Go with the flow

What I did not know was how much passion resides in the water industry. In my first month, I’ve learned about all the bad things related to water: water theft, pollution, droughts, water line breaks, and the dreaded PFAS contamination. Yet, I have also learned that in this bad, the good of humanity arises. Everyone is racing to find a solution for PFAS, not out of greed at being the first-past-the-post but out of genuine concern for the most impacted communities. Manufacturers preach about having cost-effective water treatment, not because they want to make the most profit, but because if they can cut down on the price, it can be cheaper to get water to more people. The water industry is keenly aware of those communities without access to clean water, not because they are a captive audience, but because they are human beings in need of something we can provide.

Is it any wonder that overseas non-profits, like Catholic Relief Services, put "access to clean water" as the top priority when entering any village or town? You cannot build a school to educate children or hospitals to provide health care until the community has their most basic need met.

All of these ideas and more, that our people and our water are things in need of protection, are encapsulated in World Water Week, which occurs August 23rd through September 1st. While it is mostly a conference in Sweden composed of leaders in the water industry, it speaks volume to the gravity of the issues these conference-goers will be discussing. The theme of this year’s conference is "Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water." This broadly covers three categories: the value of water for people, for the economy, and for the environment.

Does this job still seem uncharacteristic for me? My passion for progressive social justice and Catholic Social Teaching are deeply engaged here. I get to tell the stories of those advocating for the vulnerable populations, here being the poor and the environment. Did I think I would end up here? No, I’m as shocked as you are. I expected to be in graduate school at the Mount before continuing into the field of higher education administration. I did not expect to be living in my hometown and commuting every day from my bed to my laptop with an occasional venture outside the house. But what working in the water industry has also taught me is to go with the flow. There are the things in your control and the things which are not. Discerning between the two is an essential characteristic of adulthood, and one which I am still learning to navigate.

I was the first daughter in my family to go to college, following after my two brothers who majored in software development and cyber security. Imagine my father’s exasperation when his daughter went to a private college out of state with no interest in anything STEM related. In his defense, he did everything he could to dissuade me from the liberal arts and hasn’t been the only one to try. Despite all his efforts to do something "with more promise of financial stability", I ignored his advice and continued with my passion for writing. Now, imagine his pride when his daughter joined him in the industry in which he has become an expert, giving him a vacuum in which to deposit all his knowledge which I am quickly soaking up. After decades of no one in the family truly understanding what he does, he now has someone who will watch documentaries about water leaks, someone who can keep him up to date on PFAS, and another remote coworker just down the hall. If "going with the flow" of changing life plans means making my father proud, I’d do it all over again.

As we learned in Flint, Michigan and as we’re learning with PFAS, water is essential. It is more than 60% of us and it is what allows the activities of our daily lives to happen. Do you know how much cooling water it takes to cool the data center where this article I wrote on my laptop is being stored? Do you know how much water is spent cooling factories, cleaning waste, and fermenting grapes into wine? With all this water around us, those with easy access to clean water still forget to drink it, as we are a chronically dehydrated society. While water is vital, water is also neglected, forgotten, and wasted.

When I think about how little water there is, whether with climate change or unequal access in the news headlines, I think about how much water there is. I think about the expanse of the ocean, how the waves creep up to shore, soaking everything with its love. I think about the water being pulled through the roots of the plants in the forest, on the mountainside, or in a pot in a college student’s dorm. I think about the 60% of each of our bodies that is simply water, how it allows for our very existence. I heard a quote about water that still resonates with me to this day: "The cure for anything is salt water—sweat, tears, or the ocean." Water holds immense power, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually. We would be wise to harness this, and to advance its availability to others.