water, the essence of life

We couldn't last long without water, yet the world's supplies of usable fresh water are being exhausted at an alarming rate. Water tables are dropping as we extract water faster than they can replenish. And just because it rains a lot in the UK doesn't mean that we haven't got a problem, especially in the South East region. Globally, water tables are dropping at rates of up to 6 metres per year under some urban centres; these are usually major fossil aquifers, which cannot be recharged quickly.

On the south coast, where massive amounts of water are extracted for agriculture, a dropping water table runs the risk of becoming replenished by sea water. If that happens, we can say goodbye to living on the coastal regions. Salinated land has destroyed civilizations before (e.g. the Sumerians).

We treat water as a mere right of utility, yet that is to ignore its greater properties. Water is the element with which we find spiritual connection, it sooths us, mesmerises, relaxes us. Why else do we sit by ponds and rivers, visit the sea or go swimming? We have a natural affinity to water, which we barely understand. It is also the most mysterious element, the only one to expand either side of a given temperature (4°C). It also carries “memory” and can be alive, or dead. Water moves with its own rhythm and doesn't like our restraining, mechanistic methods of dealing with it.

I have specialised in building water gardens for many years and see the future survival and betterment of mankind as inextricably linked to our attitudes and understanding of water. All the while we think there is excess, we use it carelessly, whilst the true problems of basic supply and health go unresolved and largely unnoticed. We have to find ways of reducing the amount of water we use and cleaning and reusing the water in secondary and tertiary ways.

This involves rainwater harvesting and use in the house (flushing loos and the washing machine) or in the garden for irrigation. Grey water cleansing (discharge from sinks, baths and washing machines) through the use of biofilters, again for use in the garden or car-washing, or just to discharge to ground in a clean state. Simply not allowing rainwater to disappear down drains but to put it back to ground helps to replenish the local watertable (97% of the ground in urban cities is covered up), which helps lessen flooding that occurs when drainage systems can't cope. In this respect, heavier rainfall patterns brought about by the effects of global warming is a major factor.

Biofilters can be a part of ornamental pond systems designed to bring pleasure and relaxation. There is no reason to separate beauty and utility, especially with water. Indeed, there is a fascination in observing water being purified as it runs from one filter to another and into the garden pond. Water gardens can also be providers of food with many aquatic plants providing unusual, but interesting edible uses.

At the most basic, our lives need three things - water, food and warmth (energy). Water is the the most fundamental of the three and we abuse it at our peril.