Both Oars In Water, Water

Apr 10, 2009

The other day I caught myself telling my twelve-year old son not to pray for a sunny Saturday. Droughts bring on bizarre behavior. Fortunately for us, the local lack of water is not only temporary, it has only really impacted recreational activities and landscaping. For the world, the lack of access to clean water is a far greater and more menacing issue. It takes lives: four children a minute and 100,000 people a year in China alone.

On the global level, water problems fall into three categories: waste, pollution, and scarcity. For the U.S., with our 23,000 golf courses and let-it-run-till-it’s-hot mentality, the issue is definitely waste, not scarcity. For Haiti and other dry, environmentally devastated countries, it is a maddening combination of both a lack of water, mainly due to poor production, and pollution. In China’s case, the region with the most severe water issues, it’s a deadly combination of all three.

According to several sources, the U.S. tops the list of water wasting countries in the world. Writing after the third World Water Forum in Kyoto [March 2003], BBC writer, Ben Sutherland pointed out that both the large number of golf courses and the habit of locating them in sunny, dry climates makes golf, if not the biggest villain, at least a major culprit in our wasteful treatment of water. On the brighter side, golf course managers have begun to pay closer attention to both fertilizer run-off and conservation. More and more courses are irrigated with recycled water [treated sewage effluent] to lessen the impact of this sector on the environment and the water supply.

Some might say, "What’s wrong with enjoying a long hot shower? We have the water, let’s use it." It is true that we have a lot of water—nearly 20% of the world’s fresh water is found in the Great Lakes alone. But, let’s not forget the old adage: waste not, want not. Does it really make sense to tempt fate by letting 95% of the water that comes into our household go down the drain? Running the tap while brushing our teeth or lathering up with the water on full blast can add three or four gallons at a shot to our daily usage—that’s more than the daily allotment for over a billion people who share this planet with us.

Waste is far from the issue in Haiti. When you tote water around in five gallon buckets from the time you are six, conservation comes naturally. Many children spend the day walking back and forth, sometimes more than a mile, to provide water for their families. The heavy buckets sit on their beautiful heads like cruel tiaras. Imagine how much more we would pay attention to our water usage if we carried every gallon. Having lugged buckets myself, I continue to be able to shower in five minutes.

Even after all the work that has been done by groups ranging from large relief organizations to the pockets of industrious Mennonites who dedicate their lives to drilling wells, Haiti is still at the bottom of the water index list which gauges a country’s water situation by both availability and potability. This is no surprise to me since I have forded ad hoc streams of sewage 20 feet wide and as black as coal while driving medical teams accompanied by our students to do relief work in the slums surrounding Haiti’s capital. But, there is hope that more drilling will help because the water from deep under ground is still as sweet as tea.

China’s water problem is a "perfect storm" of scarcity, pollution and waste. With less than ten percent of the world’s water supply and 20% of its people, periodic and regional shortages are the norm. This is compounded by rampant pollution. Nearly all the groundwater in urban areas and three quarters of the lakes and rivers are polluted. There are 23,000 chemical plants along China's two main rivers: the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers. These conditions force 700 million Chinese, twice our nation’s population, to drink contaminated water daily. All the tea in China may soon be worthless if China does not clean up its act.

The world water situation is enough to make one cry a river of tears. Yet, I am hopeful that picturing a six-year old girl shuttling water on her head from a well to her house a mile away will motivate us to do more than that. Afterall, tears cannot change bad water into good or make springs spout spontaneously from the ground. Solving water problems takes hard work, conservation and an authentic concern for the environment.

At Easter time, water takes on a special importance for Christians around the world. It is no coincidence that what is essential in sustaining life is also instrumental in its renewal. It’s time to give water the respect it deserves in every season and get serious about saving what we cannot live without.