Precious agua

Amazing.

Seems I use that adjective every month to describe what I see and read in National Geographic. This month's issue is no different. It's a special issue on Water, the most precious resource on the planet.

Coincidence or intentional that today would bring April showers when the subject is H2O? I do think it's cool that the lead essay is written by Barbara Kingsolver, whom I just wrote about last month.

She is, of course, eloquent in her description of the challenge facing the world's population, now and especially in the future. She observes that we have been "slow to give up on the myth of Earth's infinite generosity."

Yet we know there are many who would dispute that statement -- the same people who consume fossil fuels and other resources as those alive today were the only people who mattered. If you know anyone like that, maybe this way of putting it might get them to pause and reconsider:

The past decade has brought us more extreme storms than ever before, of the kind that dump many inches in a day, laying down crops and utility poles and great sodden oaks whose roots cannot find purchase in the saturated ground. The word "disaster" seems to mock us. After enough repetitions of shocking weather, we can't remain indefinitely shocked. How can the world shift beneath our feet? All we know is founded on its rhythms: Water will flow from the snowcapped mountains, rain and sun will arrive in their proper seasons. Humans first formed our tongues around language, surely, for the purpose of explaining these constants to our children. What should we tell them now? That "reliable" has been rained out, or died of thirst? When the Earth seems to raise its own voice to the pitch of a gale, have we the ears to listen?

The magazine's calling card, of course, is its photography. I encourage you to take a few minutes and check out the photo galleries and videos available at the site, perhaps starting with this one, "The Burden of Thirst," which depicts women in developing countries and their daily trek of up to five miles to a water source.

Finally, here are a few facts to chew on -- or better yet, to share with people who would want to know or should know:

-- Americans use about 100 gallons of water at home each day.
-- Millions of the world's poorest subsist on fewer than five gallons.
-- 46 percent of people on earth do not have water piped to their homes.
-- Women in developing countries walk an average of 3.7 miles to get water.
-- In 15 years, 1.8 billion people will live in regions of severe water scarcity.

Lest you think otherwise, the issue is not all doom and gloom. There are stories about better irrigation, desalination and projects that are expanding access to clean water.

Photograph of Iguacu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, by Frans Lanting.