Have you ever wondered what water truly means to you? Thought about what it would mean if you didn't have access to water on a daily basis? How about clean drinking water?
As a Californian
I’ve grown up in sunny California my whole life and as much as I love my so-called “golden” state, we’ve definitely had our fair share of water resource management problems. Water use and access in California are often subjects of great controversy and beget bitter sentiments from democrats, republicans, farmers, students, mothers, fathers, and the list goes on and on. As a Brit, you’ve probably seen the agricultural sector of California’s central and inland valley marred by water conservation efforts due to drought remediation interventions. Every time I drive on the Interstate-5 towards San Francisco, I see “Solve the Water Crisis” or “Is Growing Food Wasting Water” billboards littering the side of the highway. Even my family has suffered the costs of California’s water crisis. Our utility bills have slowly climbed in the past 5 years. Our once manicured green front lawn has now been converted to artificial grass. Occasionally, the county asks us to turn off our sprinklers so during long periods of drought, my dog’s grassy lawn turns into a patch of dirt. My family now collects shower water to nourish our fruit trees - the only water-intensive plants sitting in our backyard. Living in California has shown me that water, both as a commodity and as part of our earth’s ecosystem services, is pivotal to the well-being of a nation. The water crisis pervades all corners of the world, no matter a country’s development index or GDP per capita. Granted, the level at which it affects an individual varies quite drastically but nevertheless, it is an ubiquitous problem.
Image 1: Billboards along the I-5 Freeway
Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7182786/mediaviewer/rm840785664
As a Planeteer
During this past summer, I worked in Uganda for 2 months at several of Dr. Jane Goodall’s field sites and was able to get a small glimpse into the daily lives of health workers in rural villages. In the Masindi District of Uganda, the majority of the population lives in the rural outskirts, where their main sources of water are either boreholes, streams, or ponds. When driving from Masindi town into nearby parishes, such as Kasenene or Nyatonzi, you’ll first pass a small pond. The small pond serves a variety of purposes, from cleaning cars and trucks to washing clothes and household linens. Along the edges of the pond, you’ll see goats and other livestock drinking water. This pond seems to be sustained by rainwater and is murky with runoff from the adjacent murram road. About a mile past this small pond, you’ll come across an Indian-owned sugarcane plantation called Kinyara Sugar Works Limited. The vast expanse of sugar canes is lavished with water during the dry season and through the acres and acres of sugarcane, you’ll see large trucks watering the young sugarcane plants.
During this past summer, I worked in Uganda for 2 months at several of Dr. Jane Goodall’s field sites and was able to get a small glimpse into the daily lives of health workers in rural villages. In the Masindi District of Uganda, the majority of the population lives in the rural outskirts, where their main sources of water are either boreholes, streams, or ponds. When driving from Masindi town into nearby parishes, such as Kasenene or Nyatonzi, you’ll first pass a small pond. The small pond serves a variety of purposes, from cleaning cars and trucks to washing clothes and household linens. Along the edges of the pond, you’ll see goats and other livestock drinking water. This pond seems to be sustained by rainwater and is murky with runoff from the adjacent murram road. About a mile past this small pond, you’ll come across an Indian-owned sugarcane plantation called Kinyara Sugar Works Limited. The vast expanse of sugar canes is lavished with water during the dry season and through the acres and acres of sugarcane, you’ll see large trucks watering the young sugarcane plants.
Image 2: A sugarcane field juxtaposing the forest Source: Personal photoIt’s an unsettling dichotomy to see, but it shows you the discrepancies between water availability and access in rural Western Uganda. On one hand, you see rural Ugandans with unstable and unsafe sources of water and on the other hand, large agricultural firms with access to large amounts of water. According to the United Nations, the benefits of having safe-drinking water can only be fulfilled when access to sanitation and hygiene is guaranteed in conjunction (U.N. Water). Furthermore, acquiring water should not come at the expense of womens’ and childrens’ livelihoods, meaning that the responsibility of fetching water should not fall on the less privileged. My blog will focus on the multifaceted relationship between water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). This link not only plays a large role in international and community based public health endeavors, but also in environmental stewardship and conservation efforts. In many parts of rural Uganda, water sources often flank forests that serve as important habitats for chimpanzees, black and white colobuses, and vervet monkeys. Human-wildlife conflicts arise near these streams and can result in exchange of diseases to and from humans. Evidently, human health and environmental health go hand in hand. In the coming posts, you’ll begin to see that WASH has the ability to address interconnected issues such as women’s health, community health, child mortality, environmental conservation, and ecosystems preservation.
Image 3: Assessing community health in BuhomaSource: Personal photo
Stay tuned -
References:
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. United Nations Water. http://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-sanitation-and-hygiene/
References:
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. United Nations Water. http://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-sanitation-and-hygiene/
Great opening blogpost and I very much applaud the personal story on which you rooted this. Look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteHi, you're mention of “Solve the Water Crisis” made me immediately think about how much water is in my diet and the water resource-intensity argument and statistic about the amount of water it takes to make a beef burger I've heard a lot recently. This is the argument often adopted by vegans, and after a little research it looks that it takes at least three times the amount of water to feed a meat eater compared with that used to feed a vegan. For example, it takes 15,500 litres of water to produce 1 kg beef contrasted with 180 litres for 1 kg tomatoes (https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/environment/water-requirements). Do you think veganism should be used as an initiative to solve the water crisis in the context of agriculture?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting question you pose! I personally think there are better ways to solve the water crisis than trying to change an individual's eating habits. For example, California's irrigation system and aqueducts are relatively inefficient. In the context of agriculture, farmers in the central valley need to adapt their technology to California's changing climate - such as implementing drip irrigation or a micro-sprinkler system. Even at the household level, Californians waste so much water. People leave the sprinklers on when it's pouring rain outside or have large expanses of green lawns while living in a desert habitat. Out of curiosity, how do you see veganism playing a part in solving the water crisis?
DeleteI have a bit of a different perspective as I am not coming from a background of knowing a lot about this topic and the different solutions at hand. Personally I am a big advocate that collective individual action being incredibly important and can make a huge difference. I also believe that the most privileged in this world cause the most damage and must take responsibility for curving this, also holding the most resources to be able to do so. Therefore I believe Veganism could be good to help the water crisis when it comes to meat production though I am aware Veganism is water intensive in other areas. I myself am not vegan, but I have cut down my meat intake - with being more conscious of my impact on the earth one of my new years resolutions...I agree that people, even when it doesn't come to foo, waste water and for that I have no issue with governments telling people what to eat thats not water intensive or bans on peoples personal water usage. I think it's getting to a point where even though people are educated if people are not told they wont do it - which is a shame but the reality :(
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