Water is needed to sustain life. Thus, water gives you energy.
"Remember the poem which contained the thought, "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink?" That stayed in my mind ever since we read the poem in high school. Here is a bit of it:
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Source: Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1834.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
The poem is very long. I am sure it was a chore for us to read it in high school. It had messages about life, death, regret, belief, and many more ideas within it. The one idea that has stayed with me intensely was the one of no drinking water in spite of an abundance of sea water.
Today we have shortages of water, even though we have flooding. And water is often full of contaminants which are not healthy. (Remember people emptying old pills down the toilet? Well years ago, before i saw anyone else do it, I put a toilet bowl into a sketch of a water cycle. Get the idea? (A book publisher of basic biology and environmental science books came by my office one time and took my notes including that sketch. Amazing how some people just take things. Sure enough, those ideas showed up in their text books in the next year or so,) Let's get back on topic. Water.
If water is abundant and clean, we can drink it. It contributes to our health. See the impact of safe water (or lack of it) here:
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/how-does-safe-water-impact-global-health#:~:text=Almost%20one%20tenth%20of%20the,and%20accidental%20drowning%20during%20recreation. Accessed 6-12-2020.
Here is a quote of some statistics on clean water and health:
"Annually, safer water could prevent:
"In addition, 5 million people can be protected from being seriously incapacitated from lymphatic filariasis and another 5 million from trachoma."
Some simple things can be done to conserve water at home. Here is a link on water conservation actions for your home: are found here: eartheasy.com
List what you will do to conserve water at home.
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Here are some articles on water conservation in agriculture.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X12000510
Conservation practices to mitigate and adapt to climate changeJorge A. Delgado, Peter M. Groffman, Mark A. Nearing, Tom Goddard, Don Reicosky, Rattan Lal, Newell R. Kitchen, Charles W. Rice, Dan Towery and Paul Salon
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation July 2011, 66 (4) 118A-129A; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.66.4.118A https://www.jswconline.org/content/66/4/118A.short Accessed June 13, 2020.
Water treatment plants can purify water. Do you know what type of treatment plant your town has? a primary treatment doesn't do much and still costs quite a lot. Look up information on your towns water plant. Look up on line abpot primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary water treatment plants. Participate in town meetinfgs on such topics.
Is your town filling in wetlands? More on the affect of that on water quality in future posts.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Source: Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1834.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
The poem is very long. I am sure it was a chore for us to read it in high school. It had messages about life, death, regret, belief, and many more ideas within it. The one idea that has stayed with me intensely was the one of no drinking water in spite of an abundance of sea water.
Today we have shortages of water, even though we have flooding. And water is often full of contaminants which are not healthy. (Remember people emptying old pills down the toilet? Well years ago, before i saw anyone else do it, I put a toilet bowl into a sketch of a water cycle. Get the idea? (A book publisher of basic biology and environmental science books came by my office one time and took my notes including that sketch. Amazing how some people just take things. Sure enough, those ideas showed up in their text books in the next year or so,) Let's get back on topic. Water.
If water is abundant and clean, we can drink it. It contributes to our health. See the impact of safe water (or lack of it) here:
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/how-does-safe-water-impact-global-health#:~:text=Almost%20one%20tenth%20of%20the,and%20accidental%20drowning%20during%20recreation. Accessed 6-12-2020.
Here is a quote of some statistics on clean water and health:
"Annually, safer water could prevent:
- 1.4 million child deaths from diarrhoea;
- 500 000 deaths from malaria;
- 860 000 child deaths from malnutrition; and
- 280 000 deaths from drowning.
"In addition, 5 million people can be protected from being seriously incapacitated from lymphatic filariasis and another 5 million from trachoma."
Some simple things can be done to conserve water at home. Here is a link on water conservation actions for your home: are found here: eartheasy.com
List what you will do to conserve water at home.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Here are some articles on water conservation in agriculture.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X12000510
Conservation practices to mitigate and adapt to climate changeJorge A. Delgado, Peter M. Groffman, Mark A. Nearing, Tom Goddard, Don Reicosky, Rattan Lal, Newell R. Kitchen, Charles W. Rice, Dan Towery and Paul Salon
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation July 2011, 66 (4) 118A-129A; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.66.4.118A https://www.jswconline.org/content/66/4/118A.short Accessed June 13, 2020.
Water treatment plants can purify water. Do you know what type of treatment plant your town has? a primary treatment doesn't do much and still costs quite a lot. Look up information on your towns water plant. Look up on line abpot primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary water treatment plants. Participate in town meetinfgs on such topics.
Is your town filling in wetlands? More on the affect of that on water quality in future posts.