I had a couple of wonderful holidays on the narrow boats on England’s Kennet and Thames rivers in the 1970’s. The waterways and their locks, weirs and moorings, not forgetting the riverside pubs and restaurants, seen and enjoyed at the leisurely pace of the narrow boat are the most relaxing of ways to spend a holiday.
It crossed my mind how devastated both we and the landscape in general would be if those beautiful rivers should ever cease to flow and become dried up riverbeds that has happened to so many streams and rivers in countries round the world, including here in Spain.
We in our wisdom think nothing of stripping mountains bare of their forests so that there are no tree roots to hold the rains and wonder why populations are devastated by ‘unforeseen’ floods and landslides.
We are reminded constantly to save water and look after our natural sources like springs, streams and rivers, and also receive requests for charity to bring water to communities in third world countries. But how often do you see on the news, documentaries and travel programs images of the poor walking miles to carry gallons of water on their heads back to their village and yet the source is often a single tap that is left to run free, with no control or thought of saving. It seems that we can just provide a source, set it and forget it! No teaching and no management or maintenance. Great! It seems that the only way our engineers can think of saving water is to dam a river, but in truth what they do is to damn the river!
Water is an amazing source of life without which we cannot survive. Scientists are even now looking for other blue planets to colonise that have liquid water. When subjected to the harmonics of increasing frequencies of sound, water displays the complex patterns that naturally exist within it that are also projected into physical reality as temperatures vary in the clouds of raindrops that can become the many and varied crystals of snowflakes.
When water freezes its specific gravity reduces which is why ice floats and the densest water exists at about 4º C so that the oceans will never freeze solid except temporarily at the surface. Did you ever skate on the frozen river Thames with the water still flowing beneath your feet?
If we are to survive we need to manage the Planet starting with saving water. But not a lot of folks out there understand that by saving water they are saving themselves money and contributing to the overall health of not only the Planet but also the human race and all other life forms that share this beautiful Planet with us.
WATER SAVINGS:
The man who came to read the meter yesterday apologised for not coming for three months. When he read the meter he exclaimed, ‘but this is nothing!’
When we wash our hands we take a small amount of liquid soap in one hand, about the size of a pea, wet the other hand and immediately turn off the tap.
Lather the hands, then briefly at minimal flow, rinse the hands. Job done! If you have to scrub up to perform an operation perhaps you too can find ways to save.
All showers in our house are fitted with thermostatic taps.
When we shower it takes a while to get warm water through so we save that water in a bucket which we use to flush the toilet.
When showering we wet the body then turn off the water.
Lather the hair and body with shampoo and gel.
Rinse as briefly as possible. (No standing under the shower for an hour!)
We only take as much water as needed for tea in the kettle to save on both water and electricity, the coffee machine has a marked reservoir for exactly the right number of cups. I remember my Grandfather doing exactly this back in the 1950’s.
When drawing water for washing up, again we save the cooler water which we use for rinsing and take the smallest amount of hot water for the washing up bowl, and of course the smallest amount of washing up liquid.
All toilet cisterns are fitted with long and short flush buttons.
We have two sources of water:
Mains water for the house and Agricultural water for the garden.
The Agricultural water is used to irrigate the garden on an economical drip feed system.
As we have our own waste system the clear effluent from this also feeds the garden at low level, about 1 metre down.
We also collect water from the roof, for pot plants, when it does rain which is not often!
Did you know you can help family members and friends to save water by restricting the flow of both hot and cold water to sinks and wash basins by adjusting the secondary taps underneath the bowls.
A lot of work has been done but we need to do much more to preserve the purity and prevent the pollution of our rivers and therefore the oceans that we rely on for food, travel and recreation, but also more importantly to protect those fish and mammals that as we speak are already being poisoned by the plastic and radioactive rubbish that we pour into the seas at will.
There is another insidious form of ocean pollution that is happening under our noses and literally on our dinner plates. GM has almost become a swear word and I fear that as with the Genetically Modified crops whose pollen will spread to adjacent fields of organic produce the GM salmon held in cages will eventually escape and pollute the safe wild varieties by interbreeding.
Why are we so intent on playing God when we in our scientific infancy don’t even know or recognise all the rules for the safe, long term management of this Planet. Scientists are even as we speak looking for another blue planet with water to colonise realising that we have made so many mistakes here that there may come a time in the not too distant future when we will have to move.
When I played Rugby, for my sins, we took our time in the shower and to relax the aching body, after strenuous exercise, I have had many a hot deep bath with Salts from the Dead Sea, to even spraying the grass when it turned brown until the hose pipe ban came into force. No longer!
How will you help to save the Planet, also yourself and all life in the process?
Wouldn’t you rather stay here than move to another blue planet?
With Love, David
clear
Angel Messenger 