(no subject)
January 28th, 2006
Water
“Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century.”
Right now, more than one billion people lack the access of safe drinking water. It's projected that by 2050, half the world will not have sufficient water.
For all that I complain about the taste and hard minerals in South Bend water, I never for a minute worry about it not being there when I need it. When a drinking fountain is malfunctioning, I know that it's an issue with the fountain, not the drinking supply. It's so easy to forget that people are dying right now of dehydration, where I can go to pretty much any building on campus and get as much water as I want. Furthermore, I can take a warm shower whenever I want. I try to take efficient showers, because there's really no need to use up tons of water just for my enjoyment, but the truth of the matter it's there to take if I want it. The Tragedy of the Commons, I suppose.
The time I become most aware of water issues is when we lose power at home. Living pretty far outside of town, we get our water from an underground well that we pump by electricity. However, when our power goes out [which happens at the very least every year], so does our water. Luckily, we usually have some reserve, but not enough to shower or really flush toilets unless absolutely necessary. One year we had a 4-day power outage twice in one season. Which meant that we were pretty stinky, we spent a lot of our time not home, and that lots of food in our fridge died. But still, even though we didn't have running water, it was still an inconvenience more than anything else. We could still get adequate drinking water from bottled water, and for food we could eat out. It's really impossible to imagine not being able to drink water whenever I need it, but at the same time I know that is only because I live in a very privileged place. And when you live in a privileged place, after time you become used to it and forget that not everyone gets to have what you've got. Even if it's something so seemingly simple as clean water.
Water
“Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century.”
Right now, more than one billion people lack the access of safe drinking water. It's projected that by 2050, half the world will not have sufficient water.
For all that I complain about the taste and hard minerals in South Bend water, I never for a minute worry about it not being there when I need it. When a drinking fountain is malfunctioning, I know that it's an issue with the fountain, not the drinking supply. It's so easy to forget that people are dying right now of dehydration, where I can go to pretty much any building on campus and get as much water as I want. Furthermore, I can take a warm shower whenever I want. I try to take efficient showers, because there's really no need to use up tons of water just for my enjoyment, but the truth of the matter it's there to take if I want it. The Tragedy of the Commons, I suppose.
The time I become most aware of water issues is when we lose power at home. Living pretty far outside of town, we get our water from an underground well that we pump by electricity. However, when our power goes out [which happens at the very least every year], so does our water. Luckily, we usually have some reserve, but not enough to shower or really flush toilets unless absolutely necessary. One year we had a 4-day power outage twice in one season. Which meant that we were pretty stinky, we spent a lot of our time not home, and that lots of food in our fridge died. But still, even though we didn't have running water, it was still an inconvenience more than anything else. We could still get adequate drinking water from bottled water, and for food we could eat out. It's really impossible to imagine not being able to drink water whenever I need it, but at the same time I know that is only because I live in a very privileged place. And when you live in a privileged place, after time you become used to it and forget that not everyone gets to have what you've got. Even if it's something so seemingly simple as clean water.