Water - Peaceful, Quenching, Critical

I recently installed a fountain pond in my front yard right in front of my home office window.  I love it!  The sound of the running water is so peaceful and relaxing.  The wildlife likes it too.  I’ve seen a chipmunk take a drink and there are lots of birds hanging out near the edge of the pond. 

And who doesn't love hanging out at the beach?  The mist blowing lightly—or perhaps drenching you with heavy wind and large waves—but nevertheless, a day at the beach is special because of the water!  And if the ocean isn't a possibility, even spending time by a river, pond, or lake isn't bad.

When I was growing up, bottled water was only that plastic gallon of distilled water that my mom purchased to use in the electric steam iron.  The very idea of buying a bottle of water to drink was preposterous!  Yet, most of us drink at least one bottle of water a day.  In fact, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, more than 1/2 of Americans drink bottled water.  Sales are now in the range of about $4 billion a year—triple what it was just ten years ago. 

The FDA’s rules for safe bottled water are at best sketchy.  These regulatory gaps allow for nearly 63-70 percent of bottled water that is sold in our country to be exempt from the rules.  Oddly, the FDA rules do not apply to water packaged and sold within the same state.  Hmm, I think I’ll be buying out-of-state bottled water from this point forward.  Some bottled water is simply tap water that is sealed up in a plastic bottle with a pretty label glued on it.  Ugh, I’m not liking this.  The good news is that city tap water does have standards that are highly regulated and tested, so if your bottled water originated at a tap somewhere, chances are it’s safe.

A few years ago I remember that David Letterman had a water-tasting segment on his show, and the winner was New York City tap water.  And true, tap water may be perfectly safe, especially if you filter it through your refrigerator system or some other household water filtration system.  But I think the whole point of bottled water is convenience.  When we are out and about—arguably we are doing more traveling about than our previous generation did—it’s healthier to purchase a bottle of water than a soda or other sugary drink. 

Convenience of water—or the lack of it—is a critical problem in many parts of the world.  During short-term tragedies, the good people who come to the aid of those who are suffering often bring truckloads of bottled water.  Wonderful!  Without their thoughtfulness and generosity, a lot of people would not have water to drink because of contamination problems following tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc.  But many parts of our planet never (or rarely) have clean drinking water—not simply limited to the time of immediate disasters.  By some estimation, 884 million people have inadequate access to safe drinking water.  Little by little, relief organizations have dug wells and provided water pipelines, but there are still millions of people who suffer because of the lack of water.  Consider contributing financially to this cause; better yet, spend your vacation this summer helping to dig wells in Sudan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, or Tunisia—the top 4 countries that suffer greatest with inadequate drinking water.

And this water shortage may soon be evident even on our very own continent.  In the Midwest, the Ogallala Aquifer is drying up.  The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world’s largest aquifers.  The pool underneath the state of Nebraska is still very saturated, but it is declining in alarming proportions in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Texas.  Should you be alarmed about this even if you aren't living in one of those states?  Yes, you should be.  It is quite distressing to realize that a resource that takes nearly 6,000 years to replenish could possibly go dry within the next fifty years or less. 

After World War II, the aquifer was increasingly being drawn upon to irrigate farmland.  The Native American tribes who lived in that region previously tended to be nomadic, spreading out their use of natural resources.  However, that’s not the way we live today.  Farmer’s cannot be successful as nomads, and in the dryer climates on the High Plains, irrigation has become a common practice.  Common, but perhaps it has been foolish.  Currently many new regulations are being initiated to help control the decreasing resource of water, but it may already be too late.  There may be a time in our lifetime that the High Plains become as dry and uninhabitable as Death Valley.  Extreme?  Perhaps, but I think we should definitely start being more conservative with our water.  Even if you don’t live anywhere near the Ogallala Aquifer, and are lucky enough to live where water is plentiful, why not consider being a little more conservative?

OK, enough preaching and statistics—time for me to have a tall glass of filtered tap water and go relax by my fountain.  (It is only 75 gallons and it re-circulates—no water is being wasted.)