Drying Up

Water is an essential part of life on Earth. But in some places, it’s running out. Through expert analysis and informational insets, students will learn about water scarcity, pollution, the impact on public health, and how to protect this diminishing resource. Take Action boxes will show teens how they can help stop the drought.

Florida Historical Society Stetson Kennedy Award Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction America’s wettest state is running out of water. Florida—with its swamps, lakes, extensive coastlines, and legions of life-giving springs—faces a drinking water crisis. Drying Up is a wake-up call and a hard look at what the future holds for those who call Florida home. Journalist and educator John Dunn untangles the many causes of the state’s freshwater problems. Drainage projects, construction, and urbanization, especially in the fragile wetlands of South Florida, have changed and shrunk natural water systems. Pollution, failing infrastructure, increasing outbreaks of toxic algae blooms, and pharmaceutical contamination are worsening water quality. Climate change, sea level rise, and groundwater pumping are spoiling freshwater resources with saltwater intrusion. Because of shortages, fights have broken out over rights to the Apalachicola River, Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades, and other important watersheds. Many scientists think Florida has already passed the tipping point, Dunn warns. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and years of research, he affirms that soon there will not be enough water to meet demand if “business as usual” prevails. He investigates previous and current restoration efforts as well as proposed future solutions, including the “soft path for water” approach that uses green infrastructure to mimic natural hydrology. As millions of new residents are expected to arrive in Florida in the coming decades, this book is a timely introduction to a problem that will escalate dramatically—and not just in Florida. Dunn cautions that freshwater scarcity is a worldwide trend that can only be tackled effectively with cooperation and single-minded focus by all stakeholders involved—local and federal government, private enterprise, and citizens. He challenges readers to rethink their relationship with water and adopt a new philosophy that compels them to protect the planet’s most precious resource.

Climate change is one of a few major factors that ensure the country will continue to struggle to supply its cities and industries and fields with enough water, particularly in the North, as well as face more frequent and longer droughts. The country has shown a stunningly agile disaster response system, but its system for disaster prevention and management is far less developed. The road to greater drought management and sustainable water supplies is demand management. How to achieve this in a historically hydraulic-engineering society is explored through the case study of Guiyang Municipality in Guizhou Province.

Aimed at product and process developers in the biopharmaceutical industry and academia, this is the first book to describe freeze-drying, as related to the pharmaceutical industry.

Drying is fundamental step in the maufacture of many foods. Although its primary function is to remove appropriate quantities of moisture it is, in many cases, also responsible for imparting the characteristic qualities that distinguish one product from another. This book provides a fundamental understanding of moisture transport in the drying of foods and of the physical and chemical changes that occur during drying. A comprehensive description and assessment of the different types of dryers available to the industry are given and factors effecting the operation, control and selection of dryers are described. The combination of practical information supported by relevant theory makes this an essential volume for industrial food engineers, those involved in equipment manufacture, process plant design and new product development in all food sectors where dried foods are used. It will also be of interest to academic researchers in this aspect of food engineering.

A self-help guide designed to assist children in conquering bedwetting.