The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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THE WATER OF LIFE
We cannot live without water, but in some parts of the world, the water supply is dwindling at a fast rate. East Africa is now in the grip of a drought which threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The UN estimates that 11 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Burundi will need food airlifts to survive the drought. All over the world the pattern of rising water use and dwindling supply is being repeated on a frightening scale. All of mankind needs to rethink it’s attitude towards the use and misuse of the Earth’s most precious resource, the consequences could be famine, pestilence and even war for huge numbers of people. Much of the problem is caused by human mismanagement of resources. In central Asia the great rivers that once fed into the Aral sea were diverted in the days of the Soviet Union to grow cotton in Uzbekistan. This cut off nine tenths of the natural flow of the rivers so the Aral sea which was once famous for it’s blue waters, fine beaches and plentiful fish has shrunk to three salt poisoned pools, while the rest has turned to desert. In Pakistan cotton farmers consume one third of the River Indus’ total flow, while in China and India exhausted rivers and inefficient irrigation schemes can no longer cope with the needs required. Even in water rich England there are growing problems in the south east as reservoirs run dry and rainfall diminishes. The book of Joel foretells that “the streams of water will dry up” but by contrast at the end of Joel there is the glorious promise of the conditions on Earth when the Lord reigns from Jerusalem: “And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water, a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Acacias”.
May His kingdom come!
Ron Newbury
P.S. This year WaterAid celebrates its 25th anniversary. For a quarter of a century WaterAid has worked with communities and partners to provide more than 8.5 million people with access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene education. For more information on the work of WaterAid go to: www.wateraid.org |
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