Why Should I Care About Water?

by Eoin Carroll

Pennsylvania has lots of water.

We have over 86,000 miles of streams (2nd only to Alaska).

While we are certainly not drought-proof, we usually enjoy an adequate amount of precipitation such that we can grow a wide variety of plants.

We have sufficient groundwater such that you can dig a well in most of Pennsylvania and expect to find suitable amounts of water.

When you view the earth from space you see a big blue ball.  This is because 2/3’s of the earth’s surface is covered in water.

So why should we care?

Humans are very dependent on freshwater and there is a great deal less of this.
Only about 3% of the water on earth is freshwater.
2/3’s of this is locked up as ice meaning that we are dependent on 1% of the earth’s water.

As Unitarian Universalists,  our 7th Principle is “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”  We are a community that highly values the environment and are always looking for ways we can help protect and improve it.

Water is the foundation of life. The cleaner the water the healthier the ecosystem.

There is no economical way to create new water, so we must make good use of the water we have.

How we treat our water has a big impact on those downstream of us.

Here at the UU we are in the Abraham’s Creek watershed.  Abraham’s Creek flows through Francis Slocum park and then continues on to connect to the Susquehanna River which flows down to the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay is an amazing environment rich in natural resources. Unfortunately its health is poor.  Its largest problems are excess sediment and excess nutrients.

The major supplier of freshwater to the bay is the Susquehanna River.  Unsurprisingly, the major problems of the Susquehanna are excess sediment and excess nutrients.

If we want a healthy bay then we need healthy rivers.
If we want healthy rivers then we need healthy streams and creeks.
If we want healthy streams and creeks then we need healthy watersheds.

Our new Watershed Circle has formed to be part of the solution.  In future talks, we will be sharing information on things we can do to improve the health of our watershed.