Are You Thirsty?

by Barbara Tufty

Suppose you just walked down to the edge of the Cacapon River, scooped up some water in a cup and drank deeply...

........ahhhhhhh! Cool, clear, pure water!

Once upon a time, our River was like that. Cool because of numerous dense trees shading it; clear because no one tossed tires or trash into it; no construction dirt made it muddy; refreshing because it was free of pollution from runoff fertilizers, farm manure and leaking septic tanks.

When my family and I first arrived at the Cacapon River, some dozen years ago, it was called "the least polluted river east of the Rockies." Although I've not yet found anyone in the U.S. Geological Survey to back up that statement, I like to believe it is true. And if it's not true, then we hope to make it so.

Our planet is appropriately named the water planet. If all the water in the world—vapor, liquid, and ice—were spread evenly over the earth in liquid form, it would be some 9,800 feet deep! About 97 percent of this water is salty—mostly in the vast oceans. Less than 3 percent is fresh water, mainly locked up as ice at the poles and in glaciers, and deep underground. So that leaves less than 1 percent fresh enough for us humans to drink, as well as to supply the needs of all animals and plants--- frogs, ducks, deer, fruits, vegetables, and everything else that make this planet so interesting and viable for us.

We all need fresh water. Plants wilt in an hour without water; animals die in a few days. We humans can survive without food for two months, but without water we die in less than a week.

Today, as our human population increases, industry uses more and more water, and here in West Virginia hundred, perhaps thousands of streams, are filled in with the tops of mountains destroyed for coal, we are facing a serious freshwater water shortage. To stop this potential disaster, we need to halt pollution of our streams, to protect and conserve our valuable supply of water, so essential to life on our planet.

On an average, Americans use 50 to 70 gallons a day in the house, according to some calculations. Our flush toilets use 27 gallons daily; showers and baths 18 gallons; laundry and dishwashing 12; and drinking and cooking 3 gallons.

So here's what each one of you can do to conserve fresh water—and restore our Cacapon River:

• Avoid unnecessary flushing the toilet

• Take showers rather than baths. A short shower uses some 8 gallons, while a bath can use five or six times that much. Install a water-efficient shower head, so you can easily shut off the water for a minute while you soap up.

• Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth and shave

• Fill up your laundry machine and dishwasher full before turning it on.

• Washing dishes by hand uses less water. But don't keep the tap running.Use a small plastic bowl in the sink for washing, then rinse all at once. Scrub your vegetables in a bowl, too.

• A faucet aerator can save 50 percent of the tap water. The water pours out just as fast, but half of it is bubbles. It's fun to use.

• Leaking taps and dripping faucets can waste some 20 gallons of water a day. Fix them!

• Put some rainbarrels under your gutter downspouts from your roof and use the rainwater for your garden.