David Spates "Therefore I Am" Published Dec. 14, 2004

Move over Fido, I need a drink of water

Last week's rains got me thinking about water, and the more I thought about it, the less thirsty I got.

Clean water is one of those things most people in the United States don't worry too much about. We're fortunate, and we worked hard to stabilize our water supply. Water isn't a big deal anymore. You turn the faucet, and out it comes. Splish, splash and you're taking a bath. But millions of people in other countries don't have reliable, clean water. They're forced to drink from the same rivers and lakes where they and their fellow countrymen wash laundry, fish, bathe and, well, you know.

Our water is so good you could drink from the toilet. I wouldn't recommend it, but you could. How's that for progress in a postindustrial society? Pretty cool, huh? Crystal clear water in the toilet! The water that comes out of your kitchen faucet is the exact same water that fills your toilet every time you flush. It's not as though there are two pipelines supplying water to your home -- one marked "good" and one marked "potty." You may not have given it much thought, but there it is. It's all the same water. I'm sure it's delicious. Just ask your dog.

The day I made the toilet-faucet connection is the day I got a little uncomfortable about my water. There is, after all, a finite amount of water on Earth. It's not as though we have water factories somewhere manufacturing fresh water 24/7. The water we drink today is the same water Abe Lincoln, Caesar, King Tut, Moses and the dinosaurs drank when they were parched.

Sure, the water gets cleaned up through natural and manmade processes, but it's the same water nonetheless. The water a dinosaur drank millions of years ago was returned, eventually, to the Earth, and that same water is the water we boil our vermicelli in today. (Mmmmm, dinosaur pasta. It sounds like something Fred Flintstone would order at the Hard Bedrock Café.)

As I watched rain come down by the bucket last week, I thought about water's travels. What happens to the water that hits my roof, flows down the gutters, through the backyard, under the fence, into the street and down into a storm drain? I'm sure that eventually, one fine day, it will fill my toilet and boil my pasta (not on the same day, I hope).

Before it reaches my toilet and pasta bowl, however, it will go through an extensive cleaning process. It really is quite amazing that we humans have gotten smart enough to transform dirty, nasty storm-drain water into safe, clean, refreshing tap water. Back in my reporting days, I visited a water-treatment plant and saw how it works. Through an elaborate series of chemical processes and filters, the incoming bad water is turned into outgoing clean water.

Even with state-of-the-art water treatment, I can't help but think about where my lemonade water was before it reached my glass. Is this the water Jesus walked upon? Could it be the same water Genghis Khan drank before going to battle? Is it the very water that washed away that dead skunk down the road last month? Could this be the same collection of hydrogen and oxygen that I swam in at the YMCA pool when I was 6? Most importantly, whose toilet was this water last in?

I know our water-treatment plants are among the finest in the world, but still, history is history, and the water I drink today played a much different role last month, last year, last century and last epoch. You can't worry too much about it, though. If the water is clean, it's clean. And besides, what's the alternative? You can't avoid it. Even if you don't drink water as water, you're still drinking something -- soda, milk, juice, beer, milkshakes, whatever. I'm guessing you eat from time to time too. Your food is loaded with water. If there's no water, there's no food.

So the next time you scold Fido for drinking out of the toilet, perhaps you should give it a second thought. You do the same thing, so to speak. You're just not as noisy about it.

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David Spates is a Knoxville resident and Crossville Chronicle contributor whose column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at davespates@chartertn.net.