By Lubna Abdel-Aziz There can be no life without water. Plants, animals, man, must have water to live. In fact, every living thing consists mostly of water. Our bodies are about 2/ 3rd water, a chicken is about 3/4th water, and a pineapple is about 4/5th water. Water is everywhere. It is the most common substance on earth, covering more than 70% of the earth's surface. The question of how water began on Earth is part of the question of how Earth itself began. Scientists differ in opinion. Some believe that life itself began in water, the salty water of the sea. Why else is the taste of our blood, sweat and tears salty? Others believe that we are made of "star- stuff." While life has evolved and been sustained on earth, the evidence suggests it did not start here. "Herein lies the story of water and from water arose life." Our earth is about 4-6 billion years old. Water is thought to have been delivered here over 4 billion years ago, following an intense bombardment of the inner solar system. Whatever the theories, the truth is, water is everywhere. So what is all this uproar about water shortage? In his recently published best-seller Water, Steven Solomon claims that water will overtake oil as the most desirable commodity on Earth. He predicts that the next wars will be over water. Judging from the recent headlines, the water wars have already begun. Throughout history water has been man's slave and his master. The world's great civilizations have arisen by rivers, or where water supplies were plentiful. It did not take early man long to realize that water was his life's essence. He has killed for water, worshipped it, offered prayers and sacrifice for its bounty. Without it, his crops would fail and he would die of starvation. Modern man has come a long way since then, depending evermore on water. We need water at home for cooking, bathing, cleaning and drinking. We use water to irrigate our farmlands that expand by the second in order to supply food to an ever-growing population. We need water for transportation and recreation. Our industries need water, our laboratories need water, our animals and plants need water. We use water to produce electric power to light our homes and our streets, to run our factories and our computers. In this, our 21st century, water rules as our demands constantly rise. Though we live in a world of water, almost all of it -- 97% is in the ocean. It is too salty to drink, too salty to irrigate land, too salty for any use. We need fresh water and only 3% of the world's water is fresh, or un- salty. Locked up in glaciers and icecaps, most of our water is not even available to us. Where has all the water gone? At one time or another all the water on Earth enters the air or atmosphere as water vapour. The vapour becomes the life-giving rain that falls to the Earth, yet the atmosphere contains only 1/1000th of 1% of water. There is in fact as much water on Earth today as there ever was or ever will be. Some of our users are unaware that almost every drop of water we use finds its way to the oceans, where it is evaporated by the sun, then returned to Earth in the form of rain. Water is therefore never really used up; rather it is used and re-used. If our water supply is the same, how come our Earth suffers from a water shortage? The fault, dear reader, lies not in the water but in ourselves. We need more water for our growing industries, advancing technologies, and busting population. All this is understandable. We need water for the experiments of our scientists, to maintain the standard and lifestyle of our civilization. Some regions are blessed with more water than others, some regions have higher demands than others, and that is why we find ourselves in a state of panic. Will man have to kill again his own brother for a muddy waterhole? It is a challenge that we must meet or we will die. Man has ever been guilty of using as well as abusing water. "Each step forward in water, science has had an impact on the use of water and subsequently on the economy, society, settlements, law, environment and all other areas of endeavour." In both past and present, human progress has depended almost entirely on water. Egypt is known to be the gift of the Nile, and the Nile is Egypt's gift of life. By its waters, the Egyptians developed the most advanced civilization in history, still staggering to modern man in its refinement and sophistication. About 8000 years ago, and over the centuries, people migrated from arid lands, finding refuge by the banks of the Nile. Each year its muddy floods fertilized that spot of land allowing them to survive and prosper. Was there any doubt in their mind, that the Nile was a God, to be worshiped as a divinity? Today the Nile floods are irrigated by the Aswan dam, yet the Nile remains a major presence in the lives of all Egyptians. Egypt today finds itself not without water problems. Egypt cannot survive without the Nile; it cannot sacrifice an ounce of water offered by this great deity. I recently overheard an envious party declare "Let them drink juice," adapting Marie Antoinette's comment when told her people had no bread to eat. Her frivolous comment and flippant reply was "Let them eat cake," revealing her ignorance that without wheat there is no bread or cake. Certain societies threaten us by re-directing some of the flow of our great river by declaring "Let them drink juice." Without water there is no fruit, and without fruit there is no juice. We are suddenly and acutely made aware of the importance of water for our very survival. Let us no longer abuse the master of our destiny, and we shall forever be the faithful slaves. Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 -- 1834)
