{"id":1376,"date":"2012-05-14T22:21:47","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T05:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obwb.ca\/blog\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:06:01","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T21:06:01","slug":"lift-a-long-cool-glass-of-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/2012\/05\/lift-a-long-cool-glass-of-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Lift a long, cool glass of gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.<\/em>” – Dan Quayle<\/p>\n

Crammed in a cab with Bob Sanford<\/a> and David Brooks<\/a>, listening to adventure stories about Middle East river agreements.\u00a0 I jumped in with one of my few international water anecdotes. \u201cAn Ethiopian hydrologist told me that water security \u2013 for them \u2013 is five litres a day, per person, within a three kilometre walking distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Kenyan farmer, building a catchment for her water supply. Photo credit: Eva Kaye-Zwiebe<\/p><\/div>\n

The driver gave a derisive cough. \u201cThat guy must have been from the countryside,\u201d he said, shaking his head. \u201cI\u2019m from Addis Ababa. We used at least six litres, and we didn\u2019t have to walk for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strolling from kitchen to bathroom, I might use 100 litres of pure, fresh water a day without giving a second thought. If I wander out and turn on my sprinklers, that might go to 1000. And I’m average!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s raise a glass to drinking water: so cheap, so abundant, we wash our cars with it. If it weren\u2019t for the empty plastic bottles lying around, water would be almost invisible.<\/p>\n

Back at home, I asked some guys next to me at a restaurant what they thought about drinking water. \u201cWe don\u2019t think about it. We don\u2019t want to. We just want to be able to get it.\u201d Tommy and Ken were executives from the auto industry, and after some discussion, they admitted to being skeptical about climate change, but aware there were problems out there. \u201cWithout water there\u2019s no life. Look at the Dead Sea, it\u2019s dying!\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in the mountains, my image of pure water is to stop and drink from a stream \u2013 cold and slightly gritty, tasting faintly of moss.\u00a0 The truth is (sadly) less poetic. My early thirst for raw water explains a childhood of stomach upsets, and an adult immunity to tourista<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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An exuberance of fresh water<\/p><\/div>\n

BC\u2019s water sources are wild \u2013 and wildly variable. Greater Vancouver has giant, protected catchment areas, surrounded by fences to keep stray hikers away from the reservoirs. Their water flows down to a fabled, massive new filtration plant.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, some small communities resist even chlorination. Like me, they love the taste of raw water.<\/p>\n

In between, water utilities tap streams and aquifers, religiously sending weekly samples for pathogen testing; quietly, steadily delivering near-perfect water to your kitchen sink. \u201cIt\u2019s the best deal in the world!\u201d says Bob Hrasko, from the Black Mountain Irrigation District. \u201cOnly pennies a day, for all you can drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

May 13-19 is \u201cDrinking Water Week\u201d in BC<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good time to hug your local water supplier. Buy ’em some flowers.<\/p>\n

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A winning team of the Operator Challenge event at the BC Water and Waste Association annual gathering. Photo: BCWWA<\/p><\/div>\n

Drinking Water Week coincides with the run-off season in BC \u2013 \u201cfull freshet,\u201d when snow-melt fills ditches and stream-banks. This is the season of water advisories, when fast-moving rivers carry loads of new silt, hiding microbes from sterilization.\u00a0 This is the season when water providers work full-tilt, so we can save our worries for other things.<\/p>\n

I happened to be at a water conference in Vancouver in 2007 when a freak spring storm overwhelmed the existing treatment capacity. We awoke to a complete shut-down of the coffee-making industry in downtown Vancouver: an emergency water advisory, cutting at the core of urban productivity.<\/p>\n

After comparing notes with the Ethiopian cab driver, the memory of stumbling conference delegates is humorous and pathetic, but there was a mood of real helplessness\u00a0in the crowd milling around\u00a0the locked Starbucks in the underground mall.\u00a0 Someone with a bottled water truck rescued us before the situation became desperate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are still places in BC \u2013 some rural communities, some First Nation\u2019s reserves \u2013 who struggle for potable water year-round. It\u2019s not only a shortage of treatment plants, but a shortage of trained operators across Canada.<\/p>\n

So if you are feeling cranky this week, casting around dubiously for something to be grateful for; if you feel down on your luck; if you feel thirsty for something really special \u2013 go have a glass of water.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a movie about the secret ninja that patrols our mountains, helping suppliers keep water safe for the good people of the Okanagan.\u00a0 We call him, \u201cWater Warrior<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n