Why We Need to Give Water the Respect It Deserves

"The water that’s in us now might once have been part of William Shakespeare."

How often do you stop and think about water on a daily basis? The answer is: probably not that often. It is something we undoubtedly take for granted. Considering water is an essential part of human life, we hardly give it the attention it deserves.

Water quenches our thirst, washes our dirty dishes, and nourishes our plants. So, what would we do if we ran out of it? It’s a scary thought, but as historian Andrea Gaynor tells Student Edge, it’s a real prospect.

"Running out of water is a thing that happens, and if populations continue to grow and climates continue to change, which they will, then there is a very real prospect," Andrea says.

Indeed, a report by Climate Council found that severe droughts in Australia have been exacerbated by climate change. With shifting rainfall patterns and ongoing failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s likely that the problem will continue to escalate.

"The prospect is more acute for parts of the world that don’t have as many resources to throw at the problem as we do in Australia," Andrea adds.

But that doesn’t mean water scarcity isn’t a problem in Australia as well. In fact, it's an issue Andrea will be discussing at Quantum Words Writing Festival in Perth, during a panel discussion titled "Water". 

"We’re seeing towns in western New South Wales that are about to run out of water," she says.

"They’ve started tracking water into Denmark on the south coast, which is something we thought we would never see.

"A town that historically had a metre a year in average rainfall, and they’re tracking water in. Partly because of climate change, and partly because of population growth."

Drought has been a significant problem in the Murray-Darling Basin for some time. Earlier this year, a farmer drew attention to the crisis by decapitating a Woolworths Ooshie on live television.

"I think we see this presumption that we have a right to water as humans, and that we can just keep taking," Andrea says.

"We need to be increasingly aware of our custodianship of water, particularly as the water regimes and resources that we’ve known from the recent past are likely to shift quite considerably with climate change."

As Andrea highlights, water can also lead to conflict. According to The Pacific Institute, water wars between humans have been reported since 2500 BC.

"The idea of water wars has been around for quite a long time," Andrea says.

"Water can be a trigger or a cause for conflict, or you can be fighting over water.

"But it can also be a source of cooperation, as well as conflict. It’s such a multi-faceted topic."

As a matter of fact, humans are more connected by water than we realise.

"Water molecules are timeless, so the water that’s in us now might once have been part of William Shakespeare, or a cloud, or a tree in a redwood forest somewhere," Andrea explains.

"It’s a substance that binds the world together."

You can learn more about water at Quantum Words Perth on 10 November at the State Theatre Centre.

Header Image: Sonsam/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images.