Book excerpt: Passionate and cogent, this could be the most important book of the year for Canadians We are complacent. We bask in the idea that Canada holds 20% of the worldÍs fresh water „ water crises face other countries, but not ours. We could not be more wrong. In Boiling Point, bestselling author and activist Maude Barlow lays bare the issues facing CanadaÍs water reserves, including long-outdated water laws, unmapped and unprotected groundwater reserves, agricultural pollution, industrial-waste dumping, boil-water advisories, and the effects of deforestation and climate change. This will be the defining issue of the coming decade, and most of us have no idea that it is on our very own doorstep. Barlow is one of the worldÍs foremost water activists and she has been on the front lines of the worldÍs water crises for the past 20 years. She has seen first-hand the scale of the water problems facing much of the world, but also many of the solutions that are being applied. In Boiling Point, she brings this wealth of experience and expertise home to craft a compelling blueprint for CanadaÍs water security.