Water, Water, Everywhere…

Salamanders and their eggs are among the most sensitive creatures to water pollution. In this case, these salamander eggs are healthy and waiting for May and hatching. (Unless a turtle decides he wants a salamander omelet.)

By Pat Rossiter, YOUTH Forum Guy

 

We have had the pretty extraordinary privilege of living in a place where the supply of water is abundant and potable. This is simply not true in much of the rest of the world and with each passing year, it becomes less and less true here in the United States.

Now as you sit, comfy-cozy here in New England, the problem seems remote right?

If you live in one of the towns served by the Metropolitan District Commission’s water supply, you had a dicey few days.  Evidently some unwanted visitors were residing in the water coming from one of the reservoirs. Fair enough, boil your water for a minute. Of course now that I think of it, this is the first time in my memory that I can remember a municipal water supply being affected in such a manner. I may just not be remembering it, but I can say with a great deal of certainty, that the water here has been for the last 38 years almost entirely and absolutely safe to drink.

OK, maybe not. Now it seems literally tons of pharmaceutical chemicals are routinely washed down the drain and into our water supply. The chief culprit? You and I. That’s right, mother’s little helper may just be making Jack a dull boy.  Think its just the pills? Here’s a report from 2005,“Most common among the chemicals found were disinfection byproducts, nitrates, chloroform, barium, arsenic and copper.” Mmmmm…I’ll have mine over ice please.

It’s all starting to freak me, and others out.

While we are fretting over the price of oil, it may just be that the real issue is not what goes in the car but in our mouths.