Monday, September 17, 2018

Water Purifiers And Progress?

Is this water really clean?  She wonders as she takes the cap off the bottle of spring water. She drinks but not without serious doubts about the health benefits.  So begins an article in a Diocesan Bulletin. As a child, she remembers the older generation saying in the near future we will be paying for the water we drink. The time is here.
 

We live in a  highly scientific civilization; concerned with clothes, food, and shelter but our thinking about food has changed the most. In the past, it was the expensive and good food we desired especially different kinds of meats but recently with the appearance of the 'well being' movement, interest in vegetables and fruits has grown greatly. Despite this, water is still one of the most important elements of good health. The secret of a long life is regular exercise, control of one's eating, and water. Drinking 3 liters of water a day to get rid of waste products and clean the blood.
 

At present we have water with different ingredients and this will continue with great variety. Water with vitamins, calcium water, rock water, alkaline ionized water, and the like, with labels and priced accordingly, even now there are types of water that are more expensive than kerosene. Water purifiers remind the buyer that good water protects one's health. In order to sell the purifiers, they use all kinds of words to tempt the customers to buy their product. Now you can have both hot and cold water and easy to use. There is even the kind that will make ice cubes, all pointing to the importance of water.

Many are the  side effects in search for clean water. No matter how expensive and well made the water purifier, without the changes in the filters you have a useless machine and the abandoning of underground water sources and mineral springs. Few are the places in the country where we can find first-class natural water.  

Back in the 60s and 70s in the country, we had village wells and even pumps in the homes. Most would go to the village well where they dropped their buckets and returned home with drinking and water for household use. With a splash and the drop of the bucket we had not only fresh drinking water but were able to converse and build community, now just memories.
 

The village priest would come to the well on rare occasions. He was one who would be drinking tap water and mineral water. He would buy mineral water but finally came to the conclusion that he had been drinking tap water all his life without problems and returned to drinking tap water. He bought an earthen pot in which he poured the tap water and after the impurities went to the bottom it became his drinking water. After deciding on the merits of purified water and the tap water the tap water won.
 

With the progress of civilization we have gained a great deal in comfort but the smell that came from our humanity began to disappear. Not able to drink water without concern is a sign of what we have done  to the environment. Ice caps are melting, glaciers are disappearing  and we are getting strange weather—extreme heat and floods and natural disasters because of our indiscriminate understanding of development. Even with the drinking of mineral water, the heart is not at rest. She concludes with  yearning for the old days at the village well.