Water, Water Everywhere...

This summer so far has been the wettest, grayest summer I've ever witnessed. For about a month and a half straight, from mid-May through June, it rained every day. And I mean every.single.day. It seemed as if the sun had completely given up on New York City, and our concrete jungle would soon become a rain forest (not an unwelcome change, if you ask me :-) Check out these crazy water levels from the NYC DEP website.

We had more than seven inches of rain in June alone, which was more than three inches over the historic record! While the lack of sun was slightly depressing, this bountiful rain also meant a lot of good things for the earth. For one, I didn't have to water my garden at all for nearly two months! Plus, the levels of our reservoirs are healthy, our drinking water supplies are strengthened, and thanks to NYC's giveaway of complimentary rain barrels, we can optimize usage of the earth's great gift for watering our gardens and our -coughcough- lawns during the remaining summer months.

This news of plentiful rain in New York is somewhat unique, considering that in many parts of the world a lack of access to clean water is causing countless troubles for human beings. In our own California, farmers are struggling under restricted allotments of water after a three year drought has caused the governor of the state to announce a water emergency. In Iraq, the Euphrates river is drying up, an event that had once been prophesied by religious groups as a sign of the end of times. All over the world in third-world countries, clean drinking water is scarce, and it is a cause of major conflict, disease and strife for millions of people. I won't go any further here, at least not now, but for a simple breakdown of the situation facing humans in global water issues, check out the World Health Organization's 10 FACTS about water scarcity.

Now the sun is shining on NYC again, and all of its gardens are growing healthy with the help of that glorious, life-giving rain water. And in light of these global realities, it is tremendously good fortune that we have such an easily accessible clean water system, and such a rich supply of rain! It is imperative that we don't take this luck for granted, and that we are responsible in the way that we use our water. This means taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet while soaping dishes, recycling the rainwater that comes with so much reward, and mayyybeee, just maybe not leaving that lawn sprinkler on all day long- or at all ;-). This way we can be sure that our water use is sustainable, and not at the detriment of others!

peace.