The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future

This uneven offering by Gleick (Bottled and Sold)—cofounder of the Pacific Institute, which researches water conservation—examines water’s role in human history. Gleick begins with the “first age of water” (loosely dating from Earth’s formation through the rise of modern humans) and writes that some scientists believe water was first brought to an otherwise dry Earth by billions of asteroids during the planet’s infancy. Charting the “second age” (from the earliest human civilizations to the present), the author chronicles how ancient Sumerian city-states waged the first war over water nearly 4,500 years ago and suggests that by approximately 700 BCE, Assyrian irrigation channels had inaugurated the “era of large-scale water engineering.” Gleick’s focus strays as he approaches the present and serves up loosely related observations about how the storage of water behind dams across the world has “measurably altered the very rotation of the planet” and how waterborne illnesses kill hundreds of thousands of people a year. Nonetheless, Gleick takes an optimistic view of the future (the “third age”) and urges governments to recognize access to potable water as a human right. The history is eye-opening, but Gleick struggles to fit contemporary issues around water into a cohesive narrative. Still, there are some worthwhile insights in this meandering outing. Photos. (June)