REFLECTION: Water for Life

When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water. No, not said by the Israelites in their predicament in Exodus 17, but by Benjamin Franklin nearly three hundred years ago, when rivers and wells figuratively over-flowed with water.

Although 70% of the world’s surface is covered by water, only 2.5% is fresh water and less than 1% is accessible for human use. However, the problem is not the supply of water; the earth has virtually the same amount today as it did when dinosaurs roamed the planet; the problem is simply people – our increasing numbers and the flagrant abuse, by some of us, of one of our most precious, and limited resources. For people in developed countries consume 10 times more water daily than those in developing countries [ 500-800 litres per day, compared to 60-150 litres per day].

When we realise it can take 4,000 litres of fresh water to produce one 250 gram steak and 64 litres of water to grow one tomato, then – as Benjamin Franklin put it – we begin to know the worth of water.          The question is, how we will use that knowledge?

When rain falls in excessive amounts, with roaring rivers, slips, flooded farmland, houses   However, except for floods and drought, we seldom have to think about it. Like good health, many ignore water when we have it.

For instance, do each of us know where our water was last night? Last month? Last year? Or where it’s headed as it swishes across the surface of our kitchen sink and vanishes down through a plug hole? And more importantly what we’ve done to it while washing clothes, watering the garden, having a shower?  How would we feel if we had to wash clothes in a dirty stream and use that same water to wash ourselves?

But like health, when water is threatened, it’s the only thing that matters. For fresh water is the life-blood of our land, the nourishment of our crops and forests, the blue and shining beauty at the heart of our landscape. Different cultures agree on this one thing: where there is no water, there is no life. Greek philosophers described water as one of the four elements that made up the earth. In terms of our Christian faith every time a child, a man, or a woman is baptised the Church proclaims new life in Christ through the waters of baptism, we proclaim water for life.

The past century has seen great changes in the way we use water. Need for power meant building hyro dams providing electricity to power our development as a nation, providing water for agriculture, industry and recreation. More recently, the upsurge of commodity prices for dairy products meant large scale conversion of former beef, sheep and crop farms to dairying requiring huge amounts of water to grow grass, provide water for cows, and to wash down dairy sheds and equipment.

Just about anything we do or touch utilizes water. Have you ever considered, that when we switch on a light in NZ, water may well have generated the power; when we read a newspaper water made the paper; when we drive our car, water produced the steel; when we eat meat and vegetables, water sustained the animal and helped grow the vegetable crops?  We draw millions of litres of fresh water a day from lakes, streams, and underground aquifers.

By damming, pumping, draining, and diverting water, countries have re-invented their landscape. But in more recent decades we have begun to feel the limits of our fresh water supply. Pollution of lakes, streams and rivers, and over pumping and contamination of ground water resources have in some areas sharply reduced the available amount of fresh water. People are being forced into choices: should we water paddocks or supply towns and cities? Generate electricity, or support fish habitat? Allow urban development, or preserve a wetland which is now known to fulfil important environmental roles, as well as being the habitat of a number of endangered species.

Most people in this country (and in many others) now live in urban areas. The pressures on water supplies and water quality in and around our towns and cities are often as keenly felt as it is in rural areas. In recent years water and water reforms have become very contentious and also cultural issues. Climate change has the potential to dramatically affect New Zealand, with more frequent and more severe flooding, and paradoxically, more droughts.

Difficult questions confront us and other nations of the world.

While New Zealanders still have enviable access to water, demands on our fresh water are increasing and, in many cases, exceeding what is available or sustainable. There are concerns about the water aquifers that feed Christchurch and the demands by some developers to build over these areas.

Water is a vital resource for our health, economy, environmental values, recreation and the tourism industry. For our future development, it is hard to overstate the importance of water, and our responsibility to look after our water resources, protecting them from exploitation.

But it is not an easy task to balance differing values and needs.

However, responsibility has been laid upon us to be good and fair stewards of the earth; to protect its resources for future generations.

Since 1993 the United Nations has observed World Water Day on 22 March each year. We are a week late in marking the day. Of course prior to the roster change this service would have been last Sunday.  Setting aside a day to focus people’s attention on the importance of fresh water, as well as advocating for sustainable management of resources, hopefully throws out a challenge or two to each of us.

This year’s theme for World Water Day is Glacier Preservation: Protecting frozen water resources for the future. That is particularly relevant for us. The theme aims to highlight the crucial role of glaciers in sustaining life and the water cycle.  Glaciers are critical to life – their meltwater is essential for drinking water, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems, but glaciers are melting more rapidly than ever. This is causing uncertainty to water flows, with profound impacts on people and the planet. As the planet gets hotter, our frozen world is shrinking, making the water cycle more unpredictable. For billions of people, meltwater flows are changing, causing floods, droughts, landslides and sea level rise. Countless communities and ecosystems are at risk of devastation.

In New Zealand we have visited and seen that our glaciers continue to retreat. In the past that was often without any depth of understanding of just how serious that is.                                 Did you know that:

• about 70% of Earth’s freshwater exists as snow or ice?
• That in 2023, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatons of water, the largest mass loss registered in 50 years?
• That nearly 2 billion people rely on water from glaciers, snowmelt and mountain run-off for drinking, agriculture, and energy production; and a further 2.2 billion people live without access to safe drinking water?
• That increased glacier melting contributes significantly to global sea-level rise, with today’s sea level about 20 cm higher than in 1900?

I don’t need to remind you of the devastating implications for the animals that live at both ends of the earth. You’ll have seen that on the Attenborough programmes.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C could save glaciers in two-thirds of World Heritage sites. Global reductions in carbon emissions and local strategies to adapt to shrinking glaciers are essential. As we work together to mitigate and adapt to climate change, glacier preservation is a top priority. We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow down glacial retreat. And, we must manage meltwater more sustainably. Saving our glaciers is a survival strategy for people and the planet.

Two sentences can be used to bluntly sum up both the urgency and the challenge.                               Glacial retreat threatens devastation.             Glacier preservation is about survival. .