The Value Of Water: It May be Old, But It's Valuable

Groundwater has been on my mind a lot lately. I keep thinking about how important it is for us to understand all things about water so that we don't wake up one day with a thirst we will not be able to quench.

I was fascinated by an article in the Baltimore Sun describing about how geologists measured Chlorine-36 and Helium-4 isotopes in water from the Chesapeake and from the Eastern Shore to determine the "age" of the water in each of these bodies.

Through these tests, the geologists learned that water in the Chesapeake "was tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years old, while deeper, under the Eastern Shore, it was more than 2 million years old.

What does this mean for us? 

First, there's a set or finite amount of water that's available to Earth's inhabitants. Underground "rivers," which are recharged by rainfall, are tapped by the wells we dig for drinking water. We keep digging wells deeper and deeper to tap the underground aquifers and have little research to help us to understand what impact all this drilling is having on our water supplies.

Droughts and climate change add to the depletion impact on ecosystems and on people. As we experience more droughts, our use increases to compensate (e.g., farmers), and groundwater decreases. Scientists are concerned about the renewal rate.

It's been reported that we are in the most widespread drought in 60 years. Soon water problems will become energy problems as the lack of water available affects power plants, oil and gas production facilities, and other water-dependent operations.

So many things are connected and interdependent. There's also a lot of discussion about and evaluation of the water-energy nexus. How much energy does it take to deliver clean water? How much water does it take to deliver clean energy? This term has evolved to "water-energy-food" and the "water-energy-land" nexus and includes the question: how much water and energy does it take to produce food?

Will we be aware of the point of no return? Are we taking more out than the Earth can replenish? Do we have the systems in place to monitor what's happening under the ground? 

Director of the Global Water Policy Project Sandra Postel in National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents notes that "(f)ew places in the world dependent on groundwater bother to do so, which means we’re flying blind into the future of water stress. We can’t manage what we don’t monitor and measure. Keeping our heads in the sand only guarantees ugly surprises down the road.

Water is a resource that we must value and not take for granted. As we come to learn more about the science behind our drinking water sources, we must also learn about and plan for long-term stewardship of these resources. The more that we know and are aware of, the more that we can adjust our behaviors, manage the use of our resources, and guide our sustainability planning.

We need to educate ourselves continuously on the value of water whether it is fresh water, water from the ocean,ground water or surface water.

All water important for economic health and for human health. 

Our future depends on how we see and value water. We need systemic thinking, wise choices and a quest for integrated and realistic solutions. Water is a shared resource. Water security should be a shared concern.