Water, water everywhere?

Without a doubt, rapid urbanization and industrialization have taken a heavy toll on our environment. Mankind’s incessant quest for progress and development has depleted much of our planet’s natural resources. What took hundreds of thousands of years for nature to create, man has wiped out in only a little more than a century. Air and water pollution, widespread illegal logging activities and desertification are but just a few example of the many contributing factors that have led to the depletion of our natural wealth. And now, we are in a quandary as to how to reverse this alarming development.

Take for instance this disturbing local news released recently by the environmental watchdog Greenpeace. In its report, Greenpeace said it tested samples of water collected from various sources, including bottled water, river and tap water and found that the quality of clean water is declining, with the studies indicating even bottled water had abnormally high levels of metals in it. It noted that even our environment department has acknowledged that 50 of the 421 rivers in the country could be considered “biologically dead” because of pollution. New York-based Blacksmith Institute also came out with a report called “The World’s Worst Polluted Places” for 2007. Sadly, out of the top 30 worst polluted places, the towns of Meycauayan and Marilao in Bulacan province were included as having one of the worst polluted rivers in the Asia Pacific region.

These reports, although alarming, do not really surprise us. Government laws are unheeded; big companies continue to poison our waters unabatedly, without utter regard for the effects it might have on the environment, and consequently, on the health of our people. The only thing that the owners of these companies care about is how to make more and more money. But at whose expense? Studies show that in as quickly as ten years, we will have no more clean and safe water to drink, if we do not do anything to reverse this distressing trend.

This scenario reminds us of an old story about a group of sailors who were moored in the middle of the ocean for such a long time that their food and water supplies ran out. The sailors were in big trouble because there were no visible signs of help coming soon and, although they were surrounded completely by a big body of water, the water was not potable! The sailors were so despondent that all they could say was: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!”

Much has been said about global warming and its ill effects. It is comforting to know that the global community is already taking steps to stop this looming threat to mankind’s existence. The reduction of fossil fuel use, the development and utilization of clean energy sources and the massive reforestation of denuded areas are all steps in the right direction. Maybe we should also start doing something about our water too. As what Ismail Serageldin, former vice-president of the World Bank once said, “The wars of the twenty-first century will be fought over water.” If we don’t act on this immediately, then this prediction may soon become a reality.