Water of Life

We added a second rain barrel this year, using a container that we picked up for a few bucks. Of course there has been plenty of rain in these parts and we haven't really needed the barrels that much, even though they are filled to overflowing.

We are fortunate in Ontario (could we say blessed) because this year's crops in large parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta have already been written off due to a lack of rain. We can easily forget that the abundance of water for agriculture and other purposes is a luxury rather than a "given" for many people in the world.

There was an article in the New York Times recently about new legislation to allow individuals to collect their own rainwater. Believe it or not, it has been illegal to have a rain barrel or anything which will collect water without a permit. Colorado is an arid state and water rights are guarded carefully, and bought and sold. Until this new law people would collect water secretively and stores that sold the equipment to do so worked on a "don't ask, don't tell" premise, as though they were selling drug paraphenalia! The photo above is of someone who until recently had his secret stash of rainwater.

When I stayed at the convent of the Sisters of Walburga a couple of years ago, situated in the Colorado Rockies, I walked past a stream each day on my way to the chapel. It wasn't much different in size from Bowmanville Creek but there was a regulated water pipe running from a small dam for the purpose of irrigation. The sisters had legal right to a certain volume of water from this creek, and nothing more.

The bible often celebrates rain as a gift from God, and drought is associated with God's displeasure. We might consider the latter to be superstitious but these texts remind us that clean, usable water should never be taken for granted.