Where does your water come from?
What does your local environment look like?
Hello friends,
Last week, I told you about Jadera bugs and golden rain trees. I hadn’t yet seen Rob Walker’s Art of Noticing that week, but the timing was serendipitous when I did. He talks about “getting bioregional” and becoming more familiar with your local environment. In other words, he’s been doing his own version of bug-watching.
The first question, or demand, really, in the bioregional quiz he links to says to “trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap.” I thought I knew the answer (or at least part of it), but several things surprised me on my quest for the source of my drinking water. I searched “where does my tap water come from?” and had to wade through several pages about contamination and utility providers as I tried to find info specific to Pinellas County. I suppose I should’ve started at the Pinellas County Utilities site, but you live and learn.
Once I went straight to the source (you like what I did there?), I was led to a site for Tampa Bay Water. Tampa Bay Water provides water for, unsurprisingly, the whole Tampa Bay region. I didn’t know that they’re the only utility in the United States to utilize a blend of three water sources: groundwater, surface water, and desalinated seawater. The groundwater comes from wells tapped into the Floridan Aquifer, while the seawater comes from Tampa Bay itself. Surface water comes from the Alafia River, the Hillsborough River, and the Tampa Bypass Canal. Some water is treated and made available for immediate use, while surplus water is stored in the 15.5-billion gallon C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir. I knew about the aquifer, but the rest of that info was new.
This deep dive (sorry, I had to) into my local water sources triggered a memory. I was in high school, and we were learning about the Floridan Aquifer. That underground limestone cave system fascinated me, an entire waterway beneath my feet. Our teacher showed us a video about some scientists studying the aquifer. They dove down in scuba gear and slithered through the dark, everything doused in layers of blue. I remember thinking I’d be terrified to be trapped down there. But then, cave diving has always unnerved me.
I encourage you all to take the quiz and learn about your own bioregion. Let me know in the comments where your water comes from.
Until next time,
Yardena
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As usual, this is a fascinating post, Yardena. Since the pandemic, I have been a bit obsessed with where my water comes from - more specifically, trying to filter and protect myself, knowing that the source of water is a bit obtuse. Cities are supposed to provide fresh drinking water, but that often is not the case. I have taken a personal interest in caring for my drinking water, making sure the filtering (Berkey) is clean and encouraging others to care. Water is almost everything. Great post. Thank you.