WATER - Peter Gleick Discusses “Peak Water,” China’s Water Crisis, Climate Change Impacts

Addresses Overflow Crowd at Woodrow Wilson Center

(Washington, D.C.) “Is there such a thing as ‘peak water’? There is a vast amount of water on the planet—but we are facing a crisis of running out of sustainably managed water,” said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. “Humans already appropriate over 50 percent of all renewable and accessible freshwater flows, and yet billions still lack the most basic water services.”

On February 4 at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and available as an online webcast, Gleick spoke on these urgent questions addressed in the newly released 6th volume of his work The World’s Water 2008-2009:

Have we passed a peak in the availability of freshwater for human use?
How grave are the impacts of climate change on water, and what can we do about it?
Has China’s dramatic economic growth irreparably damaged the country’s water supply?
Gleick, one of the world’s leading authorities on water and a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, has for the past decade co-authored and edited the biennial series The World’s Water. The much-anticipated sixth volume addresses topics from “peak water” to climate change impacts to China’s water crisis. With 20 data tables on global water situations and a newly updated Water Conflict Chronology, The World’s Water 2008-2009 brings the urgency of the global water crisis to the fore.

The webcast of Dr. Gleick’s presentation will soon be available at the Wilson Center website. In addition, Gleick briefly discusses the concept of peak water here.

http://www.pacinst.org/press_center/press_releases/woodrow_wilson_2008_2009.html