Science of Water : Concepts and Applications

8 The Science of Water: Concepts and Applications
delivered to our tap as clean, fresh, and palatable as we think it is … as we hope it is? Does anyone
really know?
What we do know is that we have made progress. We have come a long way from the days of
gravity fl ow water delivered via mains of logs and clay or stone … Many of us on this Earth have
come a long way from the days of cholera epidemics.
However, to obtain a defi nitive answer to those questions, perhaps we should ask those who
boiled their water for weeks on end in Sydney, Australia in fall of 1998. Or better yet, we should
speak with those who drank the “city water” in Milwaukee in 1993 or in Las Vegas, Nevada—
those who suffered and survived the onslaught of Cryptosporidium, from contaminated water out
of their taps.
Or if we could, we should ask these same questions of a little boy named Robbie, who died of
acute lymphatic leukemia, the probable cause of which is far less understandable to us: toxic industrial
chemicals, unknowingly delivered to him via his local water supply.
If water is so precious, so necessary for sustaining life, then two questions arise: (1) Why do we
ignore water? (2) Why do we abuse it (pollute or waste it)?
We ignore water because it is so common, so accessible, so available, so unexceptional (unless
you are lost in the desert without a supply of it). Again, why do we pollute and waste water? There
are several reasons; many will be discussed later in this text.
You might be asking yourself: Is water pollution really that big of a deal? Simply stated, yes, it
is. Man has left his footprint (in the form of pollution) on the environment, including on our water
sources. Man has a bad habit of doing this. What it really comes down to is “out of sight out of
mind” thinking. Or when we abuse our natural resources in any manner, maybe we think to ourselves:
“Why worry about it. Let someone else sort it all out.”
As this text proceeds, it will lead you down a path strewn with abuse and disregard for our water
supply—then all (excepting the water) will become clear. Hopefully, we will not have to wait until
someone does sort it … and us out. Because, with time and everything else, there might be a whole
lot of sorting out going on.
Let us get back to that gap in knowledge dealing with the science of water. This text is designed
to show how this obvious and unsatisfactory gap in information about water is to be fi lled in.
Having said this, now it is to welcome you the gap-fi ller: The Science of Water: Concepts and
Applications.
Finally, before moving on with the rest of the text, it should be pointed out that the view held
throughout this work is that water is special, strange, and different—and very vital. This view is
held for several reasons, but the most salient factor driving this view is the one that points to the fact
that on this planet, water is life.
REFERENCES
Dove, R., 1989. Grace Notes. New York: Norton.
Lewis, S.A., 1996. The Sierra Club Guide to Safe Drinking Water. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Pielou, E.C., 1998. Fresh Water. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Robbins, T., 1976. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Boston: Houghton Miffl in Company.
FURTHER READING
DeZuane, J., 1997. Handbook of Drinking Water Quality, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
Gerba, C.P., 1996. Risk Assessment. In Pollution Science, Pepper, I.L., Gerba, C.P., and Brusseau, M.L. (eds.).
San Diego: Academic Press.
Hammer, M.J. and Hammer, M.J., Jr., 1996. Water and Wastewater Technology, 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Harr, J., 1995. A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books.