Some slight evidence suggests blue is joining green as an environmental buzzword. The blue revolution is the water equivalent of the green revolution and primarily refers to the need to get water for drinking and crop irrigation to the many millions of people worldwide who do not have it. The phrase has been used for some years, but it came to notice particularly in press reports of the recent Third World Water Forum in Tokyo. Many environmentalists believe that the need is not simply to provide water, but to do so in ways that are ecologically sound and sustainable; for example, they feel that building dams is not the right technique. Solutions are desperately needed, since the UN estimates that 2.7 billion people face a critical shortage of drinkable water by 2025.

The grand ambitions of the World Water Forum trickled down the drain at Kyoto this week — dashing any immediate hopes of a “blue revolution” that might keep the world water crisis at bay.

New Scientist, Mar. 2003

The institute hopes the “green revolution” in crop productivity will soon be matched by the “blue revolution” in raising water productivity in agriculture.

Africa News Service, Aug. 2002

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