The Times Book of the Year pick

A gripping, thought-provoking and ultimately optimistic investigation into the world’s next great climate crisis - the scarcity of water.

'Smart, sobering, and scholarly.' - Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs

Water scarcity is the next big climate crisis. Water stress – not just scarcity, but also water-quality issues caused by pollution – is already driving the first waves of climate refugees. Rivers are drying out before they meet the oceans and ancient lakes are disappearing. It’s increasingly clear that human mismanagement of water is dangerously unsustainable, for both ecological and human survival. And yet in recent years some key countries have been quietly and very successfully addressing water stress.

How are Singapore and Israel, for example – both severely water-stressed countries – not in the same predicament as Chennai or California?

In The Last Drop, award-winning environmental journalist Tim Smedley meets experts, victims, activists and pioneers to find out how we can mend the water table that our survival depends upon. He offers a fascinating, universally relevant account of the environmental and human factors that have led us to this point, and suggests practical ways to address the crisis, before it’s too late.

'You will never see the water you use in the same way again' – broadcaster Helen Czerski

Smart, sobering, and scholarly. Tim Smedley explores the science and politics behind our current water crisis, and with cautious optimism looks ahead for solutions that can save us from a catastrophe that could rival the great upheavals and extinctions of Earth history. -- Steve Brusatte, professor and palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
Tim Smedley’s sometimes angry, always informed book is a smouldering indictment of the self-inflicted water wounds we’re causing ourselves and our planet. -- Mark Rowe * Geographical Magazine *
This book is clear, fascinating and horrifying, but also offers workable solutions that can save us all from the worst. You will never see the water you use in the same way again. -- Helen Czerski, BBC broadcaster, UCL physicist and Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer
Despite the daunting scale of the water crisis, Smedley’s globe-crossing investigation into its solutions leaves you feeling that the problem is surmountable. That’s excellent news for civilisation. * The Times *

Tim Smedley, author of The Last Drop, is an award-winning environmental journalist who has written extensively for The Guardian, the BBC, The Sunday Times and The Financial Times. His first book, Clearing the Air, about the global effects of air pollution, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize.