29 BLUE PLANET BLUES 



Demand fo r fresh wa ter 

 threatens to outstrip supply. 

 How can we meet the needs 

 of all of Earths species? 



ELEANOR J. STERLING 









the wellspring of life 



50 WHEN THE SEAS 

 COME MARCHING IN 



Hurricane Katrina exposed 



fatal flaws in the flood defenses 



of New Orleans.Those flaws remain. 



SHEA PENLAND 



32 A SPECIAL BREW 



Investigators still can't completely 

 explain the strange molecular 

 workings of water. 



CHRISTOPHER J. MUNDY, 

 SHAWN M . KATHMANN, 

 AND GREGORY K. SCHENTER 



38 WATER IN THE WILD 



How life-forms adapt 

 to their hydrological environment. 

 DOLLY SETTON 



40 SOLD DOWN THE RIVER 



Dried up, dammed, polluted, 



overfished — freshwater habitats 



around the world are becoming 



less and less hospitable to wildlife. 



ELEANOR J. STERLING 

 AND MERRY D. CAM H I 



46 DANGEROUS WATERS 



Twenty percent of the people on Earth 

 lack access to clean water. 

 SHARON P. NAPPIER, 

 ROBERT S. LAWRENCE, 

 AND KELLOGG J. SCHWAB 



54 HYDRO TECH 



High- and low-tech solutions 



meet the challenges of limited or 



contaminated water supplies. 



ILLUSTRATION BY 

 CHUCK CARTER 



56 WATER AT WAR 



Iraq's marshlands, once decimated 

 by Saddam Hussein 's campaign 

 against his own people, 

 are reviving with global aid. 

 AZZAM ALWASH 



60 SHARING THE RIVER 

 OUT OF EDEN 



The fordati River offers lessons 

 in the perils and promise 

 of sharing a limited resource 

 in a politically inflamed region. 

 SANDRA L. POSTEL 



ON THE COVER: A young boy drinks 

 from a water tap in southern India. 

 Photograph by Tim Gainey 



