Today, populations continue to surge, fresh water

becomes scarcer, and control is lost in a morass of competing interests

among federal and local agencies, farmers, fishermen, Native American

tribes and environmental groups.

There are reasons for optimism. Total U.S. water consumption was

lower in 2000 than it was in 1980, despite the addition of 55 million

new citizens. Per capita water consumption was lower in 2000 than it

was a half-century before.

But in the West, even that isn’t enough. Here, any solution must

also deal with the ownership and distribution of water. Clever

entrepreneurs are buying up vast tracts of the West for their water

“capital.” Will they bring greater efficiency to the distribution of the

region’s limited supply of fresh water — or just become the latest

players in the endless power struggle?

one thing is certain: the long, tragic history of water and wealth in the

American West has yet to see its final chapter.

— MICHAEL MALONE

156 Blue Planet Run

six yeArs Ago Hal Holder and two dozen other farmers in Rocky Ford, Colorado, sold

their water rights to aurora, a fast-growing denver suburb, kicking off a controversy that hasn’t

quieted. Through a program funded by Aurora, Holder is restoring his property to natural

grassland. Instead of farming onions, Holder now runs a few head of cattle and offers hunting for

quail and pheasant on his property. Other farmers in the area believe the move to sell and ship

water was shortsighted and will ultimately hurt the region. Sergio Ballivian


in nebrAsKA, workers are on the bus by 5 a.m., heading for their

jobs in the cornfields. Farming near the Platte River, the site of America’s

largest aquifer, involves many laborers and large amounts of irrigation, putting

agricultural water needs in competition with wildlife and recreational uses.

Since the mid-1940s, water has been taken from the aquifer three times

faster than the rate of recharge, sinking the water table by as much as 5 feet

per year in places. Brian lehmann

witHout enougH wAter to satisfy the needs of recreational,

agricultural and industrial users, legal battles will frame the future of water

use in the United States. Here, attorney Thomas Oliver argues for Spear T

Ranch in the Nebraska Supreme Court. The case, which was originally filed

in 2002 by the ranch near Bridgeport, accuses groundwater irrigators of

depleting area streams. Brian lehmann

160 Blue Planet Run

wAlter And mArie Killidrew, who own a ranch near

T. Boone Pickens’s Texas property, are not interested in selling

their water rights to him. They are concerned his plan to pump

underground water and sell it to users in other parts of the state

would dry up their ranch. Ilkka Uimonen, Magnum


oil tycoon turned water baron,

T. Boone Pickens is making water a hot

commodity. He has bought 200,000 acres

in Roberts County, Texas, with the idea

of selling the water that lies beneath it.

the payoff could be huge: his $75 million

investment in land could bring a $1 billion

return when he sells the water for $1,000

an acre-foot or more to Texas towns.

Fred Prouser, Reuters, Corbis

if t. boone picKens HAs His wAy, water will become a cash crop. He is trying to

secure the water rights of properties near his ranch and then sell as many as 65 billion gallons a

year to thirsty Texas cities. Ilkka Uimonen, Magnum

162 Blue Planet Run

By some estimates, more than 50 percent of commercial and residential irrigation water use goes to waste due to evaporation, runoff or overwatering.

A lAndscAper at the Red Rock Country Club in Las Vegas removes sod in favor

of native desert landscaping. With a booming population and tight water supplies, Las

Vegas is squeezing water savings from all sectors, recouping 20 billion gallons per year

through recycling and rebate programs. Some of the biggest gains come through tearing

out turf on the links. According to WorldWatch Institute, golf courses consume 2.5

billion gallons of water worldwide every day, enough to support 500 million people at

the U.N.’s five-gallon daily minimum. Jim Wilson, the new york times, Redux


Landscaping with native plants adapted to the local climate can reduce outdoor water use by up to seven times and can cost 50 percent less to maintain.

fAmily members water the grave of Martin Rodriguez, who died of cancer in March

2007 at the age of 42. Families at Mount Carmel Cemetery in El Paso, Texas are able to keep up

landscaping thanks to a municipal water recycling program. “Graywater” is also used to irrigate

parks, schools, roadside medians and industrial plants. The efforts help the county’s utility cut its

annual withdrawals from underground aquifers and the nearby Rio Grande by 1 billion gallons.

Samantha appleton

josepH cooper is replacing his small backyard lawn with artificial turf, and he’s getting paid

for doing it. Since 1999, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has offered $2 per square foot to

customers to replace their lawns with water-efficient landscaping. Seventy-six million square feet

of grass have been removed, saving 5 billion gallons of water per year. tiffany Brown

As floridA booms, developments continue their steady march on the

Everglades. Here, airboaters run alongside cars on Interstate 595 in West Broward.

florida’s population increased 13 percent from 2000 to 2006, making it the third-

fastest growing state in the nation. On average, more than 900 people move into the

state every day. andrew Kaufmann

164 Blue Planet Run

Poisoning ParadiseTHE FLORIDA EVERGLADES are America’s youngest natural wonder.

Born just 5,000 years ago — a blink in geologic time — the nation’s

largest swamp is in fact a vast, slow-moving, 50-mile-wide freshwater

river that defines the environment of the entire Florida peninsula. It

is also the home to more than 300 species of animals, including birds,

foxes, bears and panthers, many of which are unique to the region.

despite being opened to settlers beginning with the federal Swamp act

of 1850, the vast and forbidding everglades resisted development until

the early 20th century, a half-century after the rest of the state had

begun to experience explosive growth. Only then was it determined

that the everglades must be tamed, that the great river needed to

be harnessed along its path to the sea to provide water to farms and

protect against floods.

Water: the new oil 165Water: the new oil 165

severe drougHt conditions in everglades national Park have forced alligators

like this 8-footer to seek one of the last remaining puddles of water. Much of the fresh

water that was naturally purified by the Everglades now flows directly into the sea,

threatening America’s largest coral reef. Tim Chapman, Liaison, Getty Images

As floridA booms, developments continue their steady march on the

Everglades. Here, airboaters run alongside cars on Interstate 595 in West Broward.

florida’s population increased 13 percent from 2000 to 2006, making it the third-

fastest growing state in the nation. On average, more than 900 people move into the

state every day. andrew Kaufmann

166 Blue Planet Run

efforts to restore the Everglades are documented in “Water’s Journey,” a film that follows the path of water from Orlando to the Florida Keys.

In the course of filming the documentary, Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve park biologist Mike Owen, systems biologist Tom Morris and executive

producer, director and cinematographer Wes Skiles look for a rare Ghost Orchid in the southern part of the Everglades. Jill heinerth

former floridA governor jeb busH announces a plan to restore lake okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the heart of the

Everglades. But the Sierra Club questions the governor’s environmental record: “In 2003, the sugar industry successfully petitioned Bush to pass a

new law amending the Everglades Forever Act. This anti-Everglades amendment delayed the cleanup of sugar’s phosphorous pollution by 10 years.

Despite massive protests by environmental groups and newspaper editorials of protest, Governor Bush signed the bill into law.” Jill heinerth

In response, in what was considered at the time to be one of the great

civil engineering projects of the era, the State of Florida and the Army

Corps of Engineers built dams, levees and channels throughout the

region — ultimately shunting 1.7 billion gallons of fresh water from the

Everglades south to the ocean each day.

The results, as we can only appreciate now, have been devastating.

draining the everglades has resulted in catastrophe for the wetlands

and its animal and plant life. The channeled water, once pure, has

become a dumping ground for fertilizers and pollutants as it makes its

way to the coastal waterway — and once there has begun to kill an

equally fragile natural wonder: the Florida Coral Reef.

Perhaps the biggest irony of all is that fast-growing southern florida

today regularly suffers from a shortage of fresh water for irrigation and

drinking — even as those billions of gallons of once-pure water flow

past.

only recently has the region begun to awaken to the magnitude of

this natural disaster. And the only cure appears to be for the Corps of

engineers to go back and undo almost everything it has done, freeing

the Everglades to cleanse itself, refill the great aquifer that lies beneath

it, and once again find its own equilibrium.

But, as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan underscores,

tearing down all of those dams and leveling every levee will be a

herculean task, one requiring billions of dollars in federal and state

monies. And so far it remains just a plan: Little funding yet to be set

aside for the work.

Saving the everglades is perhaps the greatest freshwater challenge

facing the United States. So far, we are failing the test.

— MICHAEL MALONE


Here is tHe sHocker: We already know how to purify water. We don’t yet know how to cure cancer,

and we don’t yet know how to create a vaccine for HiV/AiDs. But we absolutely do know how to purify

water. the question then is: if we know how to purify water, why are more than 1 billion people around

our planet suffering from the lack of clean water?

i believe it is a failure of imagination. in particular, we have become so enamored with Big solutions that

we have almost forgotten the power of small ones.

Despite having the tools at hand, we are currently losing the battle for universal fresh drinking water —

and the world knows it. thanks to television, the internet and most of all, cell phones, even the poorest

people now know their condition differs from that of others, they know what advances are possible,

and they will not be patient for change. even the hardest heart must appreciate that a billion sick, thirsty,

desperate people are the most fertile ground imaginable for war, epidemics, mass refugee migrations and

terror. their thirst is ours. their problem is ours.

the developing world is littered with press releases and grandiose statements heralding

top-heavy one-size-fits-all water projects that came and went, at great expense, while

providing little benefit to the people who most need clean water. In some cases,

these projects required parts or supplies that were not readily available. Others

required skills that were not available locally. In still other cases, the projects required ongoing financial

incentives for their operators that, again, were not available.

The second half of the 20th century launched countless huge development projects aimed at solving

the planet’s problems on a grand scale, including the lack of water for millions of people. Many failed

outright; others were delayed or mismanaged and were magnets for corruption. these development

efforts lost the voice, the impetus and the reason of the individual.

Many people around the world are beginning to realize that different problems require different

solutions. One great advantage of small-scale projects is that they can be tailored to address specific

situations. People do not want solutions that merely keep them alive; they want solutions that make

their lives, and the lives of their children, better.

Many solutions will have to be effective against a wide range of contaminants, including dangerous

industrial compounds, beyond just the usual problems of sewage and salt. And safe water will only make

a difference if it is affordable. the sad fact is that the poor often pay far more than the rich do for water.

this is not only unfortunate and unfair, but also dangerously unhealthy. People use less water when it is

more expensive, and when people use less water, their health suffers. And these are the same people

who cannot afford medical care.

Children play on an abandoned water storage tank in Vuma Village

in south Africa. Nowadays the village has free access to clean water via an

innovative PlayPump system that uses the rotation of a merry-go-round to

extract underground water. samantha reinders

168 Blue Planet run

i’ll say it again: We already know how to purify water. We’ve known how for millennia — sanskrit writings from 2000

B.C. record the following advice: “Impure water should be purified by being boiled over a fire, or being heated in the sun,

or by dipping a heated iron into it, or it may be purified by filtration through sand and coarse gravel and then allowed to

cool.” Add a few technological wrinkles, and that’s essentially what we still do today.

In recent years, we have seen the rise of a new generation of enterprises, commercial and social, led by extraordinary

individuals who have found real solutions to seemingly intractable global problems. Bankers such as Nobel Prize winner

Mohammad Yunus are fighting extreme poverty by providing loans to people with no credit. Economists such as “The

Mystery of capital” author Hernando de soto are working with governments to provide even the poorest individuals

with formal titles to their land. And businesspeople such as GrameenPhone founder iqbal Quadir are providing small

entrepreneurs with productivity tools (in his case, cell phones) that allow individuals to serve their communities while

making attractive profits.

the success of these pioneers is infectious. individuals around the world are becoming increasingly aware that they can

make a difference. there will always be a place for Big solutions, but they should only be the last resort, when they can

prove a greater chance of success than smaller, more adaptive strategies.

real success only comes with real risk — and real risk means the ever-present possibility of failure. We desperately need

to try dramatically new approaches to the challenge of safe water — and many of those approaches will fail. But if we are

determined (and lucky), a few of these new solutions will work. this is what inventors and entrepreneurs do. they accept

failure as part of the process, they learn from their mistakes, and they keep trying until they find a solution.

What will the solution to making the world’s water safe again look like? I have my own ideas, but I am just one inventor

among what should be millions. My hunch is that the answer (or answers) will not be the expected one, or come from

even the expected source. It may not be a sophisticated device emerging from a well-equipped lab in the developed

world, but an astonishingly elegant solution discovered by some new, young entrepreneur or scientist in rio, Dharavi or

kibera. or, it may come from you.

Freed to think small, to make mistakes and to take real risks, we will find the solution to the challenge of safe water. Of

that i am certain.

— DeAN kAMeN

The el paso, Texas, waTer uTiliTy gives customers a $50

rebate when they get rid of their old, water-hogging toilets. New models

can save up to 5 gallons per flush. Through incentives, water recycling and

strict conservation ordinances, el Paso residents have reduced their average

personal daily usage by 60 percent, from 230 gallons to 136 gallons.

samantha Appleton

The new york-based aCumen Fund, headed by Jacqueline

Novogratz, is helping farmers lift themselves out of poverty by providing

funding to iDe-india. iDe, or international Development enterprises, recruits

machine shops to manufacture low-cost drip irrigation systems. indian

farmers have bought 200,000 of the systems and report that their annual

return on investment ranges from 40 percent to 64 percent. the kB-Drip

system kits are sold through a network of village dealers for $1.30 a pound, of

which 36 cents is the seller’s markup. This for-profit approach is transforming

the lives of farmers in rural areas throughout the developing world.

Atul Loke

174 Blue Planet run A Billion slingshots 175


The energy generaTed by the children playing on this merry-go-round in

the village of Vuma, south Africa, pumps water from an underground borehole up

to a storage tank. Billboards on the tank carry public-service messages on two sides;

the other two have advertisements that help pay for maintenance of the PlayPump

system. Besides being fun — and a source of healthy exercise — the kids are proud

to be providing a valuable community service. samantha reinders

Distilling LaughterIn Africa, water for basic drinking needs is often available beneath people’s feet; they just aren’t able to reach it. Instead, every year women and childen spend more than 40 billion hours (yes, billion) walking great distances to fetch water, devoting much of their days to this arduous and time-wasting daily ritual. To address this tragic waste of human potential, teams of entreprenuers and global aid groups have been focusing on human-powered pumps to transform a labor-intensive chore into child’s play.

Two innovative approaches recently won funding from the World Bank’s Development Marketplace Awards.

PlayPump International’s water pump started a decade ago in South Africa and is already in more than 700 villages. The pump is powered by the energy of children as they play on a merry-go-round. As they spin, water is drawn from below ground into a nearby storage tank. The Case Foundation, headed by Steve and Jean Case, is leading a global campaign to provide PlayPumps to 4000 villages by 2010, which will provide clean water to 10 million people. One of the most striking aspects of the PlayPump concept is that it was created in Africa by Africans for Africans.

The second device getting worldwide attention is The Elephant Pump, a modern adaption to an ancient Chinese

178 Blue Planet run

By 2025, two thirds of the world’s people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress. By 2025, two thirds of the world’s people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress.

A Billion slingshots 179

beFore The playpump was installed in Vuma Village, women and

children had to walk long distances to get the water they needed for the day,

spending hours lugging heavy buckets on their heads. Because of the weight

and frequent injuries, only water for essential purposes was fetched; water

for gardening was out of the question. today the pump system enables the

community to irrigate and maintain a small vegetable garden. Here Violet

Baloyi tends to her marog, a type of spinach. samantha reinders

even when iT’s dry and dusty in Vuma Village, the PlayPump brings water up from

underground, and there’s plenty to go around. the whole operation takes only a few hours

to install and costs around $14,000. The idea has proved so inventive, so cost-efficient and

so much fun for the kids that the World Bank honored it as one of its best new grassroots

ideas. samantha reinders

water-raising device. The Elephant Pump draws water through a pipe using plastic washers attached to a rope. Again, eager children do most of the work by peddling a stationary bicycle. Pump Aid, the British organization behind the devive, has installed thousands of the pumps, mostly in Zimbabwe. The pump costs a fraction of traditional piston-powered pumps thanks to the cooperation of local manufacturers.

178 Blue Planet run

A Billion slingshots 181180 Blue Planet run

the number of girls attending school rises 15 percent in the developing world when adequate sanitation is available. According to U.N. estimates, 443 million school days are lost to waterborne diseases each year.

Children in developing CounTries often are afraid of using

rudimentary toilets like outhouses because the facilities are dark and smelly

and because the youngsters fear falling into the hole. At saint Joseph school

in Tholurpatti village in India, approximately 235 children up to the age of 6

use child-friendly toilets while enjoying colorful drawings on the walls and

a sense of cleanliness. At first, mothers went with their children and taught

them the basic ideas of toilet use and hygiene (including washing hands with

soap). WaterAid provided the funding for these toilets. tomas Munita

Children geT Their own area to use in community toilets that are nicknamed

“television toilets” because some of them do, in fact, have tVs in them. the privately run centers

have become tourist attractions in places like cheetah camp, one of Mumbai’s biggest slums.

A World Bank loan gets the project started, but locals decide how big the toilet will be and what

amenities it will have. three hundred toilets have been built where there previously had been

open defecation, and people are getting used to living without the stink. Atul Loke

less Than halF of Asia’s population has access to adequate sanitation, by far the lowest

percentage in the world. in rural areas only 1 in 3 have access. Here children at the kasichetty

Municipal Middle school in tiruchirappalli, india, learn the importance of hygiene in preventing

illness. simple lessons in hand washing and the installation of public toilets are transforming the

lives of india’s rural children. tomas Munita


Access to clean water gives sub-Saharan Africa's 25 million HIV/AIDS patients a fighting chance to extend their life expectancy. Water-related diseases caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation are responsible for 80 percent of all sickness in the developing world.

Two boys in souThern sudan use straw-shaped guinea worm

filters supplied by the Carter Center to protect themselves from the

larvae responsible for guinea worm disease. this parasitic disease is painful

and debilitating, and its effects reach far beyond a single victim, crippling

agricultural production and reducing school attendance. the carter center

has distributed millions of these straws in recent years, reducing infestations

by 70 percent. Michael Freeman, Aurora Photos

proCTer & gamble’s water purification product, PUR, filters water of debris, viruses,

bacteria, protozoa and arsenic. sold in individual sachets, PUr costs around 10 cents to treat

the drinking water for a family of five for one day and reduces the incidence of diarrhea in young

children by around 50 percent. stephen Digges

There are a Thousand people living in Guanyinjiao Village in Wenzhou City, China,

and until the summer of 2007 they only had one source of water: a local reservoir that delivered

untreated water. Many of the families had come to distrust that water, however, and they blamed it

for an increasing number of illnesses. the Dow chemical company has donated a water treatment

center that is capable of removing a variety of contaminants. it uses membrane technology, a

system that allows pure water to pass through strands of polymer fibers but traps pollutants.

Jianxue Shi


To reduce the impact of residential water use, new installation of low-flow toilets, showerheads and faucets became federal law in the United States in 1992. On average, 33 percent of Florida's wastewater injection facilities leak into the state's aquifer.

roy barghouT (right) is a research supervisor at caroma, an

Australian company developing improved low-flow toilets. Caroma’s toilets

use only three-quarters of a gallon of water to flush, compared to standard

low-flow toilets that use more than a gallon and a half. Michael Amendolia

on mounTains an hour or so outside Mexico

City, Imelda Carreon Valdozino looks at the water flow-

ing past her on the sides of the dormant volcano in the

Tlalmanalco region and wonders what she will find today.

several times a month, this "Guardian of the Volcanoes"

takes a group of students with her as she tests the water

for the presence of toxins. Urbanization has brought more

people and more industry to the area, intensifying the de-

mand for clean water. still, there are few treatment facilities

in the region, and wastewater runoff is returned to rivers

and streams untreated. then, it sinks through the perme-

able volcanic soil and threatens to spoil the aquifer beneath

Mexico City. The "Guardians" measure pollution and con-

front the polluters in an effort to safeguard the rivers and

streams. Janet Jarman

By 2025, two thirds of the world’s people are likely to be living in areas of acute water stress.

A Billion slingshots 187 Rick Smolan

Brand Aid

thirty-eight-year-old creative director David Droga of Australia has spent his career

creating advertising campaigns for the world’s top brands. But ask him about the

campaign he takes the most pride in these days, and he’ll point to the Tap Project,

created to help UNiceF provide clean drinking water to children.

The Tap Project was sparked when Esquire magazine editors challenged Droga to

create a brand out of nothing that could also be “a positive change agent.” inspiration

struck when Droga received a complimentary glass

of tap water at a restaurant. He gave his team at his

company the task of creating a brand for something

that is distributed everywhere but that no one owns,

something that would cost nothing to produce or

package, and something that could generate a lot of

money for UNiceF at almost no cost to the donors.

the campaign’s initial target was the citizens of

Manhattan. All New Yorkers had to do was add a

dollar to their dinner checks. one dollar. enough to

provide clean, safe water for 40 children for a day.

Three hundred of New York’s finest restaurants

signed on, and the city’s most prominent magazines

published tap essays by top authors. students created and hung tap posters around the

city. Dozens of public figures, including actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Mayor Michael

Bloomberg, became Tap representatives. All of New York embraced the project.

suddenly tap water became a brand. Millions of dollars were generated for UNiceF

at zero cost.

UNICEF plans to roll out the Tap Project in more than 30 cities in North America

on World Water Day in 2008. In 2009 TAP will launch in more than 100 cities

around the world.

“this single idea will literally save millions of children’s lives,” says UNiceF’s steve Miller.


According to the World Health organization, more than 1 billion people gained access to clean water over the last decade. Women and girls in the developing world often spend the majority of their day collecting water and carrying containers weighing up to 45 pounds almost 4 miles.

aliCe malemela, 15, of Mothapo Village in south Africa pulls a Q Drum

on her way to the community water tap. the innovative plastic drum serves as a

rolling water bucket and stores up to 20 gallons when full. samantha reinders

souTh aFriCan arChiTeCT pieT hendrikse

has put his civil engineering career on hold to begin an-

other in social entrepreneurship. With the help of his

brother Hans, he designed and self-funded the Q Drum

water-fetching container. Now, he hopes to find a mate-

rial that will make it both durable and affordable. Although

the design has been highly regarded, and the social ben-

efits are clear, the Q Drum's current $30 production cost

prevents the product from being used more widely. "our

initial marketing drive was [targeted] to aid organizations,

but we have come to the realization that if the distribu-

tion of our product is exclusively dependent on charity, the

project will not be sustainable." Hendrikse remains opti-

mistic that successful field testing will inspire international

funding to overcome manufacturing limitations and make it

affordable to the people of rural Africa who need it most.

samantha reinders


FogQuesT, a nonprofit Canadian charity, is dedicated to installing water projects serving rural communities in developing

countries. Fog collectors make use of natural atmospheric sources of water: As fog blows through the nets, it condenses and is

channeled into reservoirs, providing villages with free water. Here a team installs fog catchers in Nepal. tony Makepeace

out of thick Airsome parts of the developing world receive as little as .04 inches of

rainfall per year. in such places, there are no rivers or lakes, people

cannot collect enough rainwater to drink, and long-distance transport

of water is prohibitively expensive.

Building on a technology developed in the coastal desert of chile by

a team of chileans and canadians, the fog catcher system is ideally

situated for arid or seasonally arid locations where conventional water

supplies are not available.

Fog catchers utilize dense fog — low-hanging clouds — to produce

large amounts of water for rural inhabitants in the most arid parts of

our planet. the perfect environment for a fog catcher installation is at

high elevations where the fog is driven by wind moving over hills.

The fog collectors are made of inexpensive, durable plastic mesh, with

fibers woven to maximize passive fog drop interception and to allow

for rapid drainage of the collected water. Because the mesh can be

supported by local material such as wood, the cost of the collector is

low and little maintenance is required. the light, compact nature of the

mesh makes it easy to ship and carry, thus facilitating the placement of

collectors in poor and isolated communities.

through these collector systems, clean water is provided to remote

communities that lack rivers, lakes and springs and the financial

wherewithal to purchase water elsewhere.

FogQuest, a Canadian nonprofit organization that installs fog catchers

around the world, says that in its first year of operation in the Chilean

village of chungungo, the system provided between 4,000 and 26,000

gallons of water a day. the village no longer had to import water by

truck and had enough to begin growing gardens and fruit trees.


various FabriC ConFiguraTions are

tested to see which collect water most effectively.

Manufacturers use the science of biomimicry to

design nets resembling naturally occurring patterns.

For instance, a British firm is manufacturing a model

inspired by a Namibian beetle that can capture 10

times more water than any previous version.

tony Makepeace FogQuesT reporTs that in its first year of operation, the system provided between 4,000 and 26,000 gallons of water a day in some villages.

Villagers no longer had to import water by truck and had enough to begin growing gardens and fruit trees.

tony Makepeace

when Clouds TouCh The earTh in the form of fog, material stretched across hillsides captures the moisture, providing a natural source

of fresh, clean water. tony Makepeace


A quarter of the world's glaciers, which provide drinking water to more than 1 billion people, could be gone by 2050 due to global warming. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made donation commitments of $60 million for water projects in 2006.

aT 11,000 FeeT on Austria’s Pitztal Glacier, 15 acres of cutting-edge insulation is draped onto

sheer slopes — at a cost of $85,000 — to keep them from melting. Glaciers in the Alps are losing

1 percent of their mass every year and may disappear by the end of the century. Less ice and snow

cover means less runoff to feed Europe’s major rivers and a loss to the region’s ecosystem as well

as to its economy. Glacier wrapping is now being tried in Germany and switzerland.

Melissa Farlow

glaCiers ThaT provide europe with drinking water (and ski slopes) have lost more

than half their volume in the last century. Workers at the Pitztal Glacier ski resort in Austria are

doing something to slow the melting. On a sunny day, they attach a fleece-like blanket to the top

of the slope, push it over the lip and roll it down over the glacier’s flank. The synthetic material

protects the snow from the sun’s rays and helps slow the melting in summer months.

Melissa Farlow


Cities around the world, from Shanghai to Mexico City, are sinking by as much as 30 feet as a result of the overpumping of the aquifers beneath them. Micro-loans from the Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Bank in Bangladesh have helped well over half of its recipients gain access to safe drinking water.

Children Try ouT the new tap that dispenses water from a PlayPump in Pudhupalli,

replacing the old hand pump right next to it. Pudhupalli is the first rural village in India to remove

all open sewers. tomas Munita

manimala, a researcher with an indian health and sanitation

organization called Gramalaya, collects data in the village of Mettupatti,

noting the number of people and the location of toilets, wells and water

taps. the information will be used to help determine where new sanitation

facilities will be built. Many people in india’s rural villages must use open

defecation troughs, which contribute to the spread of disease.

tomas Munita


laxman singh has dedicated his life to reviving traditional rainwater

harvesting systems in parched villages in western India. Under Laxman's

leadership, villagers have built new reservoirs and irrigated their fields. The

results of this work are everywhere. in the village of Laporiya, harvests of

wheat, lentils and vegetables have tripled, and the water table has risen by

45 feet. Janet Jarman

women Tap waTer from a central well in Laporiya, a

remote village in the drought-prone state of Rajasthan, India.

Since 1991, levels in the wells have risen from 60 feet below

ground to just 15 feet. The gains have come thanks to the

revival of traditional rainwater capture techniques: Villagers

have rebuilt collection ponds, repaired masonry storage tanks

and created earthen percolation reservoirs that help recharge

groundwater. Laporiya has been recognized as the only village

in the district that did not require aid in the form of water

tankers. Janet Jarman

in Brazil, 113,000 cisterns have already been installed to collect rainwater for almost 700,000 people, part of a larger effort to install 1 million.


715 trillion gallons of gray water are now reclaimed and reused in industry and irrigation around the world every year. Global freshwater consumption rose sixfold in the 20th century, more than twice the rate of population growth.

a worker checks the water gauge at the tuas seawater Desalination Plant in singapore.

Using reverse-osmosis advanced filter technology, the plant treats approximately 30 million gallons

of water per day, about 10 percent of singapore's daily consumption. the largest of its kind in

Asia, the plant was constructed in 2005 to reduce singapore's dependence on imported water

from Malaysia. roslan rahman, AFP, Getty images

dwindling FreshwaTer resourCes threaten the key ingredient in coca cola’s

business, so water conservation has become key to the company’s bottom line. coke has built

high-tech bottling facilities like this one in Denver. As bottles and cans pass through the system

above, they’re rinsed by air, not water. While conventional bottling facilities use nearly 3 liters of

water for every liter of soda, plants like this one can cut water waste in half.

Joanna B. Pinneo

aT an esTimaTed cost of $35 billion, Libya is building one of the most extensive water systems

in the history of the world. The project is expected to carry water from the vast aquifiers under the

Sahara to the Mediterranean coastal region, where 90 percent of the population lives. Libya is already

mining 35 billion cubic feet of water annually and will reap 1,400 billion cubic feet each year — which

scientists worry could empty the aquifers in as little as 40 years. Libyan head of state Moammar

Gadhafi calls the project the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” reza, Webistan


ashoka Fellow marTa eChavarria has established water markets that assign price tags to the environmental benefits of healthy

watersheds. this measurable value allows all parties — farmers, environmentalists, water companies, electric companies and governments — to

better understand the value of water. Marta’s multi-tiered strategy establishes private funds for watershed management and coordinates watershed

conservation plans between upstream and downstream users. Piloted in colombia, Marta’s model continues to spread and have success in

communities throughout Latin America. ivan kashinsky

a new waTer prize to encourage entrepreneurs to focus on the

global water crisis is being created by Andrew Benedek (right), founder of

Zenon Membrane Solutions, who invented a membrane filtration system

considered to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in water treatment since

the development of sand filtration and chlorine disinfection a century ago;

and Monique Barbut, ceo of the Global environment Facility, director of a

$3 billion fund helping poor countries deal with climate change. in June 2007

they met in Paris to solicit support from Jean-Louis chaussade, ceo of suez

environment, who heads the world's largest private water company.

Gerard Uferas

TigisT Tadesse has a dream of providing tap water and sanitation to everyone in her village of Ginchi, ethiopia. in addition to her

responsibilities as a shopkeeper and mother of three, tigist researches and publicizes water-related statistics about her village. Her efforts have led to

the construction of 20 community toilets and more than 100 taps around her neighborhood since 2005. Guy calaf


small-scale water technologies such as drip irrigation and treadle pumps are providing an estimated $100 billion in economic value to the developing world. in the world's poorest communities, people spend 5 to 10 times more for water than those in the developed, a sum that can represent more than 20% of their incomes.

JagganaTh mule, a farmer in the sindhi kalegoan village in

southwest india, has dramatically increased the yield of his vegetable crop

thanks to a low-cost drip irrigation system based on “pepsees.” the system

was invented by an indian farmer who had a side business selling frozen

Popsicles. one day he realized that he could wind long, uncut rolls of durable

Popsicle wrappers along the rows of his crops and then pump water into

them. the holes in the perforations between each Popsicle wrapper acted as

distribution points for the water in the tube. Atul Loke

The seeds in This phoTograph were grown using the “pepsees” drip irrigation

system. sometimes the original tubes made of clear plastic allowed algae to grow and contaminate

the water. the manufacturer, delighted that its product had a vast secondary market, is now

producing a line of black wrappers to solve the problem. Atul Loke

For about what people in the U.s. spend on bottled water every year ($10 billion), the world could halve the number of people without access to clean water by 2015.Only 5 percent, or $4 billion, of all international aid from developed countries goes to water and sanitation projects.

boTTles oF waTer fetch $20 each in the name of charity. A group called charity: Water uses every dime of the purchase price to dig freshwater wells in Uganda, Malawi, central African republic, ethiopia and Liberia. scott Harrison

boTTled waTer has a deservedly bad reputation

these days. so how is it that 32-year-old scott Harrison,

a former party promoter turned water evangelist, can sell

tens of thousands of bottles of his own charity: Water

brand for $20 a pop? simple. He tells his customers that

they aren't buying bottled water; they're building wells in

Africa. A small coterie of black-tie twenty-somethings have

raised over a million dollars. Photographs taken by Harrison,

an accomplished photojournalist, are part of the draw at

high-profile fund-raising events ranging from the Sundance

Film festival to exhibits in New York City’s Union Square.

Using internet technology, volunteers with cameras and

images overlayed on Google Maps, Harrison brings home

stories of transformed communities to enable donors to see the

benefits their donations. rick smolan


Desalination plants are the artificial rivers of the Middle East, accounting for nearly 40 percent of municipal water supplies in the region. One fifth of the world’s population and a third of the Earth’s land surface (15 million square miles) is threatened by global desertification.

spain’s push to develop its arid southern coast for tourism has

required it to tap the Mediterranean sea for fresh water. the country’s 700

desalination plants produce 800 million gallons yearly. Worldwide, more than

12,000 desalination plants produce more than 4.4 trillion gallons.

Georg Fischer, Bilderberg, Aurora Photos

a TeChniCian draws a water sample from a reverse-osmosis filter at the Heemskerk

desalination plant in the Netherlands. reverse-osmosis technology uses semi-permeable

membranes to remove salt and pollutants from water. Already in household purification systems,

reverse-osmosis technology is taking over the desalination industry, replacing plants that use heat

to distill water. Marc steinmetz, Aurora Photos

workers insTall one of the 9,000 filters at the $256 million desalination plant in Yuma,

Arizona, which removes salty runoff from U.s. farms on the colorado river. the plant, 70 miles

from the sea, came online in 2007, in the middle of an eight-year drought in the West. Water from

the plant goes to Mexico under treaty obligations, and it is 40 times more expensive than water

obtained from other natural sources. Jim richardson, National Geographic, Getty images


More than 10,000 nongovernmental organizations around the world are helping to address the world's water crisis. to keep pace with the growing demand for food, it is estimated that about 15 percent more fresh water will have to be withdrawn for agricultural purposes by 2030.

deborah and ann nJenga water their farm in Juja, Kenya. Ann’s

kickstart water pump has taken her beyond subsistence farming and opened

up new business opportunities, including an exotic flower nursery, a tilapia

fish farm and the occasional car wash. stephen Digges

sTephen ngiri demonstrates kickstart’s low-tech micro-irrigation solution for rural

farmers in kenya. the pedal-powered water pump has enabled stephen and his family to increase

tomato output by five times and employ an additional eight workers during harvest season.

stephen Digges

niCk moon and marTin Fisher came up with the concept of the kickstart pump

in Kenya during the early 1990s after observing that aid projects tended to wither once the aid

workers returned home. their concept was to create an affordable and easy-to-manufacture

device that would empower landowners to become “farmerpreneurs.” kickstart water pumps are

produced locally and sold to farmers in kenya, tanzania and Mali. these human-powered pumps

enable farmers to plant three or four crops a year, increasing incomes as much as tenfold.

Michael collopy

Blue Planet Run 213

More than sixty days into the Blue Planet Run, Lansing Brewer

crosses the Bixby Creek Arch Bridge, on a foggy cliff-side stretch of

California’s Pacific Coast Highway. Lansing, who celebrated his sixtieth

birthday before the run began, is the team’s senior participant, and a constant

source of inspiration to the younger runners. Chris Emerick

In 2003, Peter Agre won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of

aquaporins, membrane proteins that prevent pollutants from entering cells.

By arranging water molecules into single lines, these pathways ensure that only

pure water is allowed to pass through them. Cells are smart; they have learned

that one of the most important things a cell needs is pure water.

Humans are smart too, but desperation leads people to drink water they know

is polluted when the alternative is no water at all. The 1.1 billion people who

live in poverty and lack access to clean water are forced to

take what is available, even when that water contains heavy

metals, solvents, bacteria, protozoa, viruses or parasites. They

drink it even if it means risking paralysis from polio, deformity from

Schistosoma, or death from cholera or typhoid. Children are the most vulnerable

because most of the poor people in the world are children.

Today, in late 2007, the human race is at a critical juncture. If you look at the

science that describes what is happening on Earth today and aren’t pessimistic,

you don’t have the correct data. Yet, around the world, in every country and city

and culture, there are compelling, coherent, self-organized congregations involving

tens of millions of people dedicating themselves to change. What we are seeing

everywhere around the globe are ordinary and not-so-ordinary individuals willing

to confront despair, power and incalculable odds in an attempt to restore some

semblance of grace, justice and beauty to this world. Every person who works on

behalf of humanity has a unique story.

My friend Jin Zidell is a perfect example of this global movement. The seed for

his Blue Planet Run Foundation was planted in 2002 in a small Indian café called

Avatar’s located in Sausalito, California. Avatar’s is legendary in our homely

industrial neighborhood for taking the idea of service to a new level. People line

up for hours on Thanksgiving when owner Ashok and his family provide free

meals to all patrons as a way to honor his late brother-in-law. On that day, turkey-

pumpkin enchiladas, seared vegetables and cumin-laden soups stream out from

the kitchen until late into the night.

Taeko Terauchi-LouTiTT runs along the Donau River in Vienna,

Austria on June 18, 2007. Born in Tochigi, Japan, Taeko started running 16

years ago. Her selfless decision to run around the world had an unexpected

personal benefit when she fell in love with fellow runner Canadian Jason

Louttit during the three month relay race. Chris Emerick

Jin Zidell asked if we could meet because he wanted to do something to make a

difference in a world that appeared to be spinning out of control. Like Ashok, Jin had

lost a loved one, his wife, and had spent a long and profound period in mourning. To

those of us who were his friends, his heartache seemed bottomless and immeasurable.

But on that day we met for lunch, Jin seemed different. He wanted to do something

to honor Linda. What struck me as we spoke was the scope of Jin’s dreams. His eyes

were as big as his love for Linda. His grief had become resolve.

When Jin asked me to suggest a way he could make a real difference I suggested that

he do something that was measurable, something that could change an individual’s life

in a single day, that he focus on a global problem that could be solved in a decade,

an endeavor that could actually push the needle with respect to improving peoples’

lives and the environment. He looked at me puzzled and asked, what would that be?

I knew of only one thing: water. Ninety minutes later, he left determined to find a way

to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people for the rest of their lives by 2027.

Since that day, Jin has never looked back.

Five years later the Blue Planet Run Foundation has three major initiatives under way.

The first is the Peer Water Exchange, which aims to enjoin thousands of

non-governmental organizations to find, fund and share the best water projects around

the world. The second is the extraordinary photography book you are holding in

your hands, designed to bring home Jin’s belief that that pure water is a right, not a

commodity.

The third initiative of the Blue Planet Run Foundation is the circumnavigation of the

globe by runners, symbolizing a circle in our hearts and minds, a closing of the loop

of love, care and responsibility that people share for each other. From June 1 through

September 4, 2007, a team of 22 dedicated runners set aside their own lives for 95

days to carry a message to the entire planet that undrinkable water is unthinkable in

today’s world. If the Blue Planet Run Foundation can change the world to ensure that

no child will ever be harmed by the water he or she drinks, then it will be one of the

great miracles of the 21st century. And Jin’s dedication to the memory of the person he

loved most will have changed the world.

—PAuL HAWkEN

10. Laura Furtado, 43, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

11. Simon Isaacs, 26, Boston, MA

12. Shiri Leventhal, 23, Cleveland, OH

13. David Christof, 27, Prague, Czech Republic

14. Melissa Moon, 37, Wellington, New Zealand

15. Victor Lara Ricco, 33, Guatemala City, Guatemala

16. Paul Rogan, 37, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England

17. Jason Loutitt, 33, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

18. Taeko Terauchi, 34, Tochigi, Japan

19. Sunila Jayaraj, 29, kolar, IN

20. Emmanuel kibet, 29, Moiben, kenya

21. Lansing Brewer, 60, Winston-Salem, NC

22. Sean Harrington, 30, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

23. Heiko Weiner, 44, Suhl, Germany

The movemenTs begins wiTh a

sTep, followed by millions more.

From June 1 through September 4, 2007, a

team of 22 athletes engaged in an extraordinary

circumnavigation of the globe, running 15,200

miles, across 16 countries and 4 continents, 24

hours a day for 95 days to raise awareness about

the global water crisis.

1. Jin Zidell, Founder and Chairman,

Blue Planet Run Foundation

2. Jason Gross, 30, Washington, DC

3. Will Dobbie, 25, Seattle, WA

4. Mary Chervenak, 39, Anderson, SC

5. Dot Helling, 57, Yokohama, Japan

6. Richard Johnson, 30, Pittsburgh, PA

7. Brynn Harrington, 29, Milwaukee, WI

8. Rudy van Prooyen, 57, Den Haag, Netherlands

9. Laurel Dudley, 26, Dorset, VT

1

23

45

6

7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18

19 20 21

22 23

William Coupon

Blue Planet Run 219218 Blue Planet Run

Delivering the MessageFor centuries, news and warnings from distant lands were spread from village to village, and from country

to country, by messengers traveling great distances through treacherous and often untamed landscapes.

Once the bearer arrived, the details would be recited or sung in chants and melodies. Moments later,

another runner would be dispatched to the next village carrying the news to every corner of the land.

That ancient tradition was restored on June 1, 2007, as 20 runners representing 13 nationalities departed

the united Nations in New York on an extraordinary 95-day, nonstop relay race. The message: More than

1 billion people lack access to water they need for everyday life, and the rest of us can and should help

alleviate the problem.

The Blue Planet Run would be the first of its kind to circumnavigate the globe, spanning 15,200 miles and

16 countries including the united States, Ireland, the united kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands,

Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan and Canada.

Each runner pledged to run 10 miles a day, and they alternated duties between 1,500 exchange points

on their way around the globe. At each point, they took a moment to face each other and recite their

message, which included an ancient Iroquois prayer:

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength.

Water is life. We know its power in many forms — waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans.

With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water. Now our minds are one.

“Runners have always been the messengers,” said Simon Isaacs as he ran across the flat, dusty Mongolian

steppe past a slightly bewildered nomadic herdsman. It was his 27th birthday and he was celebrating by

running 27 miles, a full marathon plus one for good measure. For Issacs, who had been working in Rwanda

on a water management project the previous summer, the run was an honor he didn’t take lightly.

TOP ROW: New York City, NY Rick Smolan BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Misha Erwitt / Bloomington, IL Alex Garcia

New York City, NY Rick Smolan

Kenyan-born emanuel Kibet runs above the deepest lake in

the world, Russia’s Lake Baikal, which contains a fifth of Earth’s fresh water.

Kibet, who is one of 7 children, worked as a farmer, butcher and firefighter

before starting his running career six years ago. He says he hopes his run

will “help alleviate human suffering.” Chris Emerick

222 Blue Planet Run Blue Planet Run 223

David Christof, a student counselor at Miami university in Ohio, spent his summer vacation spreading the

message. On Day 17, Christof’s team rearranged its schedule so he could take the lead on a homecoming

run into his native Czechoslovakia across Prague’s historic Charles Bridge. “With goodwill,” said Christof,

“monumental achievements are possible.”

The Blue Planet Run is part of industrialist-turned-environmental-philanthropist Jin Zidell’s larger plan

to generate sufficient resources to provide fresh water to 200 million people over the next 20 years.

The first step was finding a like-minded corporate sponsor to fund the run. He met his match in Andrew

Liveris, chairman and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, who shared the same vision.

“Today, 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. To put that in context, that number is

approximately equal to the entire population of the world at the time our company was founded in 1897,”

Liveris said. “Our partnership with the Blue Planet Run Foundation is a signature investment in awareness

and education of this key issue facing the global community.”

Once Zidell had secured sponsorship for the run from Dow, he focused on recruiting a team of inspired

runners and negotiating permission for them to run through 16 nations around the northern hemisphere.

In mid-2006, Zidell enlisted his neighbor, Matt kursh, a serial entrepreneur who had sold companies

to Apple Computer and Microsoft, as a casual advisor on the Foundation’s internet strategy. It didn’t

take kursh long to become a passionate supporter of the Foundation’s efforts, or to realize that the

Foundation could use some management help. So, in October 2006, kursh asked Zidell to stop by

his house, and then volunteered to serve as CEO of the Foundation. Zidell accepted the offer on the

spot, and announced it to his team that afternoon. kursh immediately set about creating a management

framework that would allow the massive global task to operate smoothly and efficiently.

Olympic Torch Run veteran Dill Driscoll and his event production team at ignition took on the

overwhelming task of planning the route and logistics across four continents, as well as moving 22 runners

and 30 staff 160 miles each day. Day and night, they remained the runners’ faithful guides and cheerleaders.

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: kemerovo, Russia Chris Emerick / Midland, MI Chris Emerick / Beijing, China Mark Leong, Redux Pictures / Gobi Desert, Mongolia Chris Emerick BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Zhangbei,

China Mark Leong, Redux Pictures / Chicago, IL Chris Emerick

Vermont Attorney, Dot Helling, 57, has run more

than 100 marathons in her career, but her run along the Great

Wall of China during one of the more exotic legs of the 15,200

mile race was by far the highlight. “The Chinese were fascinated

by my Blue Planet Run team outfit and my muscles — they made

me feel like a celebrity. In fact, some thought I was there to train

for the Olympics.” Chris Emerick


The runners were divided into five teams of four runners. Each team was expected to run a 40-mile leg

during its six-hour shift. Despite every precaution, however, not everything went smoothly. One of the

alternate athletes broke his ankle on his first day while running through Belgium. In Russia, the Silver Team

careened across a highway when its van’s front axle broke. Shortly thereafter, in Mongolia, the team’s next

van was hit by a drunken driver. And in China, Suniyla Jayaraj had to battle his way through one of the

worst traffic jams encountered on the trip to reach the exchange point at the Great Wall.

Will Dobbie, who had spent the previous summer researching water problems at kenya’s Lake Victoria,

found himself battling stomach problems day after day while running through Russia and China. And he

wasn’t alone: At one point the teams were forced to temporarily swap members just to keep pace while

the sick recovered.

The reality of the Blue Planet Run also looked, felt and smelled far less romantic to the runners after

weeks of constant travel, cramped by months’ worth of gear and provisions. Even the sides of vans were

utilized. The exteriors were decorated with Web site addresses directing people to donate money for the

water crisis — but the windows were reserved for several pairs of legs stretching out between stints. The

hot showers in these rolling locker rooms came in the form of disposable wipes.

But adversity only seemed to strengthen the will of the runners. The oldest runner, 60-year-old Lansing

Brewer, a retired teacher from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had to be ordered by team doctor John

Pershing to stop running more than his daily 10 miles. Years before, Brewer had developed a water quality

education program for his students, and now, on his first trip out of North America, it was his time to live

out that message.

Long-distance running is rarely considered a team sport, but a distance of 15,200 miles can only be

accomplished as a team. On paper, the Blue Team seemed a most unlikely partnership: Paul Rogan was a

gardener and running coach from Scotland; Heiko Weiner, an inorganic chemistry researcher from East

Germany; Rudy van Prooyen, a chemist and a veteran of the Dutch Special Forces; and Laurel Dudley an


TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: kemerovo, Russia Chris Emerick / Paris, France Nicholas Tavernier / kansk, Russia Chris Emerick / Paris, France Nicholas Tavernier / kansas City, MO Chris Emerick

Beijing, China Chris Emerick / Orsa, Belarus Chris Emerick


ecotourism guide from Hawaii. They met for the first time at the training camp in Lake Placid just one

week before the run started in New York.

While working their way across the Mongolian steppe in the afternoon heat, the Blue Team was on the

verge of collapse. Van Prooyen was suffering from a groin injury from bouncing around in the van on the

rough Siberian roads. And the meniscus ligament Weiner had torn in his right knee while running the

Boston Marathon was flaring up again.

Dudley took the team’s first handoff and ran an extra two miles, hoping to relieve pressure from her

ailing teammates. “I’ve worked on a lot of volunteer projects and leadership programs before, but nothing

comes close to the intensity of this one,” she explained while stopping only a few seconds to hydrate.

Weiner struggled to complete one of his most difficult 10-mile legs. But the ailing van Prooyen had to be

coaxed back into the van by Dr. Pershing after gamely completing eight of his 10 miles.

“It’s about the four of us making it back to New York together and going the distance,” was Rogan’s

explanation for why he took pride in running the extra miles for his team that day. Weiner later

commented, after jumping out of the van to run with Rogan for the last few miles, “It’s never that bad if

what you’re doing is important enough.”

For every one of the runners, there was that single moment when the purpose of the Blue Planet Run —

and their own commitment to it — became transcendently clear.

For Emmanuel kibet, a professional marathoner from central kenya, that moment came on the shores

of Lake Baikal, the oldest, deepest and largest body of fresh water on the planet. kibet was one of seven

children growing up in a family whose water source was a nearby well that often served up only muddy

water. Perhaps this was one of the reasons he stunned his teammates by suddenly leaping into the

remarkably clear, frigid lake.


TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Zhangbei, China Mark Leong, Redux Pictures / Port Huron, MI Chris Emerick / Pittsburg, CA Catherine karnow BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Chicago, IL Alex Garcia

Marin, CA Catherine karnow / Port Huron, MI Chris Emerick / Irkutsk, Russia Chris Emerick

For Richard Johnson, his favorite memory was Day 37, July Fourth, when tens of thousands of music

fans were attending Live Earth concerts. Johnson, an accomplished musician who has played with Herbie

Hancock and Wynton Marsalis, found himself running through Omsk, Russia — dreaming of being at a

concert, but soldiering on.

Mary Chernak, a chemist and project manager at Dow Chemical, and admittedly only a recreational

runner, was constantly grateful just to be on the run.

“I’m the last person who should be here with all these phenomenal runners and extraordinary people, not

to mention being here in the middle of Mongolia.” she whispered in amazement while watching the sun

rise after completing a night run. “This is my Olympic Games and my one shot to be on the world stage

to do something extraordinary. When else am I ever going to be able to put my professional and married

life on hold for three months to focus on something so important to so many other peoples’ lives?”

But even veteran runners reached moments when almost the only thing keeping them going was their

role as messengers about a growing world crisis. Vermont lawyer and ultramarathoner Dot Helling had

such a moment on a long uphill climb in Siberia, escorted by a police car driven by a local officer. “It just

makes me even more determined,” she said through gritted teeth from an agonizing side-ache, “to get the

message out about how bad and solvable the water crisis is if only more people knew about it.”

For Victor Lara Ricco, what kept him going was the memory of the time he carried armloads of water

bottles and delivered them to a remote Guatemalan village during a previous water crisis.

For husband and wife team Brinn and Sean Harrington of California, it was the recognition that many

others around the world were experiencing far worse that kept them motivated at the most trying

moments. “Whenever I feel like I’m struggling or I’ve had enough of this,” said Brinn, “I think of somebody

having to haul their water 10 miles a day.”


TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Paris, France Nicholas Tavernier / Moscow, Russia Chris Emerick / Osra, Belarus Chris Emerick / St. Louis, MO Chris Emerick

SupporterS, journaliStS, friendS and family

welcome the Blue Planet Run team as they cross the finish line

at precisely 12 noon on September 4, 2007 at the South Street

Seaport in lower Manhattan. Rick Smolan


Melissa Moon, a national champion runner from New Zealand, put her racing career on hold for the

run. “I first heard about it while I was competing in Nigeria — where, as a professional athlete, I felt very

privileged and selfish. I was preoccupied with getting enough clean water for my training while many of the

people living there were looking for enough clean water just to survive.”

The three-month commitment to make a difference in other peoples’ lives took on an extra

“life-changing” dimension for Canadian Jason Louttit and Taeko Terauchi from Japan.

Accomplished runners in their respective countries but utter strangers at the start of the race, the

two began dating in Prague on Day 17, with a little matchmaking help from Brazilian teammate Laura

Furtado. On Day 34, while making the continental transition from Europe to Asia, they announced their

engagement. When the run passed through Japan on Day 61, they received Terauchi’s parents’ permission

to marry, which they did in Blue Planet Run style: running past Niagara Falls on Day 89.

Equally indelible in all the runners’ minds was the glorious final stretch — Day 95, September 4, 2007 —

when they crossed the finish line in front of a cheering crowd at lower Manhattan’s South Street Seaport.

Surrounded by friends, family and well-wishers, the 22 runners assembled on stage and basked in the first

moment in more than three months in which they were all standing still. Each took their turn receiving a

water drop-shaped award from mentor and father figure Zidell.

After thanking the runners one last time, Zidell told the crowd that the impressive dedication and

commitment of these extraordinary men and women demonstrated what human beings can do when

they let their better natures take over. Then he smiled and announced that the second Blue Planet Run

was already scheduled for 2009.

The message — Water is Life — has been delivered to the world. Now it is our turn to act.

— MIkE CERRE

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Niagara Falls, Canada Chris Emerick / Chicago, IL Alex Garcia / New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Rick Smolan

New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Rick Smolan / New York City, NY Rick Smolan


Acknowledgements

This book was produced and directed by Against All Odds Productions

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Abby BronsonAbimibola ShabiAdam BrodheimAdam KawasawaAdam SkolnickAdele CohenAdlai MajerAdrian SedlinAimee MurphyAjaya AgrawallaAkemi AdamsAl and Norma Mae ExnerAlain GravelAlbert LiuAlex GrennanAlex MakaiAlexander FuquaAlexander TingAlexei PerezAlfred AriasAlfred Castillo JrAlice PerryAlisa WarshayAlison DelmageAlison NadleAlla BronskayaAllan WolffAllison BembeAlondra TrevinoAmanda BroniszewskiAmanda HaufAmanda TuckerAmber Elizabeth GrayAmi MarcusAmi MinteerAmy Altman-BrowningAmy CissellAmy DickAmy FerreeAmy HowardAmy HuiAmy KennedyAmy LambertiAmy LuceAmy RezmerAmy SmithAna Marinoandres & Kyle De Lasaandres Edwardsandres Suarezandrew Coxandrew Hyteandrew Skinnerandy Beamandy ElliottAngel HardyAngelina YapAnil RaoAnn BernsteinAnn ChotinerAnn ShellyAnna ForresterAnna GillespieAnne and Vincent MaiAnne GreenAnne HainesAnne KannAnne Kelly-RowleyAnne Van ProoyenAnne WallinAnne-Catherine NagelAnnemarie HelmsAnthony TarganAntonette DelauroAntonio Valero SolanellasAriane DhaeneArlene RexfordArnold ZidellArthur NudelmanAshley ForresterAshley HoustonAshok PatrawalaAudrey AlbrechtAudrey FayAva WestBarbara J. MorganBarbara JonesBarbara LeffBarbara McarthurBarbara MiglBarbara MonteilhBarbara PontelloBarbara RiceBarry GrossmanBarry RichardsBecky McnivenBelen CarmichaelBen ChanceBen PijckeBenjamin MatuskaBernd BredehoeftBernice HopkinsBeryt OliverBesh BarcegaBeth WendlingBetty MitchellBetty SchaefferBill KizorekBill M. RudolphsenBilly BardinBilly E GrayBirgit LaceyBitter To Sweet WatersBlake RobertsonBonnie DominguezBrad VeitchBrandon WallBrandy CaronBreanne LundinBrendan ConnorBrian CollinsBrian ForemanBrian HayesBrian LeeBrian LotfiBrian ZurekBrianna ReynaudBridget HockemeyerBrie Sloan

Bruce & Karen AsherBruce ByersBruce CarlyonBruce HodgdonBruce RaabeBryan StampBryce AvalloneByron MillerCaitlin ThomasCameron HaleyCandelario G OlveraCara MattlemanCarla ThomasCarlos GonzalezCarlos RyersonCarmen GonzalezCarol BauerCarol BaumCarol KasleCarol MoenCarol WeanCarol YeomanCaroline ClabaughCaroline LogueCarolyn AgnewCarolyn BradenCarolyn C. andersonCarolyn HammisCarrie Baker StahlerCate CetruloCatherine BrubakerCatherine GouvinCatherine MaxeyCathy HaleCelena BarreraCelia BressackChad LecompteChantal KaneCharla CloudtCharles andersonCharles HudlerCharles PattersonCharles YoungCharlie DarrCheryl HayesCheryl WaldbaumChetan KamdarChristelle LoupforestChristian AnfossoChristina Krawczyk-MillerChristina MckibbonChristine HeathChristine IngramChristney McglashanChristoph KleimeierChristopher CullenChristopher EtchellsChristopher GramsChristopher JamesChristopher MenziesChristopher MillardChristopher MuddChristopher ShortChristopher WakefieldCindy GoetzCindy GriffithCindy KohutCindy RohomanCindy SternClaudia CaineClaudia CaineClaudia CummingsCleo BolenClifton MiskellClinton SchroederCoen De CockCorey BolesCourtney LehnhardCraig MosleyCraig PfeiferCurt TheriaultCynthia BurtCynthia ClaytonD C Mclaughlin JrD Haddon Foster IiD J CrakeDale Elley-BristowDale HummelleDale KielDaniel BorsutzkyDaniel HaarburgerDaniel NaimeyDaniel O’BrienDaniel WolfDaniela MessingschlagerDanielle DrayerDaphne PattersonDarin QuallsDaryl BarkerDavid BartonDavid BoeckmanDavid ChristofDavid CollinsDavid CurryDavid DouglasDavid E. DasseyDavid FreshourDavid HerrickDavid HolcombDavid James StewartDavid K WillisDavid K. HerlihyDavid KeplerDavid KlaneckyDavid KrzyzaniakDavid M. PincusDavid MantheyDavid ParkerDavid SealDavid SutherinDavid TetreaultDavid W StoweDavida HaganDawn C MeyerriecksDawn M HartDeanna KurshDeb WeissDebora GoldingDeborah Brink

Deborah ClarDeborah HoltonDeborah MckeemanDeborah WardDebra KalmakavDebra KoehnDebra StanleyDebra SteinesDenise CederquistDenise PaleothodorosDenise PollockDenise SilkDeniz DemirorsDennis CarneyDennis LaneDevon HullDiana BurtonDiane BiberDiane BoardmanDiane GlaserDiane K FlynnDiane McnallyDiane MillerDiane PlowdreyDianne AllportDianne DahlDick De JongDick NagakiDon FyshDonald KaneDonna BartlettDonna CrillDonna HutchinsDonna LavinsDonna RadkaDoone WatsonDorothy HellingDorothy NobleDorothy TolfreeDouglas BollamDouglas BrownDouglas ParkerDow Midland, MiDow Sarnia, CaDrake ZimmermanDuane RomerDurga MenonE. Whitney WestgateEamonn F. GrantEdith RogersEdward P. SullivanEido ShimanoEileen BaralElaine KatzElise HarringtonElizabeth FreyElizabeth GrandyElizabeth HainesElizabeth KanneElizabeth MooreElizabeth OsleyElizabeth WagnerEllen BalkEmily DiznoffEric EdelsonEric StanglandEric TileniusErica MartlingErik GreenErika AllisonErin KellyErin PackerErnest FrankEthel PetersonEva McglynnEvelia SosaFaranak AmirsalariFrank BuschkyFrank MassaroFraser CrowFred CookFred FieldingFred FriedmanGabriel WyzgaGaiatech IncGail DooleyGary & Carol FradkinGary RudnickGeorge andreadakisGeorge BurchGeorge ButterfieldGeorge CouperthwaitGeorge E. SpringstonGeorge L ShermanGeorge WelchGeorgeanne BohnGeorgia E WellesGeorgia KruegerGerald LachapelleGermaine Dewolfe EndresGina AdduciGina Gibbs-FosterGlen JohnsonGlen OrrGm OrourkeGonzalo AntezanaGrace A. McdonoughGrace WardGreg AbelGregory and Ana FreiwaldGregory GrocholskiGregory H ButlerGulshan Haley LowryHans HummelHans-Joachi Lunk PhdHarold DavidsonHarry A ProctorHarry W MurrayHayley DelucaHeather HawkinsHeather Lynn HillersHeather NorbeckHeather PatrickHee KongHeidi L RavenscraftHeidi MattinglyHeiko WeinerHelen Kastner

Helmut AlbrechtHemlata BhattHendrik TuinstraHenry and Donna IsaacsHenry Van De WerkenHillary WeismanHklepser Holly Brennan-CookHolly CrillHolly RoenickeHolly StrelowHouston H. CarrHoward BeckHuck PattersonIan CornellIlana K. SchwartzIngrid WolfIrene HaleIrene NgIrma B. MunzJack BerdascoJack HudsonJackie MooneyJacqueline HartleyJacqueline HuntJacqueline RawcliffeJames CarterJames ChambersJames ChervenakJames FungJames HaskellJames HillJames K WernerJames MandellJames NevinsJames ParkerJames RichardsJames WilliamsJamie BartschJamie LinnaJane A KeenJane CoyleJane DenardoJane GrossJane HoeltzelJane KelloggJane NortonJanell JonesJanell StewartJanet DickJanet F CornellJanet F. CornellJanet RossJanet TumaJanice CupplesJanice HawrelakJanice WilkinsJanis E SmithJansma Janyse JonesJason DananayJason FujiokaJason JacksonJason KaminskiJason OxmanJason RitaJavier ReyesJay BienstockJay ChervenakJean MccormickJean YamamotoJeanne BartowJeanne DoyleJeff HipplerJeff ReichJeffrey A. JonesJeffrey RottmanJeffrey SullivanJeffry BiggsJenna FeliceJennifer ChabusJennifer CorlewJennifer DeshazerJennifer GremmelsJennifer KoellikerJennifer LindenJennifer ThielJeremy CurranJessica GarciaJessica NovitskyJesslyn TerburghJill DoironJimmy TannerJoan DonhamJoan SevilleJoanna MonahanJoanne SieglaJoanne VaralloJoannie HalasJodi MorseJohn A. StenstromJohn and Elaine BroderickJohn and Karen LafayetteJohn ClevelandJohn DavisJohn EmrickJohn GorteJohn HamiltonJohn HarrisJohn KayserJohn LentJohn LohmanJohn MclarenJohn NgJohn P. GauseJohn PetersonJohn R LightbodyJohn StewartJohn TheileJon BernhardJon LoveJon RochlisJonathan PughJordan TremblayJorge OtiJorge RubalcabaJose BeusesJose H GonzalezJoseph Capehart

Joseph HartmanJoseph J. UlittoJoseph SantiagoJosie SavoJoyce WahlJoycelin TuiJoycelyn GrayJuan MendozaJudith AdelJudith AsherJudith DresselJudith ForbesJudith GhezziJudith MinarJudy RaymondJudy TimmonsJudy WhiteJuliana JonesJuliana SerafinJulie Fasone HolderJulie FerronJulie ScelfoJulie ThyneJulie WoodardJulius RussellJung Wor ChinJustin DeaneKaloyan MihaylovKara DresteKara ZastrowKaren BeaumontKaren C. BoudreauKaren CaryKaren ElacquaKaren GallagherKaren KingKaren KnuepferKaren MadiganKaren SimonKari VigerstolKarin SloughKarla CuttingKarlene K. BergoldKate EovinoKatherine GalvanKatherine McdonaldKatherine RingsKatherine SchwartzKathleen Di PaolaKathleen SchroederKathryn ClarkeKathy BaczkoKathy HallyKathy ShirkKathy StevensKatie SimsKatrin GrosseKelly WrightKen SchultzKenan StevickKenneth andrewsKenneth BurdettKenneth ChinKenneth DinkinKenneth F. DonadioKent MunroKermit CookKerry SteachKevin JohnsonKevin KucharKevin KumlerKevin MurrayKevin NasmanKevin NobleKevin PeilKim GobleKim Miller-LeonardKimberly BrownKimberly McveyKimberly ObrienKimberly RichmondKimberly RoseKiran BaikerikarKirstin HinchcliffKrista LaursenKristin CrainKristine BuckleyKristine NelsonKyle SpencerKylee WackerleLakehills United Methodist ChurchLarayne HesseLarry ElvebakLasette BarrowLaura EdwardsLaura ElsenbossLaura FarringtonLaura MedalieLaura TaglianiLaura VoisinetLauren McdonnellLauri ChotinerLaurie AdlerLaurie Anne and Charles ArrigoniLaurie ColonLaurie LeeperLaurie SchopickLauryl SumnerLawrence ZhuLeah SchmerlLeandro GarzaLeanne SlaterLee BiggsLee BuckmanLeeanne DejournettLeila RahbarLesley RushmerLesley WatzLeslie HatfieldLiane AlitowskiLinda BradyLinda Cano RodriguezLinda FryLinda HigginsLinda KingmanLinda LichonLinda Moore

Linda ParmanLinda SadunasLinda TinolyLindsay BillingsLindsey CoyleLindsey HarikLinsey ChervenyLisa DraperLisa LarsonLisa M KingsburyLisa ShawLisa SutherlandLissette RocaLois RuszalaLoraine StillmanLoren FaireLoren SohnLorenzo CresciLoretta MelhadoLori Orchow HaneyLori PoliskiLorrie DeutscherLucas HowellLucylle M. BiseseLuis Ize LuldowLuisa CasellaLuping LiuLynda BlakeLynn HebertLynn KaraimLynn NewportLynn StansburyLynne HamiltonM Kathleen O’ConnorMacall PolayMahmood JawaidMalka Van ProoyenManhattan Woods Golf ClubManuel Ybarra JrMarcel VenckeleerMarcella RolnickMargaret J KeenMargaret P. BellinMargaret R WalkerMargaret WilsonMargot VahrenwaldMaria LambertiMaria LegauxMarianne AdezioMarianne JacksonMarie QuinnMarie VincentMarilyn Arnold PalleyMarilyn FeldmanMarilyn RomineMarilyn S. SteinMarilyn WaiteMarisa LeignerMark AdamsMark CumminsMark Davis-CoteMark EmondsMark FrearsMark GregoreskiMark HenningMark HofmaierMark LanderMark LinMark McadonMark R DavidsonMark SherkowMark SteeleMark TichonMark WentleyMark WonsilMarlene RifkinMarlo Meylan-NeitzelMarsha KotalacMartha EdensMartha MotleyMartine StolkMarty LandryMarvin LundwallMary ChervenakMary CliffordMary CooperMary DodgeMary H WarkMary Jo PiperMary Just SkinnerMary R. LongMary RokytaMary SelleyMary Virginia Stieb-HalesMary WilliamsMaryann AmatoMarylouise HawkenMatt KurshMatt LelandMatt WhitcombMatthew FellowsMatthew MorganMatthew SteinMaureen MiksztalMaureen PeakMaurice SperryMax RueggerMaxine RussellMaydelis TorresMayya KawarMeghan RomanMeghan SmitheMelanie PickeringMelissa AlgazeMelissa PrattMelissa RuttenMelvin PincusMichael A. PuglisiMichael A. PuglisiMichael BristowMichael HadleyMichael J. FedorMichael JohnsonMichael KleeMichael KransMichael KuntzMichael NimanMichael Olken

Michael PollastriMichael RabinMichael SeiseMichael SellnowMichael SilbermanMichael StalochMichael WymanMichele WilsonMicheline LeclairMichelle BaxterMichelle DirkMichelle E DemarcoMichelle J. ReynoldsMichelle M. FocoMichelle PlachtaMichelle TsaiMichelle WilliamsonMichelle WolcottMiinkay YuMike HayesMike KaufmanMike McguireMike MosesMike ReilleyMike ZalarMillie Beskers-CrothMinoru KobayashiMitch AllenMitch BinnarrMitch SteinMolly CurreyMolly J. LavoieMolly LynchMolly SelleyMonica R TanneyMonica TanneyMorley McbrideMrs P LudgateMukund PatelMuriel GlasgowNanci GelbNancy E HallNancy J CosslerNancy L. KalefNancy Leader-CramerNancy SchrockNatalie LevingsNathan BluesteinNavid AhrarianNavid AhrarianNicholas GronNick & Rachel TomczekNicola EphgraveNicole GiannoneNicole MyersNicole PolskyNicole RomanikNicole StuartNolan TreadwayNora SeilheimerNorah PromboOctavis CabeyOlaitan OlaniranOmar AmanatOwen KlickerPamela EngPamela Jeanie BartonPamela StapletonPamela StirnPat MaatenPatrice CallaghanPatricia KingPatricia RoganPatricia VillalobosPatrick AngoujardPatrick DoylePatrick EastPatrick RegierPatti RocksPattie FraserPatty KeckPaul and Hope TormeyPaul BanksPaul JonesPaul MelzerPaul N. FarnhamPaul NietveltPaul SleddPaula CameronPaula WestawayPeggy GlennPeter CranfordPeter DealPeter JollesPeter MolinaroPeter SheltonPeter SkinnerPeyman SaidizandPhil HowardPhilip MossPhilip SalminenPhilip ThompsonPhilippe KnaubPhillip SudermanPhyllis A SlottPhyllis and Steve NapoliPhyllis DurantePhyllis WeissPolly Leach-LycheePradeep NagarajuR. Richard WilliamsRabbi MarketmakerRachael BursRachael WertRachel JohnsonRachel MorrowRafael CayuelaRaghav RamRajit PahwaRalph E. WoodenRandall HayesRandy FischbackRashmi CatonRavinder Oswal OswalRaymond HoeferRaymond RobertsonRaymond SchuetteRebecca DavisRebecca Durkin

Rebecca LanningRebecca LeighRebecca MooreReed HarrisonRemco BosRene PaganRich ScottRich WellsRichard BarshayRichard FeldmanRichard HellingRichard HollyRichard HudsonRichard JaresRichard LacroixRichard PeakRichard SaundersRichard StringfieldRichard WionRichard WomackRichard-Sheena Larson-WhittakerRick ClarkRita BermanRob & Jan GoodwinRobbyn PrangeRobert AbadieRobert and Mary BrownRobert and Renee FosterRobert BowmanRobert DenbyRobert G. CurreyRobert GeislerRobert HerbertRobert JohnsonRobert KaneRobert KieferRobert KoehlerRobert LaffertyRobert McmurryRobert N. MillerRobert PalmerRobert PatzkeRobert PatzkeRobert QuigleyRobert SixRobert SteinerRobert StephensRobert ThompsonRobert ValleRobert W. PetersenRobert WatsonRoberta HardinRobin A OpitzRobin WallRodney ColemanRodney HoodRoger GastRoger HendrickRoger LightRogier Van VlietRonald L Holtman JrRonald LeblancRose RodriguezRose S. SingerRoseland Rotary InternationalRosemary F. FrenchRosie E RagsdaleRudolf JentschRudy RawcliffeRudy Van ProoyenRussell ChaveyRuth A SimonRuth Anne McquillinRuth MillerSahil ShahSally HardenbergSally MccabeSandra FambroughSandra L. SpiesslSandra MorganSandra VannSandy LangevinSara ColglazierSara HoffmanSara KlamoSarah GranzoSarah SpristerSarah WeberSarah WilkinsonScott FarrellScott HatfieldScott HodukavichScott MillerScott RuplingerScott YetterSean HarringtonShailesh MogheShannon GreggShannon GrieferShannon StephensShannon WaxmanShari HardingerSharon BarnesSharon GuilfordSharon JefferyShawn KossSheila and Dean WilliamsShelley SouzaShelley-Ann LayneShelli GonshorowskiSheri D’HanselSherilyn HillSheryl H. MooreShiri LeventhalShishir ShahSidney L. SaltzsteinSierra StandishSifiso NgwenyaSimon Upfill-BrownSiu Len SanchezSonia BlumSonia MayoralSouth Bend Rotary InternationalStacey CarrierStacey Schroeder-BacsiStephane Costeux

Stephanie BrownStephanie SwansonStephanie ZuroStephen B. MartinStephen CambridgeStephen CorbySteve BurnsSteve R. BurnsSteve WernerSteven CornSteven HendersonSteven HolliSteven HoughSteven LamySteven LeeSteven OgunroSteven ReddickSteven StrandSteven WellsStuart MccrackenStuart S. SherburneSudhir ParekhSulejman LolovicSusan BerrySusan BrennanSusan DavisSusan FraserSusan GreenhalghSusan OetzelSusan SchroederSusan Van DorenSusan WolfeSuzann BugoshSuzanne GaulocherSuzanne LewisSwadha SharmaSweta SomasiSylvester CeciSylvia SapersteinT. Charles PowellTami FohlTanis GrayTanja AlbrightTaya KohnenTekla IsraelsonTeresa BaratzTeresa CollinsTeresa FarrarTerese WollTerrence FinneranTerrence LinsemanThaddeus SiermannTheresa CiccolellaTheresa FletcherThomas CuthbertThomas DoerrThomas EmilsonThomas G. ArminioThomas MacewanThomas ManningThomas MoranThomas NashThomas RossetThomas SmallThomas StuartTimiza WagnerTimothy GayferTimothy J HorstTina AdwarTina Braband CrossTodd D. ElliottTom, Jan, Nick, Blake ArtushinToni McewanTorin ReedTracy NappTracy PerryTrey LambertTricia FisherUlf SchoellVaishali ChadhaVallari ShahVan Houwenhove KoenVanessa DecarboVavrik NicoleVenkat ShankaramurthyVicki HopperVictor & Linda Atiemo-ObengVictor M CastanedaVictoria BloostonVictoria RokhlinVinod ShahVirginia OkingaVirginia PanterVirginia SwisherVivian OttemanWalter Foster IiiWanda BakerWarren F. KitzmillerWayne E. CampbellWendy LoveWendy NienhuisWendy WertWes & Dayana SimonsWes HeinleinWhitney BayneWhitney High School Associated Student BodyWilda KalbachWill HarlanWillem Van ProoijenWilliam AyscueWilliam GaskillWilliam GoldmanWilliam KaufmannWilliam MccarthyWilliam PolkWilliam SeibertWilliam ValadeWinfrid MirauWinterport PizzaWoods MonaWoon Lam WongWubbe PrinsYiwen FungYongjun LeiYoshiko TsukudaYuk Man Tam

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