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June 29, 2005 I live in the City of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. For the first time in one hundred years we have seen rain that has flooded many of our towns and cities in our Province. The weather became so severe, that it rivaled weather in some of the cities within the U.S. (but not entirely so—the U.S. still has a lot more wilder floods and extremities than we do when it comes to weather). Never-the-less, we saw floods hit our dry prairies and attack our water systems in ways we could never fathom. It caught us by surprise, and many people were reluctant to pitch in to help when it came to preserving our water supply Who would ever think that the flooding would become so severe that the city would cry for help to its citizens and ask that water be used sparingly? Our water system was under such pressure that the system was at the verge of not being able to filter the sediment from the river water we draw from. If we did not conserve our water usage, this would be exactly what would have happened. Yet people had a hard time heeding these words, and they went about watering their lawns, washing their cars, and plainly being overzealous with their water usage. In reaction to this, our mayor put a ban on any outdoor watering, car washing, etc. $1,000 and more was fined to anyone caught doing this on a second offence (first was a warning). Yet it was amazing to see people still watering, still washing cars in their driveways, car washes still operating…I still wonder about the mental awareness of people when it comes to what’s going on around them and whether they understand that the little things they do, will affect the rest of us either positively or negatively. If each person overuses water via over watering their lawn, then how much pressure are they cumulatively putting on the water system? Multiply this overusage by 313,000 people (this is a rough estimation of a third of the population of Calgary) and you have a disaster brewing. Do people not understand that the water quality will fall and eventually we will not have clean water to use if they kept doing this? This whole experience had just amazed me. I had a few arguments with my colleagues regarding this issue and why they all should sacrifice watering their gardens, their lawns, etc. My argument was that vanity should be set aside for the health and well-being of others and your own quality of life. You can regrow and bring to health a dying lawn or garden, but your water supply affects every part of your life and takes a lot longer to clean up—if you are able to. Just think what you use water for in your every day life to make things convenient for you. Showers, baths, cooking, cleaning, drinking, oh so many uses, yet people don’t see how their outlandish use of water can kill a water supply so easily. What would you do if all of the sudden you didn’t have clean water? What would you do? It simply is amazing how vain people can be when it comes to their gardens, their cars, their lawns…and how far they will go to keep them looking beautiful, even in a water ban. My words to you this week are to be more conservative in your water usage, and spread the word about its importance. People that do not have the luxury of such high quality water understand this importance. Others still have much to learn, and the more it is talked about, and the more people are aware of the importance of water conservation, hopefully, they will somehow understand it. We can only hope. Till next time… ------------ About the author: Barbara has been writing short stories for the enjoyment of friends and family for years. She has published three books, Collection, Collection II, and Pawn: A Novel. Barbara lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and enjoys writing, reading and tending to her other field: accounting. Websites: http://www.barbaraannamarjanovic.com http://www.authorsden.com/barbaraannamarjanovic Look for my books at McNally Robinson! www.mcnallyrobinson.com Email: blueswan28@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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