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Smart solutions for the water crisis

By Fred Pearce

25 August 2010

OUR water isn’t running out – evaporation and rainfall will see to that. What is at stake is having water where we want it, when we want it. Peter Rogers and Susan Leal get to grips with how we can keep the taps flowing, showcasing such solutions as “toilet-to-tap” sewage recycling in Singapore, water trading in Australia and smarter irrigation systems in the US.

The authors sensibly downplay expensive technologies like desalination and long-distance pumping; California uses a fifth of its electricity pumping water around. They bravely make the case for well-regulated water privatisation, but unfortunately overlook rainwater harvesting, which has…

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