Bibliography 6: Our Surface Waters are Polluted

Barlow, Maude. Blue Covenant. New York: The New Press, 2007. Print.

In this excerpt of the book, Blue Covenant, Maude Barlow speaks to how humans are polluting surface waters at an alarming rate. In the last half- century the world is running out of clean water in third world countries at a threatening rate. Ninety percent of water being drained back into surface water such as rivers and lakes in these countries is not going through proper treatment. Barlow explains how seventy-five percent of lake and river’s in India obtain so much pollution they should not be open for human use. Even with the sacred Ganges where millions come to worship is full of pollution. Some even go as far as not taking part in jumping into the river to clean their sins at the religious festival. Barlow finds Africa to be just as bad. Of the twenty-five countries with inadequate water for human consumption, African has nineteen. She points out the Lake Victoria is a place of sewage dumping. She even looks at satellite pictures and sees that 677 major lakes in Africa have deterioration. Maude Barlow is the head of the Council of Canadians, the largest public advocacy organization. She is a founder of Blue Planet Project, and has written sixteen books. She represents herself as someone who is comfortable with being monitored. Her job shows no source of bias since she is on global councils and writes the truth. This chapter of her book is similar to other articles of mine about humans polluting surface waters at an alarming rate.