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Photo of Sandra Postel

Sandra Postel directs the independent Global Water Policy Project, as well as the Center for the Environment at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. From 1988 until 1994, she was vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute, a non-profit research organization. In 2002, Postel was named one of the "Scientific American 50," by Scientific American magazine, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology.

A leading authority and prolific author on international water issues, Postel’s work is dedicated to the creation of a more environmentally secure world in which all people and living things may thrive.

Postel has authored more than 100 articles for popular and scholarly publications and has served as advisor to the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the U.S. National Research Council as well as to American Rivers. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Water Resources Association, and on the editorial boards of Ecosystems, Water Policy, and Green Futures.

The Growing Competition for Fresh Water

February 25-March 1, 2009
at Southwestern Oklahoma State University

In recent years, water shortages have emerged as a serious constraint on food security, economic progress, ecological health, and regional peace and stability in many parts of the world.  Nearly one out of three people in developing countries lacks a safe supply of drinking water. Rivers, wetlands, and other critical aquatic habitats are rapidly being degraded and destroyed, threatening numerous species with extinction and undermining the ecological services those natural systems provide to human communities.  Serious questions have been raised about whether there will be enough water to meet the future food requirements of a growing population in a sustainable manner and at a price the poor can afford. Questions of water rights and ownership are challenging paradigms of the public good. At the same time, competition for water is mounting both within and between nations—turning water into a source of tension and conflict.
 
This course will examine the many challenges fresh water presents to policymakers, development specialists, and society at large.  We will discuss the historical approach to water development, the signs and consequences of water stress, issues of water privatization, concepts of ecosystem services and sustainable water use, and the evolving politics of water. We will explore new policies and strategies that can redirect water use and reframe water management toward efficiency, equity, and ecological integrity. A main focus of the course will be on the interplay between technologies, policies, institutions, and law in promoting more sustainable and equitable water use.

Click here for syllabus
The Class Reading List: (These books and articles supplied by OSLEP)
  • Pearce, F. When The Rivers Run Dry: Water—the Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century
  • Postel, S. Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last
  • Jackson et al., “Water in a Changing World,” Issues in Ecology No. 9., Ecological Society of America
  • Postel, S. Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems

  • FitzHugh, T. and Richter, B. “Quenching Urban Thirst: Growing Cities and their Impacts on Freshwater Ecosystems,” BioScience, Vol 54, No. 8 (August 2004): 741-754.
  • Glennon, Robert. “Water Scarcity, Marketing, and Privatization,” Texas Law Review
  • Gleick, P. H. et al., The New Economy of Water, The Pacific Institute, Oakland, CA,

    • Selected Useful Web Sites:
    www.worldwater.org
    www.waterfootprint.org
     www.iwmi.cgiar.org;