In 1962, John F. Kennedy said, "Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel Prizes -- one for science and one for peace." Sixty-four years later neither prize has been awarded.
In CLOUDS ABOVE the year is 2035, the same year renowned science author Maude Barlow (Blue Covenant) predicted that water would become the most valuable resource on our planet. Our lakes and rivers are drying up at an exponential rate. All that's needed to push us over the edge is a drought. Without land lakes and rivers, clouds won't form, so even cloud seeding will no longer be useful. Should we look to the ocean for our water solution? Desalinization? Moisture from the air?
Grayson Fields, age 27, PhD in math and science, tries desperately to help prove her grandfather's theory. A theory that's never been tested. They must first make it work inside Georgetown's abandoned gymnasium (a gift from the university for his experiments.) But one particularly greedy water treatment company is out to sabotage Fields' and her grandfather's experiments. Steve Muller, the sinister CEO of Purity Worldwide will do anything to stop them; because if they succeed there'll be no need for turning sewage into drinking water, which is exactly what Purity Worldwide does, a process that began in 2005, and is in use today.
Even now, waste water treatment plants around the globe are growing at an exponential rate. Purity happens to be the bully in the industry. Soon, we will all be drinking treated water that came from our toilets.
As our rivers and lakes continue to evaporate into puddles, there will no longer be enough large clouds over land to create rainwater. India and Africa are the first to experience the disease caused by improper treatment. Demand for converted wastewater will overload the treatment plants, creating a worldwide catastrophe. The giant filtration companies will fail to keep up.
Here's an example to consider. Put a drop of sewage in a bottle of Dom Perignon and it can no longer be called champagne; so too will millions of water bottles no longer be water when a tiny leak occurs in the filtration membranes of these plants. It's already happening. Today! Chemical solutions and reverse osmosis will not be enough to reverse the disaster.
CLOUDS ABOVE is a plausible thriller that promises to uncover a possible way out. But it will take the genius of our two Georgetown professors to try something unique. Something that's never been done.
It will require the fortitude and determination of these main characters to face the corrupt and greedy water barons to make it happen--with some unexpected help. Danger from all angles face Grayson and her Grandfather. Politicians are on the take from the water filtraters and do as much to sabotage the professors' work as does Steve Muller and his scientists.
CLOUDS ABOVE will take you from D.C. to India and the Himalayas, and along the way reveal several countries already facing enormous water shortages. Reading CLOUDS ABOVE is entertainment with eye-opening real consequences. But like all good stories this one doesn't end as you'd expect.
CLOUDS ABOVE may just become the most important book of the next few decades.
