Go with the flow

Most of my memories from school are best forgotten, but one thing I remember learning is that the Earth has a lot of water. Yet on this veritable water world only 2.5% is fresh water, the rest, the trillions and trillions of litres of H2O flowing on the planet's surface, is unsuitable for human consumption. We can only go days without consuming water and last time I looked (at Wikipedia) there are more than seven billion people in the world. We need a LOT of water, every day, simply to avoid dying. Forget that novel you want to write, take a break from training for that sports record, put your efforts at becoming a millionaire on hold, if you don't drink water today, or tomorrow or the day after, you will die.

Call me old-fashioned, but to my mind that makes water just about the most precious resource we have and elevates its responsible use and preservation to the level of an obligation. A resource we all need –continuously and all the time– is quite simply priceless, and yet we leave the tap running when we brush our teeth, wash our cars without giving it a thought, flush our toilets with drinkable water and don't get me started on golf courses! I know you know all this, but it is easy to forget the value of such an available and relatively cheap substance that we use all day long, every day. Sometimes it is good to be reminded about such things and taking an interest is undeniably a good idea.

Well, you have come to the right place, because this month we have a whole series of articles on the water situation in Catalonia, from the effects of drought on our woodland and farmland, to the state of the country's reservoirs and information about how the authorities manage this essential resource. If you haven't done so already, check out pages 22 to 29, which at the very least will act as a starting point to getting informed and involved with the responsible use of our water resources.

What's more, the consequences of climate change mean that even less fresh water is available, while the unusually dry winter we have just experienced has made woodland ripe for forest fires, not to mention the problems for farmers. Only 10% of the world's fresh water is for domestic consumption, 20% is used by industry and 70% by agriculture. You will see on page 54 that 50,000 people turned out in Amposta to protest the Spanish government's water plan for their region. Good on them, one way or another, we all have to show some level of concern about how water is used and managed.