Charles Fishman transports pails of water in Jargali, India | Courtesy of Charles Fishman

NEW YORK -- In a slender essay titled "Here Is New York," E.B. White wrote about the implausibility of the great city, mentioning among other things the millions of gallons of water needed each day just so people could brush their teeth.

That was in 1948. Since then, the implausibility factor has increased thousands-fold -- or at least an awful lot -- a fact among many that prompted Charles Fishman to expand White's thought in his new book, "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water."

If you read it -- and you should -- you will be very thirsty. And you will never flush again with the same nonchalance.