Sandra Postel is co-author with Brian Richter of Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature.

Over the last 75 years, human ingenuity and industry has harnessed rivers to provide much needed sources of hydroelectric power and arable farmland. However, the result of artificially changing nature's floodplains has revealed drastic and perilous results for surrounding flora and fauna. In this conversation, water ecologist Sandra Postel advocates preserving natural riverine flows as an integral part of river management operations.