\n
\n<\/a><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715\")
<\/a>Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century<\/a>, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms of the draught down there?\u201d he wondered.
\nNot one to mince words, the I-Man informed Prud\u2019homme that things at the Imus Ranch were less than ideal, water-wise. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had any rain in months,\u201d Imus said, which surprised Prud\u2019homme little in a year he called \u201cschizophrenic,\u201d with floods ravaging the Midwest while record-breaking draughts grip the South.
\nPrud\u2019homme\u2019s interest in the woes of water sprung from a lifelong love of all things aquatic, and from a fortuitous conversation with his great aunt, the late Julia Child, with whom he previously wrote\u00a0My Life in France<\/a>.
\n\u201cWe were sharing a bottle of French mineral water and started discussing how the French view mineral water as a health digestive, whereas in America we like to use bottled water as a healthy alternative to soda,\u201d he said. \u201cWe strip it of all its taste and minerals.\u201d
\nThat exchange led to talk of the role water plays in different cultures, and the idea for\u00a0The Ripple Effect<\/a>. \u201cWater underlies all other resources, whether it\u2019s oil and gas production, or mining, or agriculture, or homebuilding\u2014it all requires water,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. What\u2019s more, a hydrologist he knows told him that as the world population grows and the climate changes, \u201cwater is going to become either too scarce or too prevalent.\u201d
\nAs such, Prud\u2019homme believes people\u2014but Americans specifically\u2014need to start thinking about water in a new way. \u201cIn America, you can turn the tap on any time of day and get as much water as you want at any temperature, any volume, and it\u2019s perfectly clean, and that\u2019s a very unusual circumstance worldwide,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201dWe\u2019re very lucky, and we\u2019re in fact so good at providing water that we Americans take it for granted. We forget how important it is.\u201d
\nPaying his guest what many nonfiction writers consider a great compliment, Imus noted that\u00a0The Ripple Effect<\/a> reads like a novel, a decision Prud\u2019homme revealed he made very deliberately because the subject of water is somewhat abstract.
\n\u201cI try to make it come alive to the reader by telling narrative stories about interesting people dealing with water, whether it\u2019s water law, or bottled water, pollution, draught flood,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. While there\u2019s plenty of bad news, Prud\u2019homme promised potential readers, \u201cThere\u2019s some good news too.\u201d
\nAll evidence to the contrary: in his travels around the country, from the depths of a new water tunnel being built beneath New York City to the Sacramento Delta in California, signs of impending disaster are everywhere. Factor in the ongoing battle in this country over water rights in various regions, and it\u2019s a regular field day of dysfunction.
\n\u201cUnlike smaller countries like Singapore or Holland, we don\u2019t have a central water authority,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a water czar or a water board that oversees the whole U.S. water system in a holistic way. We have kind of a hodgepodge of agencies overseeing water; sometimes they come in conflict with each other, or they\u2019re in competition with each other.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a difficult history to change, according to Prud\u2019homme, because people become very emotional on the topic. \u201cWhen you ask people to change the way they use water,\u201d he said, \u201cThey don\u2019t like it.\u201d
\nTrying to be helpful, Imus had an idea for a change\u00a0he<\/em> could make to his water habits, however small: \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll just go back to vodka.\u201d
\n-Julie Kanfer<\/em>
\n <\/em>Podcast: \u00a0https:\/\/podcasting.fia.net\/5946\/4773782.mp3\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Maybe I’ll just go back to Vodka” Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Maybe I’ll just go back to Vodka” Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alex Prud'homme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlexPrudhommeWords\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/APrudhommeWords\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/\",\"name\":\"Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42145bed8fe517af12bd42712c34e48f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alex and Imus talk drought\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/\",\"name\":\"Alex Prud'homme\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42145bed8fe517af12bd42712c34e48f\",\"name\":\"Alex\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4762a105a44e5b1a4dbb1da4f5d8caff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4762a105a44e5b1a4dbb1da4f5d8caff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alex\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlexPrudhommeWords\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alex.prudhomme\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/APrudhommeWords\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alex_Prudhomme\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/author\/alex\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme","og_description":"“Maybe I’ll just go back to Vodka” Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms…","og_url":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/","og_site_name":"Alex Prud'homme","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlexPrudhommeWords\/","article_published_time":"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715"}],"author":"Alex","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/APrudhommeWords","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alex","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/","url":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/","name":"Alex and Imus talk drought - Alex Prud'homme","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715","datePublished":"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00","dateModified":"2011-06-19T03:28:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42145bed8fe517af12bd42712c34e48f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.imus.com\/storage\/images\/guests\/images\/ripple-effect.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1308073893715"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2011\/06\/18\/alex-and-imus-talk-drought\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alex and Imus talk drought"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/","name":"Alex Prud'homme","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42145bed8fe517af12bd42712c34e48f","name":"Alex","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4762a105a44e5b1a4dbb1da4f5d8caff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4762a105a44e5b1a4dbb1da4f5d8caff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alex"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlexPrudhommeWords\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alex.prudhomme\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/APrudhommeWords","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alex_Prudhomme"],"url":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/author\/alex\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century<\/a>, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms of the draught down there?\u201d he wondered.\nNot one to mince words, the I-Man informed Prud\u2019homme that things at the Imus Ranch were less than ideal, water-wise. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had any rain in months,\u201d Imus said, which surprised Prud\u2019homme little in a year he called \u201cschizophrenic,\u201d with floods ravaging the Midwest while record-breaking draughts grip the South.
\nPrud\u2019homme\u2019s interest in the woes of water sprung from a lifelong love of all things aquatic, and from a fortuitous conversation with his great aunt, the late Julia Child, with whom he previously wrote\u00a0My Life in France<\/a>.
\n\u201cWe were sharing a bottle of French mineral water and started discussing how the French view mineral water as a health digestive, whereas in America we like to use bottled water as a healthy alternative to soda,\u201d he said. \u201cWe strip it of all its taste and minerals.\u201d
\nThat exchange led to talk of the role water plays in different cultures, and the idea for\u00a0The Ripple Effect<\/a>. \u201cWater underlies all other resources, whether it\u2019s oil and gas production, or mining, or agriculture, or homebuilding\u2014it all requires water,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. What\u2019s more, a hydrologist he knows told him that as the world population grows and the climate changes, \u201cwater is going to become either too scarce or too prevalent.\u201d
\nAs such, Prud\u2019homme believes people\u2014but Americans specifically\u2014need to start thinking about water in a new way. \u201cIn America, you can turn the tap on any time of day and get as much water as you want at any temperature, any volume, and it\u2019s perfectly clean, and that\u2019s a very unusual circumstance worldwide,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201dWe\u2019re very lucky, and we\u2019re in fact so good at providing water that we Americans take it for granted. We forget how important it is.\u201d
\nPaying his guest what many nonfiction writers consider a great compliment, Imus noted that\u00a0The Ripple Effect<\/a> reads like a novel, a decision Prud\u2019homme revealed he made very deliberately because the subject of water is somewhat abstract.
\n\u201cI try to make it come alive to the reader by telling narrative stories about interesting people dealing with water, whether it\u2019s water law, or bottled water, pollution, draught flood,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. While there\u2019s plenty of bad news, Prud\u2019homme promised potential readers, \u201cThere\u2019s some good news too.\u201d
\nAll evidence to the contrary: in his travels around the country, from the depths of a new water tunnel being built beneath New York City to the Sacramento Delta in California, signs of impending disaster are everywhere. Factor in the ongoing battle in this country over water rights in various regions, and it\u2019s a regular field day of dysfunction.
\n\u201cUnlike smaller countries like Singapore or Holland, we don\u2019t have a central water authority,\u201d Prud\u2019homme said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a water czar or a water board that oversees the whole U.S. water system in a holistic way. We have kind of a hodgepodge of agencies overseeing water; sometimes they come in conflict with each other, or they\u2019re in competition with each other.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a difficult history to change, according to Prud\u2019homme, because people become very emotional on the topic. \u201cWhen you ask people to change the way they use water,\u201d he said, \u201cThey don\u2019t like it.\u201d
\nTrying to be helpful, Imus had an idea for a change\u00a0he<\/em> could make to his water habits, however small: \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll just go back to vodka.\u201d
\n-Julie Kanfer<\/em>
\n <\/em>Podcast: \u00a0https:\/\/podcasting.fia.net\/5946\/4773782.mp3\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Maybe I’ll just go back to Vodka” Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Alex Prud\u2019homme, author of\u00a0The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century, was thrilled to appear with Imus today to discuss his book. He was less optimistic about conditions in Imus\u2019s present location. \u201cWhat\u2019s the word from the Ranch in terms…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10,4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n