It has been the wettest July in the UK since records were made on such things. As Brits we complain but at the same time do not wish upon ourselves the other weather extreme being visited upon other parts of the world in heatwaves, wild fires, floods and drought. Here's a bit of a musing on water.....
The following is an edited transcript of a BBC 4 extra radio play that aired some time ago now. The work, entitled "The State of Water" is a drama around a Welsh Hill farming family and the decisions they have to make to conserve the natural water resources on their land.
The writer, Sarah Woods blends language and emotions with a factual thread which taps into the whole theme of water supplies and security which are becoming a significant consideration across the globe.
"Each of us is made up of 60% of water.It is in our blood, heart, arteries, veins and capillaries.
It conducts the electrical signals in our brains to allow us to function. Water lubricates our joints, allows eyes to turn in their sockets, dissolves enzymes and hormones and carries amino acids, carbohydrates and minerals, carbon dioxide and electrolytes.
Of the 150 litres that each of us uses every day we drink only 6 litres. Some 50 litres is used in showers and spills from taps. 20 litres run through the washing machine, 45 litres are flushed down the toilet. The rest just drips away as we wash foodstuffs at the sink or brush our teeth.
We rely on water to produce just about everything in our lives.
A single tomato from seed to sandwich filling uses 13 litres of water. A hamburger from grazing pasture to the inside of a sesame seed bun takes 2400 litres. A pair of leather shoes is a consumer of 8000 litres and the production of a car, 400000 litres.
A sip of tea contains 136 drops of Indian water, the equivalent sip of coffee 1100 Brazilian drops. The perfect accompaniment for a roast dinner, potatoes were irrigated in Egypt. A refreshing orange comes from Spain and other citrus fruits from the sun drenched eastern Mediterranean.
Water surrounds particles and puts them in solution.
There are organic compounds from decaying plants, crypto spiridium from animal faeces, pesticides from the fields seep into the water in the absence of filtering peat and soils, slurry leaks into the watercourses and strangles the oxygen which asphyxiates the fish, over-use of fertilisers encourages a poisonous algae bloom, industrial processes leach iron, aluminium, tin, lead and cadmium into the water and this is joined by other toxic waste from car oil to rubbish tips, pollutants from cooling water as it is returned and heavy metals from panel beaters, dentists and university laboratories.
The solution bio-accumulates in our bodies and bones. The contraceptive pill and HRT put oestrogen into the water. Raindrops, thick and heavy with particulates from the burning of fossil fuels absorb Carbon and Nitrogen dioxides resulting in sulphuric and nitric acid. This increases as more rain releases aluminium and metals which kills insects and the wildlife that feed on them.
As the earth warms up ,water vapour fills the air. Summers around the globe and the natural aquifers become drier and as this happens there are greater demands for water.
Glaciers melt which causes problems for the 1 in 6 of the population who rely on meltwater. Sea level rises from glacial melt meaning that saltwater overwhelms freshwater supplies.
Downpours are more severe and concentrated and yet as half of the world suffers from devastating floods, the other withers from punishing drought.
Water is a finite resource and yet we take it for granted. Seagoing tankers take 36 million litres of freshwater from France to 330000 homes in Spain whose residents are in water crisis.
There is nothing to replace it with when it is gone."
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