by Gwen Edwards

Created on: March 13, 2010   Last Updated: March 23, 2010

When the question is asked, " What is the most valuable substance on earth?" Most people will say, "platinum or gold". Our civilization places so much value on these substances because of their rarity and unique properties .  However, what they fail to understand is the most valuable substance on earth is also the most abundant. It's water, H2O the very Elixir of Life. Our bodies are largely composed of this amazing substance and without a clean safe supply of it we soon perish. However, because of its abundance, we take it for granted. We waste it, degrade it with eroded soils and pollute it with industrial and personal waste.  More people die each day from lack of a clean safe supply of water than in all the worlds wars. When will we realize we can live without gold and silver, but not without clean water? When we shift our thinking from one of exploitation, to protection of our water resources we will begin to evolve a truly global consciousness, because in reality we all live downstream.

The time has come when we can no longer take water for granted, the time has come for us to value water for its true worth. We have to understand that the right to clean water is a right common to all life on the planet. The fish and wildlife of the world cannot live without it, our agricultural systems will fail for lack of it and without these resources on which we depend, we will follow the many species that have walked the path of extinction. Unlike those species however, we will be the architects of our own demise.

We, however, do not need to walk down this path, we have been blessed with great intelligence and the ability to understand the ramifications of our actions for the future of life on earth. We can choose another path. One that values clean water and makes protection of its quality the highest of priorities. Our technology can help us in these efforts, but it will depend  on a radical change in values. The problems that confront us are anthropogenic in origin and therefore can be solve by examining our actions. We must understand that naturally functioning watersheds are key to protecting this resource. Their vegetation and soils must be protected and the water they provide used judicially. We must come understand that our oceans, lakes and rivers can no longer be a dumping ground for the world.

These problems, while complex are not beyond our ability to solve. It will, however, require a commitment to change. Each and everyone of us on

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