Water_ The Epic Struggle For Wealth, Power, And Civilization Part 16

Chapter Seven: Waterwheel, Plow, Cargo s.h.i.+p, and the Awakening of Europe The key technical breakthrough: White, Medieval Technology, Medieval Technology, 43. The plow had three main functioning parts. The coulter, or heavy knife, was attached to the pole of the plow and cut into the earth. Set at a right angle to the coulter was a flat plowshare that dug into the turf horizontally. The moldboard turned the unearthed clods to the side. After the stiff, nonchoking horse collar was introduced into western Europe before the tenth century, horses increasingly replaced oxen as the favored plow animals. 43. The plow had three main functioning parts. The coulter, or heavy knife, was attached to the pole of the plow and cut into the earth. Set at a right angle to the coulter was a flat plowshare that dug into the turf horizontally. The moldboard turned the unearthed clods to the side. After the stiff, nonchoking horse collar was introduced into western Europe before the tenth century, horses increasingly replaced oxen as the favored plow animals.drier and milder climate: Gimpel, 2930, 205206. The advance and retreat of the Fernau glacier over 3,000 years suggested that the first millennium BC was a cold period, followed by a warming trend in late Roman times. The medieval warm period lasted from about AD 750 to 1215, followed by a brief cold spell until 1350, and may have contributed to the conditions that produced the Black Death. The Little Ice Age in Europe from 1550 to 1850 was followed by a century-long warming trend.south of the Loire River and Alps: Ibid., 44.new cog: The cogs were clinker-built, meaning that the planks overlapped, like tiles on a roof. Originally, the cogs had been flat-bottomed for easy landing on natural sh.o.r.elines, but as they grew larger they became harder to control and inadequate for use in the growing number of improved ports.Cologne, situated at the juncture: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 51. 51.85 percent of commercial traffic: Gies and Gies, 221. Weirs are small obstructions that block part of a waterway, often for multiple purposes such as to maintain current flow speed for waterwheels and sufficient depth for navigation."Commerce between": Lopez, 8687.built by monastic orders: Interestingly, the relations.h.i.+p of monks with bridges had an Eastern parallel with Buddhist monks, who built and maintained many of the suspension bridges across Himalayan pa.s.ses as part of their duties.several times more powerful: Estimates of waterwheel power vary greatly. Wheel size, the construction material, the angle and timing of water entry to its blade, and streamflow rate all affect output. Gies and Gies, 3436, 115; Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 371; Smith, 371; Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 143, 145; Williams, 5455. 143, 145; Williams, 5455.Leonardo da Vinci: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 147; Gies and Gies, 258, 265. Da Vinci rejected the popular and incorrect view of contemporaries that water-power offered a key to perpetual motion, and understood the basic physics that water's work potential depended much upon its fall minus the wheel's frictional resistance and that of the machinery it powered. He understood that efficiency depended upon the angle of the water's impact with the wheel's blades. His theory that the overshot wheel was the most efficient form was not supported by any mathematical quantifications; that was left to John Smeaton, the father of modern civil engineering, in his experiments in the mid-eighteenth century. Leonardo's drawings offered one of the earliest models of the highly efficient breast wheel, in which the water strikes blades positioned at ten o'clock and two o'clock. 147; Gies and Gies, 258, 265. Da Vinci rejected the popular and incorrect view of contemporaries that water-power offered a key to perpetual motion, and understood the basic physics that water's work potential depended much upon its fall minus the wheel's frictional resistance and that of the machinery it powered. He understood that efficiency depended upon the angle of the water's impact with the wheel's blades. His theory that the overshot wheel was the most efficient form was not supported by any mathematical quantifications; that was left to John Smeaton, the father of modern civil engineering, in his experiments in the mid-eighteenth century. Leonardo's drawings offered one of the earliest models of the highly efficient breast wheel, in which the water strikes blades positioned at ten o'clock and two o'clock.ocean-tide-powered mills: White, Medieval Technology, Medieval Technology, 84, 85. In the eleventh century, there were tide-powered mills near Venice on the Adriatic and at the mouth of the port of Dover in England. 84, 85. In the eleventh century, there were tide-powered mills near Venice on the Adriatic and at the mouth of the port of Dover in England.king hastened the surrender: The king was Philip Augustus; the town, Gournay (near Beauvais); and the author, William the Breton. Smith, History of Dams, History of Dams, 144. 144.half a million water mills: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 358. 358.description of a contemporary: Mumford, 258259; see also Gies and Gies, 114116, and Gimpel, 6668.one silk mill: Gies and Gies, 178179; Lopez, 133135; White, Medieval Technology, Medieval Technology, 44. The earliest referenced water-powered fulling mills in Europe date to 983 in Tuscany, 1108 in a Milan monastery, 1010 in Germany, between 1040 and 1050 in Gren.o.ble, and 1080 in Rouen. 44. The earliest referenced water-powered fulling mills in Europe date to 983 in Tuscany, 1108 in a Milan monastery, 1010 in Germany, between 1040 and 1050 in Gren.o.ble, and 1080 in Rouen.huge iron church bells: Lopez, 145. On casting, Gimpel, 6668.on parity with: Pacey, 44, White, Medieval Technology, Medieval Technology, 82. 82."where there is no Nile or Indus": Harris, 167, 169.Benedetto Zaccaria: Lopez, 139141; see also Norwich, History of Venice, History of Venice, 202. For the history of the control of Gibraltar, see Ca.s.son, 65; Cary and Warmington, 4547, 60. 202. For the history of the control of Gibraltar, see Ca.s.son, 65; Cary and Warmington, 4547, 60.Genoese republic: To give an idea of Genoa's power, by 1293 its sea trade alone was three times greater than all the revenue of the French kingdom. Lopez, 94.Dante Alighieri's special emba.s.sy: Norwich, History of Venice History of Venice, 204.naval help: McNeill, Rise of the West, Rise of the West, 514, 515. 514, 515.sack Constantinople: Villehardouin, in Joinville and Villehardouin, Chronicles of the Crusades; Chronicles of the Crusades; Norwich, Norwich, History of Venice History of Venice, 122143.three-eighths of Constantinople: Norwich, History of Venice History of Venice, 141.1280 to 1330: McNeill, Pursuit of Power, Pursuit of Power, 70. 70.until after 1480: Ibid., 70.

Chapter Eight: The Voyages of Discovery and the Launch of the Oceanic Era "the two greatest": Smith, Wealth of Nations, Wealth of Nations, 281. 281.African slaves: Boorstin, 167168. After 1445, some 25 caravels per year voyaged to West Africa to carry out commercial trade in slaves, gold, and ivory.circ.u.mnavigation and coastal exploration of Africa: Cason, 118, 120-123; Cary and Warmington, 62, 128, 131, 229-230."Considered as a whole": Fernandez-Armesto, 406. There were various exceptions to the Atlantic wind system. For instance, inside the Gulf of Guinea was a wind system that blew straight into Africa's large bulge, creating, in effect, a treacherous lee sh.o.r.e and helping explain why West African civilizations in that region were so disadvantaged at seafaring. In the far north, the Vikings, in their explorations of Iceland, Greenland, and North America, were able to take advantage of a clockwise current system that moved west from Scandinavia.European diseases: Europeans, having been exposed to many diseases through Old World trade, had an overwhelming immunity advantage in the contest with the "virgin" Amerindians."Get gold": Timothy Green, The World of Gold: The Inside Story of Who Mines, Who Markets, Who Buys Gold The World of Gold: The Inside Story of Who Mines, Who Markets, Who Buys Gold (London: Rosendale Press, 1993), 11, quoted in Bernstein, 121. (London: Rosendale Press, 1993), 11, quoted in Bernstein, 121.Water-powered mills: Pacey, 70.Treaty of Tordesillas: The new line gave Portugal claim to Brazil when it was discovered in 1500 by Pedro Cabral in his southwesterly arc through the Atlantic to catch the winds for Portugal's second Indian Ocean expedition.out of sight of land: McNeill, Rise of the West, Rise of the West, 570. 570."Christians and spices": Quoted in Lewis, Muslim Discovery of Europe, Muslim Discovery of Europe, 33. 33.cost of his voyage sixtyfold: Clough, 188.use of crossbows: McNeill, Pursuit of Power, Pursuit of Power, 100. 100.sea artillery: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 388389. 388389."There is no doubt": Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, 26. 26.price of pepper: Boorstin, 178.reopen Pharaoh Neko's old "Suez": Lewis, What Went Wrong? What Went Wrong? 13. 13.Venice's desperate offer: Cameron, 121.boiled hot drinks: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 227. Chocolate and coffee were both considered medicinal when introduced to Europe, most probably because they were served hot. Boiled water was commonly sold on the streets in China. 227. Chocolate and coffee were both considered medicinal when introduced to Europe, most probably because they were served hot. Boiled water was commonly sold on the streets in China.yellow and putrid: Cited in Boorstin, 265.Spanish Main: The Spanish Main was an area in the Caribbean enclosed by ports from Cartagena, Colombia, to Nombre de Dios, Panama, to Trujillo, Honduras, to Veracruz, Mexico.interdicting the pay: Trevelyan, 238."difference of social character": Ibid., 233.more than 10 tons: Bernstein, Power of Gold Power of Gold, 138.Spanish Armada: Howarth, 2433; Davis, 100 Decisive Battles, 100 Decisive Battles, 199204. 199204.s.h.i.+ft of European power: Braudel, Afterthoughts, Afterthoughts, 8486, 98. Historian Fernand Braudel reckons that the center of gravity of the European economy was anch.o.r.ed in Italy for several centuries until 1500, when it moved to Antwerp, then from 1550 to 1600 back to the Mediterranean in favor of Genoa (due to the wars in the north), and then definitively back north between 1590 and 1610 to Amsterdam, where it remained until the late eighteenth century, when it moved to London. In 1914 the center of the world economy crossed the Atlantic to New York. 8486, 98. Historian Fernand Braudel reckons that the center of gravity of the European economy was anch.o.r.ed in Italy for several centuries until 1500, when it moved to Antwerp, then from 1550 to 1600 back to the Mediterranean in favor of Genoa (due to the wars in the north), and then definitively back north between 1590 and 1610 to Amsterdam, where it remained until the late eighteenth century, when it moved to London. In 1914 the center of the world economy crossed the Atlantic to New York.contracted dysentery and died: Bernstein, Power of Gold, Power of Gold, 138. 138.continued to be a leader: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 2833; Kolbert, 123127. 2833; Kolbert, 123127.half of the s.h.i.+pping: Cameron, 121122.closed Lisbon harbor: Spain had taken control of Portugal in 1580.sea pa.s.sages to the Spice Islands: Braudel, History of Civilizations, History of Civilizations, 263264. 263264.superiority at sea: French fleets, whose sailors were weakened by food and water shortages and disease caused by the insanitary conditions aboard s.h.i.+p at Brest, were slow to press their advantage.Britain's navy reigned supreme: Lambert, 104.had kept their powder dry: Davis, 100 Decisive Battles, 100 Decisive Battles, 241; Lambert, 122; Keay, 381393. 241; Lambert, 122; Keay, 381393.winning command of the sea: Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, 124. 124.low water supplies: Davis, 100 Decisive Battles, 100 Decisive Battles, 275. 275.Nelson himself, shot: Howarth, 75.

Chapter Nine: Steam Power, Industry, and the Age of the British Empire King George III: George III ascended to the throne when his grandfather died suddenly of a burst blood vessel while in the royal water closet.Little Ice Age: Ponting, 99101. The Thames froze over 20 times between 1564 and 1814. France's Rhone froze three times in the thirteen years between 1590 and 1603, and even the Guadalquiver at Seville in Spain froze in the winter of 16021603. By contrast, in a dramatic ill.u.s.tration of the large effects small temperature changes can have, the warm climatic period that ended about 1200 had fostered vineyards in England to the Severn in the north, arable farmland over large parts of southern Scotland's uplands, and even habitable climates on the southern coast of Greenland.converting coal into c.o.ke: c.o.ke, an almost pure form of carbon, was produced from coal in a method similar to the way wood was converted into charcoal-it was heated in a closed vessel to burn off impurities, leaving behind a residue that was c.o.ke.new s.h.i.+pbuilding was being outsourced: Pacey, 114."many domestic hearths cold": Trevelyan, 430.price of his coal: Bernstein, Wedding of the Waters, Wedding of the Waters, 4045. 4045.Ca.n.a.l du Midi: Ibid., 3840. The driving force behind the Ca.n.a.l du Midi was a self-made tax collector of King Louis XIV's, Baron Pierre-Paul de Riquet de Bonrepos, who was close to the king's influential finance minister, Colbert, and spent his entire fortune in building it.ca.n.a.l frenzy added 3,000 miles: Cameron, 174.growing financial markets: The Glorious Revolution (16881689) played a critical role in creating the political and economic atmosphere favorable to private capital acc.u.mulation and investment, which was so essential to stirring the entrepreneurs.h.i.+p and innovations of the Industrial Revolution.Thomas Savery: Bronowski and Mazlish, 314; Cameron, 177178; White, Medieval Technology, Medieval Technology, 8993. 8993.less than a hundred: Pacey, 113.pumping water from a coal mine: Lira.the watt: One watt is equal to 1/746 horsepower. Ironically, Watt invented the term horsepower horsepower by imagining the amount of coal a horse could lift from a mine in a defined period of time. He calculated that one horse could lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. by imagining the amount of coal a horse could lift from a mine in a defined period of time. He calculated that one horse could lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute."I sell here, Sir": Matthew Boulton, quoted in English Merchants, English Merchants, by H. R. Fox Bourne (London: R. Bentley, 1866), cited in Heilbroner, by H. R. Fox Bourne (London: R. Bentley, 1866), cited in Heilbroner, Making of Economic Society, Making of Economic Society, 119. 119."The people in London": Matthew Boulton, "Doc.u.ment 14, 21 June 1781: Matthew Boulton to James Watt," in Tann, 5455.Darby silk-stocking factory: Pacey, 103, 107. The original silk-stocking factory was opened in 1702, but failed. Subsequent owners made a success of it after secretly copying the designs of an Italian silk-stocking plant.spinning mule: The mule got its name by merging aspects of Arkwright's water frame with James Hargreaves's non-water-powered spinning jenny (1764). Crompton never earned the fruits of his invention; although mules were in use everywhere, he himself remained indigent.had 52 two decades later: Cameron, 181.produce goods less expensively: McNeill, World History, World History, 368. 368.accelerated twelvefold: Heilbroner, Making of Economic Society, Making of Economic Society, 81. 81.1 percent to 4 percent per year: Simmons, 201.generated about 25 horsepower: Tann, 67. The British government, trying to preserve the country's industrial leaders.h.i.+p, limited the sale of larger Watt engines abroad.nearly 500: Ibid., 67.fountains and gardens at Versailles: The three-level waterworks was known as the Marly machine. Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 100106. See also Braudel, 100106. See also Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 227231. 227231.Paris's 20,000 omnipresent water carriers: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 230. 230.nearly 1.4 million tons: Heilbroner, Making of Economic Society, Making of Economic Society, 81. 81.Mastodon Mill: Ponting, 276.1.7 percent per century: century: Per capita economic growth figures are derived from McNeill, Per capita economic growth figures are derived from McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 67. 67.freshwater use grew: Ibid., 120121.400 miles per day: McNeill, Rise of the West, Rise of the West, 766767. 766767.communications cable: Gordon, 212.age of the ocean steamer: Cameron, 208.traumatic, long-term challenges: Of the pattern of a.s.serting of Western hegemony in the age of steam and iron, historian Fernand Braudel observes, "It is only a step from market to colony. The exploited have only to cheat, or to protest, and conquest immediately follows.... When civilizations clash the consequences are dramatic." Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 102. 102.invention of the torpedo: Williams, 136.Torpedo ranges multiplied: McNeill, Pursuit of Power, Pursuit of Power, 284. 284.cut Germany's five transatlantic cables: Gordon, 212213.one-fourth of world commerce: Cameron, 224.travel time to India: Karsh and Karsh, 43.ruler, Muhammad Ali: Ibid., 2729.De Lesseps finally got his chance: Ibid., 4244.no technical background: McCullough, 49.funding from the Rothschild banking family: Ferguson, 231.Fashoda Incident: Collins, 5759.1,300 liters of claret, 50 bottles of Pernod: Barnes, n.p.Na.s.ser himself likened it to a modern pyramid: "In antiquity we built pyramids for the dead," Na.s.ser said in 1964. "Now we build pyramids for the living." Gamal Abdel Na.s.ser, speech, May 14, 1964, quoted in Waterbury, 98."Well, as you have the money": Fineman, 4647, 48.prearranged code word: "An Affair to Remember," Economist, Economist, July 29, 2006, 23; Fineman, 40. Dulles should not have been so shocked by the ca.n.a.l nationalization because he had been warned of that potential consequence by the French amba.s.sador. July 29, 2006, 23; Fineman, 40. Dulles should not have been so shocked by the ca.n.a.l nationalization because he had been warned of that potential consequence by the French amba.s.sador."have his thumb on our windpipe": Anthony Eden, quoted in Fineman, 62.colluding to seize back the ca.n.a.l: Some 70 percent of the traffic in the ca.n.a.l was British; France was perturbed because it was at war in Algeria to put down a rebellion that Na.s.ser was supporting."Anthony, have you gone out": Dwight D. Eisenhower, quoted in Urquhart, 33. The Americans' sense of betrayal was, in part, based on poor communication-from both sides. The Americans were not totally explicit about their unwillingness to support any military action in the Suez Affair, while the allies, knowing the Americans' predilections, were not eager to ask for permission before acting, and miscalculated the Americans' readiness to back them up once they had acted.hydroelectric power station: The first hydroelectric plant was in Appleton, Wisconsin, on the Fox River in 1882.pay up to eight times: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 175. 175.

Chapter Ten: The Sanitary Revolution.

infant mortality that claimed some 15 of every 100 children: Pacey, 187."What a pity": Times Times (London), June, 18, 1858, cited in Halliday, ix. (London), June, 18, 1858, cited in Halliday, ix.clean freshwater daily: Peter H. Gleick, Elizabeth L. Chalecki, and Arlene K. Wong, "Measuring Water Well-Being: Water Indicators and Indices" in Gleick, World's Water, 20022003, World's Water, 20022003, 101. 101.early spring rainwater: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 230. 230.artesian wells: One famous artesian well gave a much-needed boost to Paris's water supply in 1841 when a large water deposit was struck at a depth of about 1,800 feet after eight laborious years of boring. The well, to public fascination, jetted 100 feet above the ground and was soon enclosed in a tall tower. Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 108. 108.distilled spirits: Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life, Structures of Everyday Life, 241242, 248. 241242, 248.fleet of water boats ferried freshwater: Ibid., 228. The boatmen, much like ubiquitous water carriers throughout European cities, even formed their own trade guild.three times each week when dyers dumped: Ibid., 229."Whole quarters were sometimes without water": Mumford, 463.254255. 30 gallons of wholesome springwater: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 111. 111.private water carriers: The water supply expanded significantly in the thirteenth century, especially after a wealthy individual gave a grant to the city in 1237 of all the springs on his estate issuing from the Tyburn, a tributary of the Thames, near today's Marble Arch.three times per week: Chelsea Waterworks used water piped from Hertfords.h.i.+re into Islington in north-central London through the 36-mile artificial New River to deliver its pledge. At the time of the Great Stink, the New River still supplied the largest volume of London's water. Halliday, 21."charged with the contents": John Wright, "The Dolphin or Grand Junction Nuisance," published March 15, 1827, quoted in Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 112113. 112113."Going down to my cellar": Pepys, "Entry: Sat.u.r.day 20 October 1660."guano: Halliday, 41."a certain flush with every pull": Ibid., 42.created a central board of health: McNeill, Plagues and Peoples, Plagues and Peoples, 240. 240.Death came from collapse: Biddle, 41.first pandemic spread in Asia: McNeill, Plagues and Peoples, Plagues and Peoples, 232233. 232233.murdering victims in order to dissect: Karlen, 133139.three river embankments were constructed: The narrowing of the river caused by the embankments speeded the Thames's flow, with the salutary benefit of helping whisk away the waste that had eluded the intercepting sewers.Typhoid fever: Milk pasteurization and vaccines against teta.n.u.s, diphtheria, and tuberculosis bacilli were among the other major antibacterial successes that inspired the medical conquest of many viruses.human longevity to leap: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 199200. U.S. life expectancies for white males rose from 56 to 75 between 1920 and 1990, up from a mere 30 to 40 years before the sanitary awakening, when infant mortality was so high. Worldwide average life spans leaped from 36 years in 1900 to over 65 in 1995. 199200. U.S. life expectancies for white males rose from 56 to 75 between 1920 and 1990, up from a mere 30 to 40 years before the sanitary awakening, when infant mortality was so high. Worldwide average life spans leaped from 36 years in 1900 to over 65 in 1995.Infant mortality plunged, falling to half of 1 percent: Cameron, 328; Economist staff, Pocket World in Figures, 2009 Edition, Pocket World in Figures, 2009 Edition, 83. j.a.pan achieved the most spectacular improvement of any advanced nation, with a more than thirtyfold drop in infant mortality to the world's lowest absolute levels. 83. j.a.pan achieved the most spectacular improvement of any advanced nation, with a more than thirtyfold drop in infant mortality to the world's lowest absolute levels.20-mile-long sewage storage tunnel: "My Sewer Runneth Over," Economist, Economist, March 22, 2007. March 22, 2007.munic.i.p.ality-run water supply: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 127. In heavily wood-constructed U.S. cities, firefighting was another important motivating factor in the early evolution of public water systems. New York City launched a board of health in 1866 directly modeled on the British prototype and driven by the same cholera fears. 127. In heavily wood-constructed U.S. cities, firefighting was another important motivating factor in the early evolution of public water systems. New York City launched a board of health in 1866 directly modeled on the British prototype and driven by the same cholera fears.waterborne disease fell sharply in America: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 196. 196.cleaner than the water in the Thames: Halliday, 107. Leftover liquids from the sludge were aerated to promote microbacterial activity that eliminated further impurities.Moscow River received untreated nearly all the sewage: Ponting, 356.

Chapter Eleven: Water Frontiers and the Emergence of the United States two froze to death marching: Morison, 243244.take control of the strategic Hudson waterway: They were to rendezvous at Albany. Both sides considered that the critical strategic spot for controlling the unbridged Hudson was West Point, south of Albany, because the river was wide enough for sailing s.h.i.+ps to navigate up to that point, but not beyond, without the help of rowed tugs. To defend West Point, the colonials built a ring of forts b.u.t.tressed by a chain they laid nearby across the Hudson.personal entourage some three miles long: Wood, 33.King George III's bid to rea.s.sert monarchal authority: Trevelyan, 389390.Only seven rivers carried a greater volume of water: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 183. 183.encompa.s.sed over two-fifths of the continental United States: Barry, 21.unusual feature of the lower Mississippi: Ibid., 3839.17 million acres of surrounding wetlands: Clarke and King, 70.inveigled, to obtain U.S. domain over the lands: At the crucial moment, the Americans infuriated their French ally by contravening the spirit, though not the letter, of the Franco-American alliance by secretly negotiating separately with England to preempt the possibility that France and Spain might try to secure Gibraltar in exchange for England's right to the lands west of the Appalachians.in 1794 signed a controversial treaty: Despite losing the Revolutionary War, Great Britain did not give up on on its hope of winning the Mississippi for itself and British Canada until after the War of 1812. Its strategy was to try to hem in the United States to the east by creating native Indian buffer states west of the Appalachians.feared ulterior American and British designs: Spain had good reason to worry. Alexander Hamilton was lobbying in Was.h.i.+ngton to personally lead an invasion force to seize Louisiana and Florida from militarily vulnerable Spain by arms."The day that France takes possession of New Orleans": Thomas Jefferson to Robert Livingston, April 18, 1802, quoted in Tindall, 338."What would you give for the whole whole": Talleyrand, quoted in Morison, 366.he raised capital from private investors: Bernstein, Wedding of the Waters, Wedding of the Waters, 7071; Achenbach, 1920. 7071; Achenbach, 1920.one-third of Britain's fleet: Heilbroner and Singer, 43. See also Pacey, 114.producing more total pig and bar iron than England: Heilbroner and Singer, 6364.Britain vigorously enforced sanctions: Some U.S. states offered bounties to anyone who smuggled out the sanctioned technology.1,200 automated factories: Groner, 60.interchangeable parts: In 1801, to demonstrate the effectiveness of his innovation, Whitney famously produced 10 muskets that he disa.s.sembled, put into piles, and then rea.s.sembled before the eyes of President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson.1,200 factories with 2.25 million spindles: Morison, 483. A parallel celebrated woolen manufacturing city evolved, somewhat more slowly, on the same river in Lawrence.turbines capable of 190 horsepower: Smith, Man and Water Man and Water, 179. This was Uriah Boyden's turbine for the Appleton Company of Lowell, starting in 1844. Pioneering breakthroughs in turbine design had been made in the 1820s by French engineers Jean-Victor Poncelet and Benoit Fourneyron.Francis turbine: Ibid., 179180, 185.electricity could be produced: Man's awareness of electricity dated at least to the sixth century BC to the father of Greek philosophy, Thales of Miletus, who observed static electricity's effects after rubbing amber on light objects.generating hydroelectricity from 5,500 horsepower Francis turbines: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 185, 187. 185, 187.consuming more electricity: Heilbroner and Singer, 262.John Fitch: Williams, 100. See also Groner, 87.western river steamboats were carrying freight: Groner, 88; Heilbroner and Singer, 97."when the United States shall be bound together": Robert Fulton, "Mr. Fulton's Communication." Fulton made a similar point in a much-earlier letter (February 5, 1797) to President George Was.h.i.+ngton, who had just received a copy of Fulton's Treatise on the Improvement of Ca.n.a.l Navigation Treatise on the Improvement of Ca.n.a.l Navigation (1796). Advocating the benefits of ca.n.a.ls over investments in land or river transport in general, and a business proposal for a ca.n.a.l between Philadelphia and Lake Erie in particular, Fulton wrote that such ca.n.a.ls "would penetrate the Interior Country And bind the Whole In the bonds of Social Intercourse." Fulton, "Letter from Robert Fulton to President George Was.h.i.+ngton." (1796). Advocating the benefits of ca.n.a.ls over investments in land or river transport in general, and a business proposal for a ca.n.a.l between Philadelphia and Lake Erie in particular, Fulton wrote that such ca.n.a.ls "would penetrate the Interior Country And bind the Whole In the bonds of Social Intercourse." Fulton, "Letter from Robert Fulton to President George Was.h.i.+ngton.""It is little short of madness": Thomas Jefferson, quoted in "Claims of Joshua Forman," in Hosack, Memoir of De Witt Clinton, Memoir of De Witt Clinton, Appendix Note U. Reminded years later of his comment in a letter from DeWitt Clinton, Jefferson mused in his late 1822 reply upon what marvelous qualities they were that enabled the state to execute such a great enterprise that "antic.i.p.ated, by a full century, the ordinary progress of improvement." Appendix Note U. Reminded years later of his comment in a letter from DeWitt Clinton, Jefferson mused in his late 1822 reply upon what marvelous qualities they were that enabled the state to execute such a great enterprise that "antic.i.p.ated, by a full century, the ordinary progress of improvement."New York state limestone that acted like waterproof Roman cement: Chittenango cement, as it was called, was found near Syracuse.foreigners held over half: Bernstein, Wedding of the Waters, Wedding of the Waters, 235. 235.through seven miles of solid rock face: Ibid., 280284. Lockport, as the nearby town was called, later used the ca.n.a.l's surplus water as an important electricity producer. The normal locks were eight feet, four inches.symbolic wedding of the waters: Ibid., 319. This ritual wedding of the waters was reminiscent of how Venetians tossed rings into their city's ca.n.a.l to symbolize its marriage to the sea.slashed freight transportation costs by 90 percent: Heilbroner and Singer, 94.cheapest route to Pittsburgh: Morison, 478.more than 3,000 miles of ca.n.a.ls: Cameron, 230.economy expanded on average about 2.8 percent per year: Bernstein, Wedding of the Waters, Wedding of the Waters, 347. 347.100 gallons of water per day: Koeppel, 287. Other main sources used in this section are Galusha and Grann.specially written "Croton Ode": Koeppel, 280283."Nothing is talked of or thought of": "Croton Water: October 12, 1842," in Hone, 130131.surge in per capita consumption: Galusha, 35. Daily consumption rose from 12 million gallons per day to 40 million in the eight years from 1842 to 1850.authorities used high-handed land appropriations: In the same period, Los Angeles was constructing its aqueduct (completed 1913) from ruthlessly acquired water rights to the Owens River 250 miles away.first deep, high-pressure subterranean conduit: Galusha, 113; Grann, 93."equitable apportionment without quibbling": Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court of the United States, No. 16, State of New Jersey v. State of New York and City of New York, State of New Jersey v. State of New York and City of New York, May 4, 1931, cited in Galusha, 113. May 4, 1931, cited in Galusha, 113.1.3 billion gallons to 9 million people: Galusha, 265. About 50 percent of the water came from the Delaware Aqueduct, 40 percent from the Catskills, and 10 percent from the nineteenth-century Croton system. In addition to the central water tunnels, the system included 6,200 miles of water mains that helped distribute water to end users.Its sewerage counterpart: Chicago's water system also featured one of engineering history's innovative and culturally indicative early twentieth-century marvels. In contrast to New York, Chicago drew its freshwater from the huge natural reservoir at its doorstep, Lake Michigan. In the nineteenth century, the lake also was the sewage dump of the Chicago River. Disease plagued the city until 1867, when it built a drinking-water intake tunnel two miles out into the lake. But population growth overtook it. In 1885 a heavy storm flushed the increased volume of sewage discharge out beyond the intake valves. The epidemics returned. Chicago responded with an innovative, ambitious civil-engineering project-the reversal of the flow of the Chicago River. By 1900 the 28-mile-long Chicago Sanitary and s.h.i.+p Ca.n.a.l diverted the river southward to dilute and drain into the Mississippi watershed instead of into Lake Michigan. Not everyone hailed the largest earthmoving civil-engineering project until the Panama Ca.n.a.l, however. The state of Missouri, complaining about increased pollution on the Mississippi at St. Louis, pursued litigation. The earthmoving technology used on the Chicago River project was soon applied in building the monumental Panama Ca.n.a.l.Sutter's new waterwheel-powered sawmill: Bernstein, Power of Gold, Power of Gold, 223225. 223225.San Francisco swelled into a booming city: Morison, 569.hurdy-gurdy wheels: Smith, Man and Water, Man and Water, 182. Bernstein, 182. Bernstein, The Power of Gold The Power of Gold, 14.drew 300,000 to California by 1860: Worster, 65.speedier, full-rigged clippers: Morison, 583.the Panama railway: McCullough, 36.set himself up as Nicaragua's president: Morison, 580581.

Chapter Twelve: The Ca.n.a.l to America's Century.

John Paul Jones's heroic sea victories: Love, 1:2224.U.S. Navy earned the respect: Morison, 350351.one-fifth of America's annual government revenue: Morison, 363364.give up its long-term designs on the Mississippi: Napoleon's abdication in April 1814 allowed England to concentrate on invading the United States, which it planned to do in three places in succession-Niagara, Lake Champlain, and New Orleans-while raiding the Chesapeake. While the Chesapeake raid led to the torching of the White House and the bombardment of Baltimore that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," the other battles were determinative. The dramatic naval victories were Captain Oliver Hazard Perry's victories on Lake Erie and the U.S. victory at Niagara Falls, and, even more dramatically, Captain Thomas Macdonough's victory at Plattsburg on Lake Champlain, which halted the British plan to take the Hudson and sever the United States, as it had tried to do in the War of Independence. The navy a.s.sisted in the defense of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson made his fame.America's special sphere of influence: In the 1830s U.S. military s.h.i.+ps also began around-the-world explorative expeditions.rapid growth in demand for U.S. manufactured goods: Heilbroner and Singer, 180181, note that U.S. exports tripled from 1870 to 1900 and that manufacturing's share doubled from 15 percent to 32 percent. Kennedy, Rise and Fall, Rise and Fall, 245, writes that from 1860 to 1914 U.S. exports grew sevenfold while imports rose only fivefold. 245, writes that from 1860 to 1914 U.S. exports grew sevenfold while imports rose only fivefold."The seaboard of a country is one of its frontiers": Mahan, 35."the Caribbean would be changed from a terminus": Ibid., 33.excite America's "aggressive impulse": Ibid., 26.wrote a glowing review of it: McCullough, 252."There is a homely adage": Theodore Roosevelt, quoted in Morison, 823."Remember the Maine!": Love, 1:388389; Morison, 800801.Naval investment that totaled 6.9 percent: Kennedy, Rise and Fall, Rise and Fall, 247. In absolute dollars, naval spending rose almost sevenfold, from $22 million in 1890 to $139 million in 1914. 247. In absolute dollars, naval spending rose almost sevenfold, from $22 million in 1890 to $139 million in 1914.Several locations were considered: De Witt Clinton, impresario of the Erie Ca.n.a.l, gave his blessing to a ca.n.a.l at Nicaragua; celebrated British engineer Thomas Telford, who had designed Scotland's pioneering, lock-based Caledonian Ca.n.a.l, also studied a water pa.s.sage near Darien in southern Panama.excited the whole French nation: De Lesseps got off to a dazzling start. When the major French and international financial inst.i.tutions eschewed his company's initial public offering, he broke new ground in French capitalism by launching the venture with funds raised from the savings of 80,000 small investors, most purchasing one to five shares each.20,000 workers and managers died: McCullough, 235.de Lesseps was convicted of fraud: De Lesseps was sentenced to five years, but due to age was excused from prison. His son, Charles, who had overseen the day-to-day operation, was convicted, too, and served jail time.U.S. interoceanic ca.n.a.l commission: McCullough, 264265.Panama was indeed the superior technical route: Ibid., 326327.backed by powerful Wall Street bankers: The backroom Panama lobby had been influential enough to get McKinley to appoint a second interoceanic commission with several new members after the first had ruled in favor of Nicaragua, but not enough to get it to change its recommendation.nation's own one centavo stamp: McCullough, 323324.Roosevelt tacitly signaled his support: Ibid., 338, 340, 382; Morison, 824825.the uprising had not yet occurred: Morison, 825; McCullough, 364367."Colombia was. .h.i.t by the big stick": Morison, 826."by far the most important action I took": Roosevelt, Autobiography, Autobiography, 512. 512."I took the Isthmus": Roosevelt, "Charter Day Address," Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia, Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia, 407. 407."Tell them that I am going to make the dirt fly!": Roosevelt, quoted in Nation, Nation, November 23, 1905, cited in McCullough, 408. See also Morison, 826. November 23, 1905, cited in McCullough, 408. See also Morison, 826.33,000 to 40,000 annually: Panama Ca.n.a.l Authority-Ca.n.a.l History, "Panama Ca.n.a.l History-workforce," www.panca.n.a.l.com/eng/history/index.html.26 million gallons of fresh lake water: Cornelia Dean, "To Save Its Ca.n.a.l, Panama Fights for Its Forests," New York Times, New York Times, May 24, 2005. May 24, 2005.By 1970, over 15,000 s.h.i.+ps: McCullough, 611612. In 1955 Suez had 14,555 s.h.i.+ps. Morison, 1,093.s.h.i.+pping revolution: The revolution had transformed the world's ports. No longer were cargo s.h.i.+ps unloaded at docks. Instead, intermodal containers were lifted directly onto waiting trains and trucks to be transported directly to their final destinations."The fifty miles between the oceans": McCullough, 613614.American naval history's three eras: Love, 1:xiii.United States entered World War I: The March 1917 sinking of three U.S. merchantmen, with heavy loss of life, as well as the interception of the Zimmermann telegram suggesting a German-Mexican alliance that could threaten U.S. security, were proximate causes.Midway was the first sea battle: Howarth, 152163. No U.S. aircraft carriers had been destroyed at Pearl. The intelligence breakthrough that tipped the Americans off to j.a.pan's secret intention to attack the Midway atolls occurred when U.S. radio signalers purposely sent out a bogus, uncoded message that the water distillation plant on American-controlled Midway had broken down, and then later intercepted j.a.panese radio operators relaying the message, in j.a.panese code, that Midway was without water.combined power of the world's next nine leading military nations: Kennedy, "Eagle Has Landed," I, III; Kennedy, "Has the U.S. Lost Its Way?" Some estimates have the United States spending as much on its armed forces as the world's next nine biggest military powers combined.

Chapter Thirteen: Giant Dams, Water Abundance, and the Rise of Global Society Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado increased by more than 1 million: Smith, Virgin Land, Virgin Land, 174, 184. 174, 184.depopulated by one-fourth to one-half: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 107. 107."When the arid lands": Turner, 258. Turner also wrote, "No longer is it a question of how to avoid or cross the Great Plains and the arid desert. It is a question of how to conquer those rejected lands...It is a problem of how to bring precious rills of water to the alkali and sage brush." Ibid., 294.expanded their irrigated cropland fifteenfold: Worster, 77.unleashed a flood that killed 2,200: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 107108. 107108.1.25 million small farmers to cultivate 100 million acres: Worster, 132139; Smith, Virgin Land, Virgin Land, 196198; Reisner, 196198; Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 4550. By careful management of water rights, Powell argued, small farms of only 80 acres-half the Homestead Act size of 160 acres for dry farms-could be viable. 4550. By careful management of water rights, Powell argued, small farms of only 80 acres-half the Homestead Act size of 160 acres for dry farms-could be viable."In the arid region it is water": T. Roosevelt, "State of the Union Message, December 3, 1901," http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/sotu1.html."The forest and water problems": Ibid.over half of irrigation project farmers were defaulting: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 116. 116.1920s, the U.S. agricultural sector: Two of the main causes of the agricultural depression were a decline in foreign export demand from war-recovering Europe and a fall in commodity prices due to increased productivity from farm mechanization; as a result, four out of 10 of the 7 million U.S. farmers were tenants, not freeholders, in 1929.might well have vanished at that point: Instead, in 1923 the Reclamation Service was purged, its leader replaced, and renamed the Bureau of Reclamation.few dams had surpa.s.sed 150 feet: A Roman dam at Subiaco was about 130 feet, and was hardly surpa.s.sed for 1,500 years. In Persia, the Mongols of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries built the 190-foot Kurit Dam, which was the tallest on Earth for 500 years. Smith, History of Dams, History of Dams, 32, 235, 236; Billington et al., 50. 32, 235, 236; Billington et al., 50.Hoover Dam: Hoover is a concrete, arched-gravity dam. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, 3036.ingrained skepticism of the water bureaucracy establishment: Billington et al., 9091. The multipurpose approach was especially controversial inside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose main mission was navigation.government a big player in the private electricity business: In the 1930s private power plants in the West generated 3.5 million horsepower versus only 50,000 by the government in 1920. Hoover's original 1.7 million horsepower, therefore, dramatically altered the political economy of electricity in the West.14 million acre-feet per year: An acre-foot measured the volume that would cover one acre with one foot of water. It was equal to 325,851 gallons, or 1,233.5 cubic meters.its flow was schizophrenic: Billington et al., 136. The Colorado's intensity ranged from 2,500 to more than 300,000 cubic feet per second.17 times siltier than the muddy Mississippi: McNeil, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 178. 178."too thick to drink, too thin to plow": Michael Cohen, "Managing across Boundaries: The Case of the Colorado River Delta," in Gleick, The World's Water, 20022003, The World's Water, 20022003, 134. 134.name was changed from the Valley of the Dead: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 122123. 122123.Salton Sink swelled with water: The years 1905 to 1907 were some of the wettest in the Colorado basin's history. Since then, the Salton Sea, which initially acted like a reservoir, has continually shrunk from natural evaporation and is now very salty.Los Angeles stepped forward in 1924 with a proposal: Billington et al., 160161.small Los Angeles River: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 53, 60, 73. 53, 60, 73.outflanked and killed Reclamation's own farm irrigation plan: At a critical moment, Teddy Roosevelt threw his support to Los Angeles and arranged for his Forest Service to kill the Reclamation Service's claims by declaring that much of Owens Valley would henceforth be national parkland.Posing as cattlemen and as resort developers: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 6869. 6869.secretly buying up cheap land options: Ibid., 7576. The key reason Mulholland wanted to route the water through San Fernando was that the unused portion could be stored there. This allowed him to use all of Los Angeles's share of the Owens River, which was essential to maintain the city's claim under the western water law of appropriation rights, popularly known as "use it or lose it." As a direct result of the Owens River water, the San Fernando Valley was soon incorporated into Los Angeles. Among the insiders were Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, railroadmen Edward Harriman and Henry Huntington, and bankers Joseph Artori of Security Trust and Savings Bank and L. C. Brand of the t.i.tle Guarantee and Trust Company. railroadmen Edward Harriman and Henry Huntington, and bankers Joseph Artori of Security Trust and Savings Bank and L. C. Brand of the t.i.tle Guarantee and Trust Company.population surpa.s.sed Mulholland's expectations: Billington et al., 161.violent reaction from irate Owens Valley farmers: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 9295. 9295.broke the last local opposition to Mulholland's bid: A chief opponent was the powerful Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, who placed greater importance on the near-term hit to the value of his large acreage in Mexico than on the long-term growth of Los Angeles. The Owens Valley problem also expedited the creation of regional water districts with taxing powers in order to raise funds to purchase the dam's hydroelectricity to pump its water up the escarpment through the aqueduct and across the Mojave Desert. publisher Harry Chandler, who placed greater importance on the near-term hit to the value of his large acreage in Mexico than on the long-term growth of Los Angeles. The Owens Valley problem also expedited the creation of regional water districts with taxing powers in order to raise funds to purchase the dam's hydroelectricity to pump its water up the escarpment through the aqueduct and across the Mojave Desert.divided the river into an upper and lower basin: The upper-basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico supplied over 90 percent of the Colorado's water.7.5 million acre-feet were a.s.signed to each basin: Billington et al., 158159; U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, 10; Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 262263. 262263.builders constructed their own steel-fabricating plant: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 128129; U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamaton, Lower Colorado Region, 1523. 128129; U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamaton, Lower Colorado Region, 1523.the strike was broken, with the federal government's tacit approval: Billington et al., 174175. The Bureau of Reclamation also declared the construction site to be federal land to circ.u.mvent Nevada law prohibiting the underground use of internal combustion engines on health safety grounds."I came, I saw, and I was conquered": Franklin D. Roosevelt, quoted in Billington et al., 179.five largest structures on Earth, all dams: Reisner, "Age of Dams and Its Legacy."hydroelectricity for the entire population living west: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 155. 155.the Grand Coulee: Billington et al., 206.Roosevelt started the project on his own: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 156157. 156157.36 huge dams would be built on the Columbia: Ibid., 165.Grand Coulee Dam: Worster, 271.providing 40 percent of America's total hydroelectricity: Billington et al., 191.hydroelectricity sales heavily subsidized the building of the dam: Worster, 271. Ninety percent of the costs were covered with hydroelectricity sales; in the absence of a strong agribusiness lobby, the government made a concerted effort to limit existing users to the same water subsidies that were to be provided only to small 160-acre farms under the 1902 Reclamation legislation.92 percent of Grand Coulee's and Bonneville's electricity output: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 162, 164. By the middle of the war, half of total U.S. aluminum production-which requires electrical power-was located in the Pacific Northwest. The United States produced some 60,000 warplanes in four years of war. 162, 164. By the middle of the war, half of total U.S. aluminum production-which requires electrical power-was located in the Pacific Northwest. The United States produced some 60,000 warplanes in four years of war.23,500 well pipes pumped up prodigious amounts: Ibid., 151, 335."The Central Valley Project": Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 336337. Among the big landowners receiving subsidized waters were food giant DiGiorgio Corporation, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and Standard Oil. 336337. Among the big landowners receiving subsidized waters were food giant DiGiorgio Corporation, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and Standard Oil.most intensively water-engineered place on the planet: Reisner, "Age of Dams and Its Legacy."Tennessee River basin: Morison, 960964. The river, 652 miles long, rises in the Appalachians of North Carolina and Virginia and flows west, where it empties in the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky.staircase of 42 dams and reservoirs: Specter, 68; Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 167. 167.results transformed the Tennessee Valley: Morison, 963. Electricity prices fell from 2.4 cents to 1 cent per kilowatt-hour.75,000 dams had been built: Specter, 68.6,600 large ones over 50 feet: Peet, 9; Sandra Postel, "Hydro Dynamics," 62.343344. Bureau of Reclamation cataloged: Worster, 277.17 western states had 45.4 million acres under irrigation: Ibid., 276277.American water use for all purposes multiplied tenfold: Ibid., 312. Water use rose from 40 billion gallons per day to 393 billion between 1900 and 1975. U.S. Census figures show that population rose from 76 to 216 million in the same period.40 percent of American cattle: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 154; McGuire, "Water-Level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer, 19801999" Pearce 59. 154; McGuire, "Water-Level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer, 19801999" Pearce 59.Ogallala only half an inch per year: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 438. 438.gigantic cloud of stinging, shearing dust: Ibid., 452. See also Evans, American Century, American Century, 232233. 232233.60 major, sky-blackening dust storms each year: Evans, American Century, American Century, 232. There were 40 major dust storms in 1935, 68 in 1936, 72 in 1937, and 61 in 1938. 232. There were 40 major dust storms in 1935, 68 in 1936, 72 in 1937, and 61 in 1938.3.5 million "Dust Bowl refugees": Ibid., 234.centrifugal pump could lift 800 gallons: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 436. 436.could raise water even faster: Glennon, Water Follies, Water Follies, 26. The new techniques were capable of pumping 1,200 gallons per minute. 26. The new techniques were capable of pumping 1,200 gallons per minute.Ogallala annual water use quadrupled: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 154; McGuire, "Water-Level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer, 19801999." 154; McGuire, "Water-Level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer, 19801999."growing 15 percent of that nation's wheat, corn, cotton: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 437, 448449. 437, 448449.drawing water out of the Ogallala 10 times faster: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 154. 154.Ogallala reservoir would last: Ibid. Irrigation peaked in northern Texas in the mid-1970s and began contracting across the High Plains as a whole in 1983. On Central Valley overpumping, see Felicity Barringer, "As Aquifers Fall, Calls to Regulate the Use of Groundwater Rise," New York Times, New York Times, May 14, 2009. May 14, 2009.U.S. groundwater usage more than doubled: Robert Glennon, "Bottling a Birthright," in McDonald and Jehl, 17. Over that thirty years, groundwater usage increased from 8 to 18.5 billion gallons per day-65 gallons per person.19 large dams and reservoirs held four times: The last dam on the river was the hydroelectric giant Glen Canyon, completed in the mid-1960s.Every drop was used and reused 17 times: Cohen, 134.starting to take up to an additional 900,000 acre-feet: Reisner, Cadillac Desert, Cadillac Desert, 260261. 260261.salinity at the river's halfway point: Worster, 321322.scrambled to develop emergency plans: Gertner.75 percent of the state's entire agricultural output: Bureau of Reclamation, "Central Valley Project-General Overview," www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/cvp.html.water-efficient industries and cities: For example, 1,000 acre-feet of water used to produce semiconductors and other high-tech applications created some 16,000 jobs, while the same water on pasture farms added only eight jobs; Las Vegas and Reno used 10 percent of Nevada's water but accounted for 95 percent of its economy-while marginal alfalfa farmers who consumed most of the rest couldn't survive without the water subsidy.United States decommissioning surpa.s.sed new construction by 2000: Clarke and King, 44. As it often did, the change in American domestic att.i.tudes within the leading world power helped condition opinions at world inst.i.tutions. In 2000 the U.N.'s World Commission on Dams reported that the negative effects of many large dam projects outweighed the benefits and urged nations to explore alternative approaches to satisfying their water resource needs.the United States had more than 50,000 toxic waste dumps: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 29. 29.released naturally by all the volcanoes in Earth's history: Ponting, 366.deadly radioactive waste: Nuclear waste afflicted both America's Columbia River and the Soviet Union's upper Ob River basin in western Siberia, which became the most radioactive place on Earth. In 1967, when a prolonged drought dried the bed of Lake Karachay, into which the Soviets had disposed nuclear waste, lake dust carrying 3,000 times the radioactivity of the bomb dropped on Hiros.h.i.+ma was scattered by the winds over half a million people in central Asia; the area remained so radioactive twenty years later that anyone visiting the lakesh.o.r.e for an hour risked death from the radiation."The pollution entering our waterways": Carson, 39, 41."The problem of water pollution by pesticides": Ibid., 39."Along with the possibility of the extinction of mankind": Ibid., 8.combusted on Cleveland's Cuyahoga River: Specter, 69. Similar fires on India's Ganges and Russia's Volga rivers in the same period attested to the universality of the environmental problem.Earth Summits of heads of state: Earth Summits were held at Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues reports every five or six years (1990, 1995, 2001, 2007). The Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, inaugurated by Kofi Annan, was published in 2005."Every drop of water that runs to the sea without yielding": Herbert Hoover, quoted in Glennon, Water Follies, Water Follies, 13; Joseph Stalin, quoted in Peet, 11. 13; Joseph Stalin, quoted in Peet, 11."the new temple of resurgent India": Jawaharlal Nehru, quoted in Specter, 68.Soviet Union increased its water use eightfold: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 163. 163.358359. double irrigated cropland in the first quarter century: Ibid., 179, 278. Water use, meanwhile, quintupled during the same period; see also Jim Yardley, "Under China's Booming North, the Future Is Drying Up," New York Times, New York Times, September 28, 2007. September 28, 2007.India's 4,300 large dams ranked it third: Peet, 9.13 were being erected on average every day: Ibid., 910.World reservoir capacity quadrupled: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 26.World hydropower output doubled: Ibid., 5. World population doubled from 3 to 6 billion from 1960 to 2000, while economic output s.e.xtupled.irrigation nearly tripled in the half century: Hans Schreier, "Mountain Wise and Water Smart," in McDonald and Jehl, 90.all the corn grown in the United States was hybrid: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 220. 220.Hybrid dwarf wheat: Dwarf wheat started in the 1920s with Norin 10, a semi-dwarf variety developed in j.a.pan that crossed j.a.panese and U.S. varieties, then was further crossbred in Mexico in the 1950s by pathbreaking plant breeder Norman Borlaug, who won a n.o.bel Prize in 1970 for his work.hybrid varietals increased their share: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 222. 222.60 percent of all larger river systems in the world: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 32.best hydropower and irrigation dam sites: This was not true in Africa, which had for the most part been bypa.s.sed by the Green Revolution and still had good, untapped hydropower potential."for a small but measurable change in the wobble of the earth": Gleick, "Making Every Drop Count," 42.retired as fast as new irrigated land was developed: Simmons, 258.10 percent of world farming was unsustainable: Postel, "Growing More Food with Less Water," 4647.

Chapter Fourteen: Water: The New Oil.

half the renewable global runoff: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 106.1.1 billion people: United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, 4.lives are uprooted catastrophically: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 13; United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, 17.occurred from 1999 to 2005: Peter H. Gleick, "Environment and Security: Water Conflict Chronology," in Gleick, World's Water, 20062007, World's Water, 20062007, 207212. Yemen, Jordan, Namibia, Sicily, and Algeria were among the mult.i.tude of places where water was rationed. Fierce, perennial litigation over water rights was normative in the United States and other countries governed by credible rules of law. The annals between 1999 and 2005 provided an ill.u.s.trative sample of the increasingly commonplace violent protests and clashes within countries. Chinese farmers from Hebei and Henan provinces fired mortars and bombs at one another in a battle over limited water resources; a year later small-scale water wars and riots broke out, leading to several deaths, in Shandong province along the Yellow River when the government tried to stop thousands of farmers illegally diverting water from a reservoir earmarked to supply China's drying northern cities. In Cochabamba, Bolivia's third-largest city, one person died when 30,000 protesters clashed with police for several days in a fury over the government's privatization of the munic.i.p.al water delivery system, which pushed prices up to one-quarter of many residents' wages. Karachi, Pakistan, was shaken by four bombings and riots from demonstrators chanting "Give us water" during a period of prolonged drought. Neighboring India had several incidents and deaths in different parts of the country, including riots in Gujarat when water trucks regularly failed to provide enough water. More than 20 were killed in tribal violence in northwestern Kenya following charges by Masai herdsmen that a local Kikuyu politician had diverted a river to irrigate his farm. Somalia's "War of the Well" claimed 250 dead as villagers clashed in the extensive violence that accompanied the three-year drought and dysfunctional central government. Water wells in Darfur were intentionally destroyed and contaminated as part of the campaign of genocidal ethnic cleansing. 207212. Yemen, Jordan, Namibia, Sicily, and Algeria were among the mult.i.tude of places where water was rationed. Fierce, perennial litigation over water rights was normative in the United States and other countries governed by credible rules of law. The annals between 1999 and 2005 provided an ill.u.s.trative sample of the increasingly commonplace violent protests and clashes within countries. Chinese farmers from Hebei and Henan provinces fired mortars and bombs at one another in a battle over limited water resources; a year later small-scale water wars and riots broke out, leading to several deaths, in Shandong province along the Yellow River when the government tried to stop thousands of farmers illegally diverting water from a reservoir earmarked to supply China's drying northern cities. In Cochabamba, Bolivia's third-largest city, one person died when 30,000 protesters clashed with police for several days in a fury over the government's privatization of the munic.i.p.al water delivery system, which pushed prices up to one-quarter of many residents' wages. Karachi, Pakistan, was shaken by four bombings and riots from demonstrators chanting "Give us water" during a period of prolonged drought. Neighboring India had several incidents and deaths in different parts of the country, including riots in Gujarat when water trucks regularly failed to provide enough water. More than 20 were killed in tribal violence in northwestern Kenya following charges by Masai herdsmen that a local Kikuyu politician had diverted a river to irrigate his farm. Somalia's "War of the Well" claimed 250 dead as villagers clashed in the extensive violence that accompanied the three-year drought and dysfunctional central government. Water wells in Darfur were intentionally destroyed and contaminated as part of the campaign of genocidal ethnic cleansing."Many of the wars": Ismail Serageldin, quoted in "Of Water and Wars.""now well beyond levels that can be sustained": Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 6.rise from half to 70 percent by 2025: Sterling, 30.372373. one-quarter of global freshwater use: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 6, 106107. Fifteen percent to 35 percent of withdrawals for irrigated crops were drawn from depleting resources.265 gallons for a single gla.s.s: Pearce, 34.ordinary cotton T-s.h.i.+rt: Sterling, 31.By 2025 up to 3.6 billion people: Postel, Last Oasis, Last Oasis, xvi. xvi.virtual water: J. A. Allan, professor at Kings College London and at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, won the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize for his pioneering work on the concept of virtual water in the early 1990s.evaporation-transpiration: Transpiration is the process of water vapor emission from organic matter such as plants and humans.that one-third totals enough: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 119; Postel, 119; Postel, Last Oasis Last Oasis, 28; Pearce, 28.large share runs off unused: The Amazon watershed alone accounted for 15 percent of the runoff, while only four-tenths of 1 percent of the world's population lived there.in Africa only one-fifth of all rainfall: Clarke, Water: The International Crisis Water: The International Crisis, 10.history's poorest societies often had: Grey and Sadoff, 545.90 percent of the dry-land inhabitants: Millennium Ecosystem a.s.sessment, 13.governments still routinely maintain monopolistic control: In the United States, water was the one surviving great state monopoly, which had previously included electricity and telecommunications."tragedy of the commons": As used here, the term tragedy of the commons tragedy of the commons refers to the social trap caused by combined individual exploitation of a shared resource that is injurious to the greater public good. The concept has a long history, but was coined in modern times in a famous 1968 essay in refers to the social trap caused by combined individual exploitation of a shared resource that is injurious to the greater public good. The concept has a long history, but was coined in modern times in a famous 1968 essay in Science Science by biologist Garrett Hardin. by biologist Garrett Hardin.Aral Sea: McNeill, Something New Under the Sun, Something New Under the Sun, 163164. 163164.Lake Chad: Pearce, 85. Lake Chad had oscillated in size from natural forces since at least the Middle Ages. A natural peak was reached in 1962 with a drainage zone comparable in size to continental western Europe. About half to one-third of the shrinkage from the 1960s to 2004 was estimated to have come from man-made irrigation wat