Thought I'd sit down and say a few words about "water".
If I said "water wells"....you'd say "now that's a deep subject"
If I mentioned "watered down" you might think of American style beer.
If I talked about "holding water"...you'd think of an argument that either does or doesn't; or possibly being 50years + "holding your water"may conjure visions of nocturnal trips made, interrupting what should have been a good nights' sleep.
In general; we here in North America are blessed with it, and lots of it.
I guess because of this, we tend to minimize it's value and take for granted that we will always enjoy a surplus of this life-giving liquid.
Ever talk to anyone from Europe about our attitude towards fresh water and the way we squander it ?
In recent years it seems it is just beginning to have become something of a commodity, but I can easily remember a time when no one ever thought of the idea of paying for it.
Even now, I believe there is little thought given to conservation and the protection of this resource by the average person simply because of it's apparent abundance and availability.
Just think back to last year at this time when gas prices soared and delivery to some stations seemed intermittent....I don't know about you but I was "all about" the conservation and protection of it.
Or think of something else relatively cheap and easily available, like electricity. Oh Lord ! how our attitude towards it changes when the power goes off......all of a sudden you're camping...and not by choice!
Speaking of camping; I recently spent some time on the Severn river doing just that !
While the weather was "no hell" the fishing and the company was just fine.
Having a few drinks by the fire, we told the usual stories to one and other, some pretty much true, some likely overly embellished with the passage of time and occasions repeated. Allot of it being just our observations but never our "feelings" of course !
You get the idea....
At one point I jokingly compared the look of our property, with the various tents perched atop it's sub floor to "site 41"and of course that brought the subject of conversation then, and this blog post now, around to the situation there.
A friend of mine grew up near there and at one time owned property in the "site 41" immediate area. He told me that if you walk in any direction of that site you can find either an actual spring with water bubbling to the surface, spring fed ponds,with icy cold water, or deep holes in the surface that lead to aquifers that likely run for miles beneath the surrounding countryside, supplying "who knows who's" wells.
I'm certain that there were studies done: and I don't claim to have much knowledge of why, or why not a dump should be located anywhere near there.
But I can't "for the life of me" understand why we shouldn't "error on the side of caution" on this one?
In these days where safety is always such a great concern and it seems that we need ever increasing legislation to protect us from ourselves, be it in our cars or in our boats or walking down the street enjoying a smoke. (no I'm not a smoker), shouldn't we take a closer look at this one?
If we are so worried about the possibility of some cigarette smoke wafting in the direction of our emotionally and physically coddled, safety helmeted children in a nearby playground, shouldn't we also worry about the water that they and their children will one day drink ?
Likely by the time the contaminants seeping from the dump make it past the so called "impenetrable" clay basin that they assure us will contain it; we won't have to worry about it, but it will be our children and grand children's dilemma.
When they consider the wisdom used in deciding to build a dump over drinking water;
do you think that they will have a chuckle the way we do when we think of "our parents" letting us ride in the back window of Dad's big sedan with no thought of our safety or seat belts?
I'm pretty sure it won't be a laughing matter.
