Water Water Water

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” Bruce Lee

Few things around us as a society can be as simple and as complex as water. We all know what we know about water: our bodies are 75% of water; Planet Earth is a water planet (should it be called Planet Water?); the water cycle; et cetera. There have been a lot of arguments put forward about the value of bottled water versus tap water. You’ve heard it all.

Now stop and think a while about a few things. Let’s consider Jamaica as the land of wood and water. The water comes from springs and rivers that are replenished from rainfall. There are no neighbouring countries resupplying us with water from their boundaries, so there are no upstream-downstream issues like in Turkey, Egypt or Thailand, or inter-state conflicts like in the USA (Colorado River anyone?). That we have a single source of water (rain), and relatively easy access, not to mention the fact that we’re not a desert climate like the southwestern United States, why do we have serious water issues? This is where the whole situation becomes complicated.

The first problem is distribution of water to those who need it. We have to collect and treat the water before it’s sent on for consumption. The second issue is consumption itself. Water is used for domestic purposes, as well as for industrial and agricultural uses. How efficiently water is used is an end-user problem, but often not considered when people demonstrate for water. We need to conserve and consider how we use water. Many people are already offended that they have to pay for water (one of the reasons they steal it), but the fact remains that the collection, treatment and distribution mechanisms all cost money to support. Water prices are already so low that it isn’t enough to support this in and of itself (which is why water theft only makes things worse). Imagine if we had to pay a premium on water proportionate to the value we give it!

Have a look at this excellent Washington Post article. It’s not just us worrying about these matters. That these are largely under the radar, the fact remains that, if left unsolved, water problems would be a far greater existential threat than terrorism or swine flu, which get more press.

Another problem we face in Jamaica is the whole storage of supplies. We have 2 major dams in Kingston. But we are only now getting into the habit of having individual water storage tanks at our homes. Does having and accessing home storage affect our consumption patterns? Do water lock-offs work? Do we harvest rain water for flushing toilets, watering the lawn or washing the car?

Speaking of flushing toilets, are we prepared to use treated effluent for irrigation? Obviously there will have to be standards governing the quality of the water to be used – that goes without saying.

Time once was that people would go where there was water. In more recent human history, we’ve found humans going wherever they wanted, and got the water to follow them. Think about Los Angeles or Las Vegas. In Jamaica, small communities have sprung up over the last couple of centuries in marginal areas, to be cultivated with water-intensive crops. These areas are very vulnerable to water shortages, and will result in severe difficulties in growing crops. Yes, I know the only reason people went into these marginal areas was because the former slave plantations already grabbed up the best land with available water, etc. But slavery’s long-gone, but even so, there’s no real reason to have to plant certain types of crops in those areas; there are far better crops suitable for cultivation in certain areas.

I opened this blog with a quote from Bruce Lee. What with all the water-related conflicts popping up all over the world, some worse than others, what better way to frame the whole deal than with some words of martial wisdom?