Water is life

God’s story of creation as related in the Book of Genesis, says on the first day when the earth was without form, void and filled with darkness, the first thing He created was Light. Thus, there was night and day. On the second day, God created the firmament which He called Heaven. He said “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters”. This connotes that the universe is filled with water such that God divided the waters which were under the firmament and the waters which were above the firmament. On the third day, God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear”. And He called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas. And henceforth, He proceeded to create the grass and the trees from the earth, the sun, moon and stars and seasons, the fishes and the birds, the animals and creeping things and lastly, Man.

Indeed, the world, the heavens and the universe and the things in them attest to the existence of a Higher Being. And man is so fortunate and blessed that he was given dominion by God over all these creatures and resources to provide for all his needs. As we note above, no living creature could have been given life without water around them. In fact, when conceived in the womb, a baby is surrounded by water from which it draws nutrition. With water, water everywhere in the beginning, it is ironic that in the present day, there is a shortage of water in many countries around the world. This is despite the fact that water is never totally consumed. It always recycles itself, in one form or another.          

This year, World Water Day Forum focuses on transboundary waters. According to their website, the world’s 263 transboundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries and these cover nearly half of the earth’s land surface. Great reservoirs of freshwater also move silently below borders in underground aquifers. As we all live in a global village, we all share the responsibility of managing the world’s waters now and for future generations. Countries sharing boundaries and waters may actually pose a risk to them as populations increase, development heightened and resources get scarcer. The consequences are many — polluted as well as drying waters, endangered sea water species, calamities caused by waters resulting from an unmanaged ecology. 

Freshwater has always flowed from the frozen polar ice caps and glaciers melting into the rivers and waterways around the globe. But global climate change is melting the ice causing the sea levels to rise, causing freshwater to mix with salty water. Consequently, freshwater is becoming too salty for human consumption. With all the human activities in the world that cause water pollution and depletion, we are faced with the threat of dwindling supplies of clean water to drink. Sharing boundaries may actually impinge on the security of people as nations.

Man should take care of the resources that God has put under his disposal. He was tasked to replenish these resources, not to destroy them or render them useless. Our continued existence as a people will depend on the supply of water around us. Let us nurture well the life support given to mankind for this will determine the quality of life of future generations.