1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910806158503321

Autore

Sedlak David L.

Titolo

Water 4.0 : the past, present, and future of the world's most vital resource / / David Sedlak

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, Connecticut : , : Yale University Press, , [2014]

©2014

ISBN

0-300-19935-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (349 pages)

Classificazione

NAT038000ARC010000BUS067000

Disciplina

333.91

Soggetti

Water - History

Water and civilization - History

Water resources development - History

Water-supply engineering - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Water Supply in Rome, the World's First Metropolis -- 2. The Bucket Era -- 3. Europe's Sewage Crisis -- 4. Growing Old Thanks to Water Treatment -- 5. Burning Rivers, Fading Paint, and the Clean Water Movement -- 6. The Chlorine Dilemma -- 7. "Drains to Bay" -- 8. Traces of Trouble: Hormones, Pharmaceuticals, and Toxic Chemicals -- 9. Paying for the Fourth Revolution -- 10. The Toilet- to- Tap Solution -- 11. Turning to the Sea for Drinking Water -- 12. A Different Tomorrow -- 13. Reflections -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Turn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most of us give little thought to the hidden systems that bring us water and take it away when we're done with it. But these underappreciated marvels of engineering face an array of challenges that cannot be solved without a fundamental change to our relationship with water, David Sedlak explains in this enlightening book. To make informed decisions about the future, we need to understand the three revolutions in urban water systems that have occurred over the past 2,500 years and the technologies that will remake the system. The author starts by describing Water 1.0, the early



Roman aqueducts, fountains, and sewers that made dense urban living feasible. He then details the development of drinking water and sewage treatment systems-the second and third revolutions in urban water. He offers an insider's look at current systems that rely on reservoirs, underground pipe networks, treatment plants, and storm sewers to provide water that is safe to drink, before addressing how these water systems will have to be reinvented. For everyone who cares about reliable, clean, abundant water, this book is essential reading.