Seeking fresh waters

Natural History, Nov, 2007 by Peter Brown

Maybe my questions are naive, "dumb," or impertinent, but my job as a journalist is to ask them. How, I wonder, can the world be plagued with a worsening water crisis? After all, at least in the developed world, sophisticated water treatment brings sweet water out of the tap. And if water is treatable, doesn't that make it a fully renewable resource? So what's all the fuss about? I take up my questions with Eleanor J. Sterling, the director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who introduces this single-topic issue on freshwater resources ("Blue Planet Blues," page 29); who writes, with Merry D. Camhi, about biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems ("Sold Down the River," page 40); and who, not incidentally, is the curator of a new exhibition, "Water: [H.sub.2]O = Life," which opens at the American Museum on November 3.

As an educator and curator as well as an expert, Sterling understands where I'm coming from. "It's true," she replies, "water doesn't disappear from the surface of the earth. But what we're doing to it is moving it from underground into surface- or ocean-water systems, and not replenishing it in the areas where it started. We're also moving it from one river basin into another, and in the process, moving organisms that may have a heavy impact on the new system."

Does that mean there are freshwater ecosystems that should be set aside as natural areas? "I think there are," she tells me, but it ought to be done on a case-by-case basis. "There's the Pantanal [a region of marshland in southwestern Brazil], the Congo River [in west-central Africa], the Okavango delta [in Botswana]"--areas that need to be maintained for their "incredible diversity of human populations as well as wildlife." Other systems--the Florida Everglades come to mind--have already been badly damaged. "But the great thing about freshwater systems is that, while they're quick to react if we start to damage them, they are also often quick to revive."

To listen to an audio recording of my interview with Sterling, go to our Web site (www.naturalhistorymag.com); you'll find the audio link on our home page.

Many times in the past five years as the editor of this magazine, I've enjoyed working with curators, writers, and scholars such as Sterling, who speak knowledgeably and passionately about their expertise. At times, I've envied the depth of their specialized knowledge. But I've also thrilled to the rich variety of topics that editing this magazine has continually given me license to sample.

Still, life is short, and I've concluded it's time to move on, to rebalance the trade-off between depth and survey that I've lived with for the past five years. Beginning with the next issue, my friend and colleague Vittorio Maestro will take over as editor of Natural History. Vittorio knows as much about this magazine as anyone else alive, having spent almost thirty years on the staff. He, too, has the magazine editor's fascination with variety, and he'll bring his own fresh perspective on the natural world that Natural History has covered for 107 years. I think you'll like what he brews up.