(Pic from the City of Mesa)

The Christian Science Monitor on the UNDP's water report:

In a major report on water published Thursday, the UN Development Program (UNDP) takes a radically different approach. The Program's 2006 Human Development Report rejects the gloomy Arithmetic. It argues that the poor's lack of water is caused by their lack of political power, rather than by the limits of nature. "The scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis," the UNDP maintains, "is rooted in power, poverty, and equality, not in physical availability."

More investment in water supply is urgently needed. Yet storing water in large, centralized reservoirs concentrates political power. The benefits of big, capital- intensive water investments tend to be captured by the rich and powerful members of society. "The danger is that the claims of the politically and commercially powerful will take precedence over the claims of the poor and marginalized," the Human Development Report warns.

The UNDP's new report joins a growing chorus of voices that argue for a "soft path" to water-sector development. Decentralized, small-scale solutions and efficiency improvements are more likely to reach the poor than centralized reservoirs and canals. "For much of the past hundred years water shortages in agriculture have been countered by dams and large-scale irrigation works," the UNDP says. "In the years ahead the focus will shift decisively to demand management. Getting more crop per drop, rather than more water to the fields, is becoming the central concern...."

In other water and development news:

*Around $600 million in grants have been given for water projects in Iraq.

*For a fictional take on the future of water, check out Mark Swartz's H20 novel, out now.

*The European Commission earmarks money for the drought in Nepal.