Testing the limits of possibility: massive dams and waterworks
When it comes to water management, many politicians and technocrats have felt that colossal problems are only solved by colossal projects: dams. But blind faith in concrete can often have devastating effects on communities and the environment. This ...
Waters of discord
Almost half the world gets its drinking water from rivers that cross national boundaries. Analysts predict that more wars will be fought over water than oil. This program surveys a number of active or potential hot spots: Israel and the river Jordan...
Water for the fields
No matter where on Earth, the one human activity that consumes the most water is the one that wastes the most: agriculture. From locations around the world, this program surveys both disasters of agricultural irrigation, such as cotton farming in Uz...
Water for the cities
This program takes a hard look at the mounting challenge of providing millions of people in urban areas with potable water and adequate disposal of waste water. To highlight the difficulties, segments focus on the water problems of the megalopolis, ...
Greenhouse Earth: An Uncontrolled Experiment
To what extent has industrialization impacted Earth’s climate? How are researchers studying global warming? And what is being done to forestall the planet-wide ecological crisis looming over the horizon? This timely program makes generous use of c...
Water for profit
The moment demand outpaces supply, water becomes a commodity to be traded in the global market. But who owns the rights to water? And how can a price be set on water? In this program, the pros and cons of privatization are assessed in a number of wa...