Friday 14 February 2014

THE SOMERSET LEVELS AND THE SHAPING OF WATER

I am from Somerset and have been watching the encroaching waters rise on the Levels since Christmas. The Levels seem to flood every year but I cannot remember one in which the water has risen so high or for so long.
 
Ruth's book, The Shaping of Water, is receiving its French launch (no pun intended) this weekend, and there is a connection between it and the current (again no pun intended) flooding in that the Kariba Dam, which gave rise to Lake Kariba, was responsible for the displacement of tens of thousands of people, in their case permanently. The UK's present floods have caused  people to have to move from their homes but luckily only temporarily and in relatively small numbers. The creation of Lake Kariba has  changed the local ecology of vast areas of south central Africa and the way of life of a peaceable tribe probably for all time. Hopefully the UK floods will soon be  forgotten and steps taken to alleviate them in the future.
 
The displacements in the Zambezi will not be so easily forgotten and nor should they be.
 
Ruth's book - The Shaping of Water -    ISBN 9781783061990 or eISBN 9781783068043 for the eBook version is available from Troubador Publishing, Amazon, Nook, Kobo and all booksellers.




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