I think of this book as an intellectual adventure story. Part I will feature stories about water in the USA, while Part II will examine water use around the world. Each chapter will focus on a set of characters, a region, and a water issue. The chapters will stand alone as mini-narratives, but will flow from one to the next, so that the book builds momentum as it goes — rather like a trickle that swells into a creek, which tumbles into a stream, that broadens into a river, and so on.
I came to this subject in part through Julia Child: not only is France the place where bottled water and private water companies got their start, but Julia’s niece is married to a globe-trotting hydrogeologist who is full of amazing water stories.
