Last week I wrote about the water bans and the water shortage that we now have in Athens. For some reason this week though, it was even more in my face. I actually saw effects of the current water situation here rather than just reading about them. For example, Thursday night I was walking around on north campus and went over to Herty Field (where my favorite fountain is located). Much to my surprise, there was a large gate surrounding the fountain and it was bone dry. Signs on the fence said that fountains on campus were not currently functioning in order to conserve water. Even though I had written about the water ban and the drought situation, this is the first time that it had personally affected me. I know that not being able to enjoy a functioning fountain is much less important than having water in my home for instance, but it really hit home for me. Another article that I stumbled across seemed to convey the severity of the situation much more blatantly than ones I had previously read. Businesses, for example, who rely on outside water to function, such as car washes, will not be allowed to continue business unless they can prove that they are cutting their water use by 20%. Also, because of this emergency, water conservation will become more of an issue in the future here in Athens, even during non-drought periods.
As I thought about all of these changes that have occurred because of the water shortage here, even more questions arose in my mind. Water is so available to me. I'm accustomed to it being there all the time whenever I need it. The only reason I thought about this convenience was because it could possibly be gone soon. This made me wonder if everyone in Athens has this privilege like I do. My privileges are in danger because of a water shortage but if there was no water shortage, would everyone in Athens enjoy clean water whenever they need it? Where does the water come from? Does it all come from the same place? Are there poorer areas in Athens who have dirtier water? Is there anything the residents can do about it if that's true? Where does that water from industrial areas go?
Those are just some of the questions that this water shortage has me thinking about. Some answers as a result of investigation to come soon, I hope!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Clean municipal drinking water is what sets industrialized nations apart and goes a long way toward explaining why we live longer, healthier lives than people in the developing world.
In Africa, it's not unusual to see children dipping water from ditches in old plastic jugs and cans. And diarrheal disease, much of it spread by contaminated water, remains a major killer of small children.
The water coming into Athens homes is the same; the gray water and sewage exiting those homes could be a different matter. I'm guessing that you could find public health problems in ACC related to unsanitary runoff from industries and homes.
Check it out!
It would also be interesting to see who actually obeys these water restriction orders. I know that I do, but my neighbor seems to believe that a green lawn is more important than obeying water restrictions.
I had a close encounter with a water problem myself this week. Here I was at Lake Hartwell cruising along with 3 of my kids enjoying a beautiful Fall Day. Then, to my dismay my boat bogged down almost instantly. The water level in the middle of the river was only about 2 feet. It had dropped 6 feet since I had last been to the lake in June.
Georgia has many lakes, and most of the large ones provide not only electricity, but drinking water for certain counties or municipalities.
Conservation of natural resources is a stewardship issue to me. (That is why I only have 7 kids instead of 10--that is a joke.)
Seriously, protecting our water supply and teaching others how to do the same is going to be even more important in the future.
I think the difficulties of living without easy access to water are most apparent to us when power outages occur. It is when we can't flush our toilets (enter the marvelous concept of the outhouse) or wash our hands that we then see how much water we really use on a daily basis. We use it to cook, brush our teeth, wash our hands several times a day, shower, etc. All of this and we hardly even think about these actions because they are so easy for us.
As I said in class today, I hate the thought of having a "brown shower" in the morning -- it's my own personal example of our drought. My question is, where is this water going? If some places are drought-struck then aren't some places flooded? Is this water going to our oceans? Is more of it staying in our atmosphere? Or is it just becoming contaminated and ruining our water supply? These are the questions I'd love to see answered.
I ran across an interesting idea while in my Horticulture 2000 class two semesters ago: xeriscaping. It's a concept of creating a landscape that requires little to not extra watering at all. Drought tolerant plants are used in large areas and plants that use heavy amounts of water are concentrated in small areas. I would definitely look into that and see if anywhere in Athens is using this landscaping technique.
Did you know golf courses are exempt from the watering ban?!!!
Wow. I had no idea Colin had studied xeriscaping! Perhaps I should be seeking his advice about buying drought-resistant shrubs to replace the dead ones.
And I had no idea golf courses were exempt from restrictions.
But here's a journalism question: should a local newspaper post a request that people turn in their neighbors for not abiding by the rules? And should a newspaper publish the results of such a "crowd-sourced" story without verifying?
What's your take?
Post a Comment