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WATER STORIES, NEWS & FACTS

 2005

Bottled Water Helps Save Christmas For One Small Town

Residents of Charlotte will go without drinkable tap water over the holidays
By Karetha Dodd

CHARLOTTE - Families in Charlotte will have to bake cookies and cook holiday dinner without tap water. The town has had to drink bottled water only for nearly three weeks. That's because its water supply was contaminated while crews were drilling a new well. Now the project's hit another snag. According to the Mayor, a piece of equipment needed to drill the new well has broken down.

To folks visiting the Busch home, it may appear as though Betty Busch spoils her dogs. How many dogs do you know get bottled water? But as folks in Charlotte know, it's not the dogs that are temperamental, it's the water. "You can wash dishes, do laundry and take a shower. You just can't drink it or fix any food with it," explains Busch.

City leaders thought they'd have the problem fixed by Christmas, but a call to the Fire Chief today made it clear that wasn't going to happen. "I asked him when we were going to get the water turned on. He said not until Monday, maybe not until Tuesday," says Busch.

Busch is cooking Christmas dinner for relatives coming to town. And she'll have to do it all with bottled water. But she says she won't let that dampen her or her family's holiday.

As for the delays in getting the water system back on line, she says she know city leaders are doing their best. So for now she'll just wait. "They tell me the water's ready to use. I'll use it," says Busch.

Fortunately, Betty and her friends haven't had to spend any of their Christmas present money on bottled water. That's because thousands of gallons of bottled water were donated to the town. Anheiser Busch donated 2,000 cases of drinking water. Other towns and businesses have also donated water.  In fact, donations have come from places as far away as Georgia.

December 2005                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

Designer Water Becomes an Undesigned Logistics Problem for the Army 

 

When the United States military goes to war these days, it takes along water.

Not canteen water. Not purified-with-iodine water.

Bottled water. Thousands, tens of thousands�millions of bottles. In Iraq alone, 45 million 1.5-liter bottles a month, drained thirstily and tossed aside.

What began in 1990 as a generous but temporary expedient, handing out bottled water to troops gathering in Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm, has grown into a financial and logistics nightmare that runs counter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld�s drive to make the military lighter and more agile.

And while GIs consider bottled water an entitlement, some generals regard it as coddling.

�Spoon-feeding troops bottled water�a mistake,� Gen. John Keane, the Army�s vice chief of staff, growled in an interview. �We want them to have mental toughness.�

In the sun-scorched compounds occupied by 130,000 Army troops in Iraq, soldiers have two potential sources of water.

One is bottled in Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or Greece and shipped to Kuwait, where stevedores wrestle crates of it off ships. Then, in giant, windswept marshaling yards, forklifts labor in ankle-deep desert grit to stack the stuff into cardboard-box mountains. Next, it is loaded onto tractor-trailer trucks that groan north in snaking convoys�pallets of cartons, 12 bottles to a case, truck after truck after truck.

The military buys so much bottled water, from so many vendors, through so many different agencies, that no one knows precisely how much, at what cost, it takes to slake its thirst.

But oh, that water is sweet.

The other, traditional source is the 400-gallon steel tank sitting on a trailer in the desert sun. That�s a Water Buffalo, in Army lingo.

The Buffalo holds water that�s been purified by the ROWPU boys�the soldiers who man the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units. Miracle workers of a sort, they can drop a hose into any green-scummed swamp or saltwater ditch and pump out something drinkable.

ROWPUs work by forcing water through a series of filters, which strain out various poisons and �most� smelly stuff, according to a recent Pentagon assessment.

Still, after the ROWPU water has been pumped into a Smifty (that�s a Semi Trailer Mounted Fabric Tank�basically a huge, rubberized bag on a flat-bed truck), hauled to a battalion headquarters and transferred to a Water Buffalo, what comes out when a thirsty grunt turns the spigot may be less than palatable. Worse, in some units this summer, ROWPU water got a rap for something other than tasting bad: It was rumored to be making soldiers sick.

So the demand for bottled water rises, and rises.

�We have ROWPUs producing tons of water that soldiers don�t want because of expectations we set in Desert Storm,� said Lt. Gen. Charles S. Mahan, the Army�s logistics chief. �Was that a mistake? Absolutely!�

ROWPU water, Mahan pointed out, is produced in close proximity to troops, while bottled water has to be shipped from afar, overloading the supply chain. At one point this spring, about 60 percent of the supply line supporting troops in Iraq was devoted to carrying bottled water, food and ice, he said.

�Where do bullets and repair parts fit in there?� Mahan asked with exasperation.

But the guy whose idea it was to start the bottled-water fad is unrepentant.

�Yeah, I made that decision. I thought it was a great idea,� said William �Gus� Pagonis, the Army�s logistics chief for Desert Storm. �No question it tastes better than ROWPU water. And if you can�t give soldiers great food, why not at least give them good water?�

In Dahran, Saudi Arabia, in August 1990, no ROWPUs or Water Buffalos came with the thousands of troops in early-arriving units. But there was a Saudi desalinization facility nearby, making fresh water out of saltwater, and a bottling plant down the road. Pagonis hired them�and made history.

�Bottles are easy to transport. You put the stuff in trucks and you don�t have to figure out how to disperse it down to soldier level. You just hand them out and soldiers put �em in their pockets�they fit almost perfectly in your side pockets,� said Pagonis, now a senior vice president for logistics for Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Isn�t that coddling the troops?

�Personal opinion?� Pagonis replied. �If you don�t have to be miserable, why be miserable?�

In Iraq, the Army is still wrestling with how to distribute bulk ROWPU water. One intractable problem is those Smifties. Barreling along with a 3,000-gallon bag on the trailer, drivers find the water sloshing back and forth, and if there�s a hard curve up ahead �all of a sudden you�ve got a Smifty upside down,� Mahan said.

Solution: Equip the Smifties with baffles. These redesigned Smifties are called Camels and Hippos�or would be, if they were built. �I haven�t been able to get the dollars,� Mahan said. Building better Smifties �doesn�t compete� with buying new weapons.

Meantime, there is another problem: empties.

If distributing bottled water is difficult, what about policing up the trash, in a nation that has no known recycling program?

BY DAVID WOOD
c.2003 Newhouse News Service

 November 2005                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

 

Bottled Water Still Number 2  

Bottled water emerged as the second largest commercial beverage category by volume in the United States in 2003, and, despite its significant stature, it continued to grow at a rapid pace in 2004. The category is growing even more forcefully on a global scale but in the U.S., volume is unparalleled.  

In 2004, total U.S. category volume surpassed 6.8 billion gallons, an 8.6% advance over 2003�s volume level. That translates into an average of 24.0 gallons per person, which means U.S. residents now drink more bottled water annually than any other beverage, other than carbonated soft drinks (CSDs).  

While CSDs still have volume and average intake levels more than twice as high as bottled water, the soft drink market has been stagnant lately, in no small part due to competition from bottled water. Per capita consumption of bottled water has been growing by at least one gallon annually, thereby more than doubling in a decade. 

U.S. BOTTLED WATER MARKET

Per Capita Consumption

2000 - 2005(P)

 

 

 

 

Gallons

Annual

Year

Per Capita

% Change

2000

17.3

--

2001

18.8

8.7%

2002

20.9

10.7%

2003

22.4

7.3%

2004

24.0

7.4%

2005(P)

25.7

7.1%

 

 

 

(P) Preliminary

Source:  Beverage Marketing Corporation

 

U.S. BOTTLED WATER MARKET

Volume & Growth by Segment

2000 � 2005(P)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Sparkling

Domestic Sparkling

Imports

Total

Year

Volume*

Change

Volume*

Change

Volume*

Change

Volume*

Change

2000

4,443.0

--

144.2

--

137.8

--

4,725.0

--

2001

4,917.3

10.7%

144.0

-0.1%

123.9

-10.1%

5,185.2

9.7%

2002

5,487.5

11.6%

149.5

3.8%

158.7

28.1%

5,795.7

11.8%

2003

5,923.9

8.0%

152.6

2.1%

193.3

21.8%

6,269.8

8.2%

2004

6,411.3

8.2%

166.8

9.3%

228.6

18.3%

6,806.7

8.6%

2005(P)

6,934.9

8.2%

176.8

6.0%

245.7

7.5%

7,357.4

8.1%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Millions of gallons

(P) Preliminary

Source:  Beverage Marketing Corporation

 

GLOBAL BOTTLED WATER MARKET

Leading Countries' Consumption and Compound Annual Growth Rates

1999 � 2004

 

 

 

 

 

2004

 

Millions of Gallons

CAGR

Rank

Countries

1999

2004

1999/04

1

United States

4,579.9

6,806.7

8.2%

2

Mexico

3,056.9

4,668.3

8.8%

3

China

1,217.0

3,140.1

20.9%

4

Brazil

1,493.8

3,062.0

15.4%

5

Italy

2,356.1

2,814.4

3.6%

6

Germany

2,194.6

2,722.6

4.4%

7

France

1,834.1

2,257.3

4.2%

8

Indonesia

907.1

1,943.5

16.5%

9

Spain

1,076.4

1,453.5

6.2%

10

India

444.0

1,353.3

25.0%

 

   Top 10 Subtotal

19,159.8

30,221.6

9.5%

 

All Others

6,833.5

10,535.0

9.0%

 

   TOTAL

25,993.3

40,756.6

9.4%

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  Beverage Marketing Corporation

 

 

GLOBAL BOTTLED WATER MARKET

Per Capita Consumption by Leading Countries

1999 � 2004

 

 

 

 

2004

 

Gallons Per Capita

Rank

Countries

1999

2004

1

Italy

40.9

48.5

2

Mexico

30.9

44.5

3

United Arab Emirates

29.0

43.2

4

Belgium-Luxembourg

32.2

39.1

5

France

31.0

37.4

6

Spain

26.9

36.1

7

Germany

26.6

33.0

8

Lebanon

17.9

26.8

9

Switzerland

23.8

26.3

10

Cyprus

17.8

24.3

11

United States

16.8

23.9

12

Saudi Arabia

19.9

23.2

13

Czech Republic

16.4

23.0

14

Austria

19.7

21.7

15

Portugal

18.6

21.2

 

Global Average

4.3

6.4

 

 

 

 

 Source:  Beverage Marketing Corporation

 October 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

 

The Current State of Our Water Resources

There is approximately the same amount of water on Earth today as there was when the Earth was formed. Water is continually recycled in the Earth's hydrologic cycle (see diagram). The dinosaurs once drank the same molecules that are in your faucet.



Nearly 97% of the world's water is saltwater or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is held in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves just one percent for all of humanity's needs - agricultural, residential, manufacturing, and community needs. (United States Geological Survey)

Water regulates the Earth's temperature. It also regulates the temperature of the human body, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, cushions joints, and protects organs and tissues. The human brain is 75% water. Human blood is 83% water and bones are 25% water. (American Water Works Association)

Each day, the sun evaporates 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) tons of water. (United States Geological Survey)

In a one hundred year period, an average water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about two weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.

At least 1 billion people must walk three hours or more to obtain drinking water. Nearly 2% of U.S. homes have no running water. In Mexico, 15% of the population must haul or carry water. (National Geographic Society)

Households turn on water faucets an average of 70 times daily. It is estimated that up to 50% of the water families use could be saved by implementing simple conservation methods. (National Drinking Water Alliance)

One inch of rain falling on one acre of land is equal to about 27,154 gallons of water. (United States Geological Survey)

The 250 million U.S. residents living today have access to about the same amount of water as U.S. residents did 200 years ago, when the population was four million. (National Drinking Water Alliance)

Courtesy of The Freshwater Society

September 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

The Body�s Connection To The Planets Water

 The ancient Greeks believed that there was a watery substance called physis that flowed throughout all life and connected the inner body with the outer world. This thought has evolved to where we now use the world �physiology� to refer to our inner world and the word �physics� to refer to the outer world. 

Physiologically speaking we use our minds and bodies to relate to the physical world around us. We survive by ingesting water and forms of life created, grown, and sustained by water outside our bodies. In this way, pollutants that are placed in water outside our bodies are inevitably end up inside our bodies.  

The relationship between our body water and the ocean has long been understood. Human sweat and tears are salty � just like the ocean. The blood and liquid inside the human body are also like the ocean and equally rich in trace elements such as gold and magnesium. If life did begin in the sea then we are alive today because we carry our own sea within us. For that matter, all things living on land are living in a sea of rarefied water called water vapor.  Without water in the form of water vapor in the air, there would be no naturally reoccurring oxygen for us to breathe. The relationship between air and water is demonstrated further by the fact that sound travels 4 times faster through sea water than it does through air. This ratio of 4:1 between air and seawater also manifests itself in the human body. On the average, for every breath of air we take into our lungs, our heart beats four times as it pumps our seawater like blood throughout our bodies. Excerpted from The Holy Order of Water by William E. Marks.

August 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

 

Bottled Water and Your Activity Level

A person's body weight, and their activity level, determine the amount of water needed to maintain proper hydration. A good rule to follow is to drink at least eight, eight-ounce servings of water a day, adding more for each hour of activity.

Daily water requirements (8-ounce servings) with one hour of activity:

Your weight
In Pounds

Light
Activity

Moderate
Activity

Strenuous
Activity

115

9 servings

9 1/2 servings

10 servings

125

9

10

11

150

9

10

11 1/2

175

9 1/2

10 1/2

12 1/2

200

9 1/2

11

13 1/4

As Temperatures Rise, So Does Your Body's Need for Water

When summer comes, remember to keep your body properly hydrated when the 'heat wave' comes.

Summer hydration tips....

  • Bring a supply of bottled water with you when traveling.
  • Drink extra bottled water in extreme heat to keep body temperature low.
  • Drink before you feel thirsty.

Source: IBWA

July 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

 

The �Hangover� Cure That Works

 The Hangover headache results from the cells of the body (especially those of the brain) sacrificing their water to dilute and flush toxic alcohol from the body. The brain, which is about 85 per cent  water, is a major contributor of water to dilute poisons such as alcohol. Even though the brain makes up one � fiftieth of our body�s weight, it receives about 20 percent of the body�s blood circulation. Such information as this shows that our bodies are engineered to give the brain top priority at all times under any set of circumstances.

The �morning after� headache can be greatly minimized by drinking water before, during and immediately after the intake of alcohol. Drinking water saves the cells of the brain from having to sacrifice their water to help rid the body of poisonous alcohol. Drinking water before, during and after the drinking of alcohol also helps reduce the damaging residence time of alcohol inside the body.  Excepted from �The Holy Order of Water� by William E. Marks.

June 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

Body Health and Clean Water 

The constant flow of water through our bodies refreshes and recreates them as it removes toxins and wastes. This is why it is crucial to drink the cleanest water obtainable. If the water we drink is polluted, it will not do its job of cleaning out our bodies and will only burden them with unnecessary wastes. 

The flow of unpolluted water through our bodies cleans every cell, removes toxins and wastes, lubricates our bone joints to protect them from injury and reduce arthritic pain, keeps our skin clean and healthy looking, prevents constipation and urinary tract infections, helps reduce hair loss by maintaining cleaner follicles and enhancing blood circulation to the scalp, prevents the occurrence of gout by flushing uric acid from the body, protects us from kidney stones, minimizes jet lag by preventing dehydration caused by pressurized cabins, helps to balance the pressure in and out of our body cells, makes us more energetic and alert, and helps us to have a more positive outlook on life. Excerpted from The Holy Order of Water by William E. Marks.

 May 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top

 

New Water Bottle Approved by the Biodegradable Products Institute

Today, the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) announced its approval of the bottle used for BIOTA premium spring water. The BPI�s certification demonstrates that BIOTA�s bottle meets the specifications in ASTM D6400 and will biodegrade swiftly and safely during municipal or commercial composting.

BIOTA�s new bottle is the first approved by the BPI as well as the first to be derived entirely from corn, a renewable resource.

"BIOTA water is the perfect combination of premium spring water and environmental respect," says David M. Zutler, CEO of BIOTA Brands of America, Inc. "Obtaining BPI�s approval is a critical part of our marketing efforts," says Zutler. The BPI certification is only granted to products that meet ASTM D6400 "Specifications for Compostable Plastics" based testing in approved, independent laboratories.

Compostable plastics are gaining popularity as interest in food scrap diversion continues to grow. Residential and commercial food scrap programs are in place from San Francisco, Calif., to Prince Edward Island, Canada. By replacing ordinary plastic items with PLA compostable plastics, these communities are able to divert and compost large parts of the waste stream, while helping composters reduce processing, separation and disposal costs.

"BIOTA�s new bottles are the first to be approved by BPI and continue to expand the array foodservice items that are certified," notes Steve Mojo, BPI executive director. "As the BPI list grows, it will be easier to implement diversion programs, especially for sporting events and festivals," he added. The complete list of approved products can be found at www.bpiworld.org.

BIOTA is bottled in a new multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art plant in Ouray, Colo., where local residents package, label and ship supplies of BIOTA. "This water is pristine, pure and untouched. It is protected deep within the mountain and is captured at the source, flowing directly to our bottling facility," said Zutler.

The natural spring water comes from a hidden source more than 9,000 feet above sea level, making it one of the highest protected alpine springs in the world.

BIOTA Brands of America Inc. has its corporate headquarters in Telluride, Colo. The company was formed to bring pristine Colorado Rocky Mountain spring water to market while respecting the local and global environment. BIOTA is available in a half liter, a 12-ounce "Stubby" bottle, and a one liter "thirst quencher."

BPI is a multi-stakeholder group, involving people and organizations that produce, use or recover biodegradable plastic products. It promotes the growth of biodegradable plastics through education, use of scientifically-based standards, and cooperative efforts with organizations in Europe and Asia.

April 2005                                                                                                                                        Back to the Top
 

Sacred Springs and Other Water Lore

Part 2

by Terri Windling  (Click for Part 1)

                      

     As Christian tales were attached to the springs and wells, they became as colorful as any to be found in pagan folklore. Wells were said to have sprung up where saints were beheaded, or had fought off dragons, or where the Virgin Mary appeared and left small footprints pressed into the stone. Wells dedicated to St. Anne were called "granny wells" (because, as the mother of the Virgin Mary, she was grandmother of Christ) and were attributed with particular powers concerning fertility and childbirth. According to one Breton legend, St. Anne settled in Brittany where she was visited by Christ before she died. She asked him to create a well to help the sick people of the region; he struck the ground three times, and thus the well of St. Anne-e-la-Palue was created. Up until the 19th century, the holy wells of Britain and Europe were still considered to have miraculous properties and were frequently visited by those seeking cures for disease, physical deformity or mental illness. Other wells were famous for offering prophetic information -- generally determined through the movements of the water, or leaves floating upon the water, or fish (or eels) swimming in the depths. At some wells, the water was drunk from circular cups carved out of animal bone, an echo of the cups carved out of human skulls by the ancient Celts. Pins (usually bent), coins or bits of metal were common offerings; rags tied to trees around the holy well were another tradition dating back to pagan times (the cloth was symbolic of ill health or misfortune left behind as one departed). Some wells, known as cursing wells, were rather less beneficent; curses were made by dropping special cursing stones into the well, or the victim's name written on a piece of paper, or a wax effigy. At the famous cursing well of Ffynnon Elian (in Wales) one could arrange for a curse by paying the well's guardian a fee to perform an elaborate cursing ritual. A curse could also be removed at this same well, for a somewhat larger fee.

     
In the mid-19th century Thomas Quiller Couch (father of the writer Sir Arthur Quiller Couch) became interested in the history of sacred wells in Britain; he spent much of his life wandering the wilds of his native Cornwall seeking them out. Extensive notes on this project were discovered among his papers after his death, and in 1884 The Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall was published by the antiquarian's daughters, the Misses M. & L. Quiller Couch. This fascinating book is somewhat difficult to come by today, but a more recent guide to the subject -- citing Quiller Couch's text -- is now available. Folklorist/photographer Paul Broadhurst re-visited the sites documented by Quiller Couch and in 1991 he published Secret Shrines: In Search of the Old Holy Wells of Cornwall, an informative guide to the many sacred wells still to be found in the Cornish countryside. (Pendragon Press, Box 888, Launceston, Cornwall, U.K.) In addition to holy sites dedicated to Celtic goddesses and Christian saints, Broadhurst discovered crumbling old wells half-buried in ivy, bracken and briars inhabited by spirits somewhat less exalted: the piskies (faeries) of Cornish folklore. Wells under the protection of the piskies are not wells to be trifled with, for the piskies will take their revenge on any who dare to disturb their homes. A farmer decided to move the stone basin at St. Nun's Well (also known as Piskey's Well), with the intention of using it as a water trough for his pigs. He chained the stone to two oxen and pulled it the top of a steep hill -- whereupon the stone broke free of the chains, rolled downhill, made a sharp turn right, and settled back into its place. One of the ox died on the spot, and the farmer was struck lame. (This rather enchanted-looking well can still be found in the beautiful part of Cornwall between Liskeard and Looe.)

     
All running water (not just spring water) can prove to be the haunt of faeries, for crossing over (or through) running water is one of the ways to enter their realm. Here, one still finds country folk who avoid running water by dusk or dark, for the spirits who inhabit water can be troublesome, even deadly. The water spirit of the River Dart, for instance, is believed to demand sacrificial drownings, leading to the well-known local rhyme "Dart, Dart, cruel Dart, every year she claims a heart." The water-wraithe of Scotland is thin, ragged, and invariably dressed in green, haunting riversides by night to lead travellers to a watery death. In the Border Country, the Washer by the Ford wails as she washes the grave clothes of those who are about to die; this frightening apparition is similar to the dreaded Banshees of Irish legends. The Bean-nighe is a similar creature found in both Highland and Irish lore, a dangerous little faerie with ragged green clothes and webbed red feet. (Yet if one can get between the Bean-nighe and her water source, she is obliged to grant three wishes and refrain from doing harm.) Jenny Greenteeth specializes in dragging children down in stagnant pools. The Welsh water-leaper (Llamhigyn Y Dwr) is a toad-like creature who delights in tangling fishing lines and devouring any sheep who fall into the river. The fideal is a faery who haunts lonely pools and hides herself in the grasses by the water; the glaistig, half-woman and half-goat, tends to lurk in the dark of caves behind waterfalls. The loireag of the Hebrides is a gentler breed of water fairy, although -- as a connoisseur of music -- even she can prove dangerous to those who dare to sing out of tune.

     
In Ireland, a faerie creature known as the Lady of the Lake bestows blessings and good weather to those who seek her favor; in some towns she is still celebrated (or propitiated) at mid-summer festivals. Her name recalls the Welsh Lady of the Lake, who gave King Arthur his sword and now guards over his body as he sleeps in Avalon. Brittany, on the west coast of France, also claims the home of the Lady of the Lake. The Chateau de Comper, where she is said to have lived and raised Sir Lancelot, still stands near the old Forest of Paimpont (called Broceliande in Arthurian lore): a magnificent manor house of golden stone, crumbling romantically at the edges. Nearby is a lake whose origin is attributed to Morgan Le Fay, located in the mysterious Val san Retour (Valley of No Return). In Somerset, the town of Glastonbury is one of several sites where the Holy Grail is reputed to be hidden. At the foot of ancient Glastonbury Tor is a lovely garden where one can drink the red-tinged water of Chalice Well -- colored, according to legend, by the blood of Christ carried in the Grail. Although the well's association with Arthur may be (as some Arthurian scholars suggest) a legend of recent vintage, archaeological excavations in the 1960s established the site's antiquity -- and the place manages to retain a tranquil, mystical atmosphere despite its transformation from sacred site to tourist attraction. One often finds small offerings in the circle around the well's heavy lid: flowers, feathers, stones, small bits of cloth tied to a near-by tree . . . remnants of ancient pagan practice carried down through the centuries.

     
Today, we generally view such practices as quaintly (or foolishly) superstitious; we dismiss our early ancestors as ignorant savages, worshipping natural phenomenon because they lacked the rationality of science. Yet a look at animist religions that still thrive in certain cultures around the globe indicates that this may be a simplistic view of nature-based religions. Rather than focusing on the hocus-pocus of the supernatural (as they are often portrayed), such religions are rooted in the natural world, celebrating and regulating the relationships between mankind, other species, and the land which sustains us all. In America, animism runs through the various indigenous religions of our land. Various springs, wells and pools are sacred to Native tribal groups; and in such holy places, one also finds offerings similar to those by Chalice Well: feathers, flowers, stones, sage, tobacco, small carved animal forms, scraps of red cloth tied to trees, and other tokens of prayer. The Native American sweat-lodge ceremony uses water sprinkled over red-hot rocks to create the steam that is called the "breath of life"; the lodge itself is the womb of mother earth in which one is washed clean, purified and spiritually reborn. Water is sacred through its absence in the four-day Sundance ceremony, or the ritual of Crying for a Vision; after four days without water (or food), the first drop on the tongue is a potent reminder to be thankful for this precious gift from mother earth.

    
 The words attributed to Suquamish Chief Seattle* upon the forced transfer of tribal lands to the U.S. Government in 1855 make painful reading in light of the ecological ravages of the last hundred years. "The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother . . . . This we know: The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to earth." Standing at Dupath Well, a century later and an ocean away, Chief Seattle's words seem to me to be as vital as ever. I am reminded here at this ancient sacred site that I too had ancestors who did not consider themselves greater than the land on which they lived; who did not take good, pure water for granted; who knew man belonged to earth.

     
An old English folklorist told me once that nature spirits would live in a well, a spring, a lake or a grove of trees only so long as they were remembered and addressed respectfully. If the spirits were neglected, they'd leave the place; the land would feel soul-less and dead henceforth. Remembering this, I dropped a pin into the brown water of Dupath Well. The well-house stands near the work-yard of a farm; I could hear the traffic of the roads nearby; and yet somehow the spot still seemed quite peaceful, timeless, magical . . . and very much alive. I felt a little foolish saying "Thank you" right out loud � and I couldn't even tell you now who exactly I thought I was addressing there: a nature spirit, a well faery, a Celtic goddess, or the earth itself.
And yet, as we turned to go, I'd swear that someone was listening.

 Presented with permission from the author, Terri Windling, and The Endicott Studio. 

March  2005                                                                                                                     Back to the Top

Sacred Springs and Other Water Lore

by Terri Windling

"Lady of the Waters" � 1997 by Brian Froud

In Brian Froud's "Lady of the Waters," the artist's wife has posed for the figure symbolizing the mystical association of women and water. � 1997

     From my Devon village in the west of England it is a short drive through winding green lanes to the once-independent kingdom of Cornwall -- a land filled with ancient Celtic ruins and ancient stories. On a recent day near the summer solstice, I went to Cornwall on a morning's journey with Wendy Froud, seeking the magic that lies beneath the surface of the rolling hills: water magic, pooled in crumbling holy wells and sacred springs . . . and found in the myths and legends of cultures all around the world.

     Past the market-town of Tavistock we crossed the county line from Devon into Cornwall, a peninsula of land in the far southwestern corner of Britain. A mile or so past the village of Callington we parked at the edge of a farmyard, and followed the footpath through the fields that led to Dupath Well. Like many of the ancient holy wells to be found in Cornwall (and through all of Britain), the spring that runs through Dupath Well was probably a sacred site to tribal people in the distant past, its older use now overlaid with a gloss of Christian legendry. At one time this spring may have sat in a woodland grove of oak, rowan and thorn -- trees sacred to the Druids and other animist religions. In 1510, a group of Christian monks claimed the site for their own use, enclosing the spring in a small well-house made out of rough-hewn stone. This was the common fate of many pagan sacred sites in the British Isles. Unable to dissuade the local people from visiting their holy places, Christian missionaries simply took them over -- building churches where standing stones once stood and baptistries over sacred springs, cutting down groves of oak, rowan and thorn in a new god's name. One can still find numerous holy wells buried in the Cornish countryside, many of them now named for the Saints and associated with their miraculous lives. But scratch the surface of these legends and older stories emerge like a palimpsest, stories of faery creatures, the knights of Arthur, and the old gods of the land.

     Inside the tiny chapel-like building erected over Dupath Well, the holy water pools in a shallow trough carved from a single granite slab. The air feels thick, heavy with shadows, with silence, with the ghosts of men and women drawn to this spot for hundreds of years. The stones are worn where they once knelt and prayed to the Virgin Mary, or to the Goddess of the Sacred Springs. At the bottom of the trough lay a few copper coins -- a modern custom of making wishes not so very different from the pagan practice of throwing pins into a well to ask for blessings. I watched as Wendy placed an offering of wildflowers by the water -- an equally ancient practice recalling a time when it was the land itself our ancestors worshipped, prayed to, and thanked for the gift of life.

     Today, with clean water piped directly into our homes and largely taken for granted, it takes a leap of imagination to consider the greater importance of water to those who fetched it daily from the riverside or village well. Deeply dependent on the local water source for their crops and animals, our ancestors had a natural reverence for those places where good, pure water emerged like magic from the depths of the earth. As a result, water has played a role in myth, folklore and sacred rites in cultures all around the globe -- particularly in arid lands where the gift of water is most precious. According to a Blackfoot creation myth, in the beginning there was a great womb containing all of the animals, including Old Man. One day the womb burst, and all creation was under water. Old Man and the animals emerged from the womb floating on a large raft. One day Old Man suggested that Beaver dive down and try to bring up some mud. Beaver was gone a very long time, but still he could not reach bottom. Loon tried, Otter tried, but the water was just too deep for them. Finally little Muskrat tried; he was gone so long that he was nearly dead when they pulled him into the raft again -- yet he clutched a precious bit of mud in one of his little claws. From this mud, Old Man formed the lands of earth to emerge from that great ocean of water, and then he created all of the peoples, trees and plant-life upon it. We find variations of this "diver motif" myth not only throughout North America but in cultures around the world -- including Buriat cosmology, Finnish folktales and the Hindu Paranas.

     Many cultures associate water with women: with the Goddess, or several goddesses, or a variety of female nature spirits. The Kung bushmen of Botswana attribute the origin of water to women, granting them special power over it. All-mother, in an Aboriginal myth from northern Australia, arrived from the sea in the form of a rainbow serpent with children (the Ancestors) inside her. It was All-mother who made water for the Ancestors by urinating on the land, creating lakes, rivers and water holes to quench their thirst. The "living water" (running water) of springs and natural fountains is particularly associated in ancient mythological systems with women, fertility and childbirth.

     To the Greeks, springs were the haunts of water nymphs, elemental spirits who took the form of beautiful young girls; the original meaning of the Greek word for spring is "nubile maiden." Certain Greek springs were sacred to Hera or Aphrodite and reputed to have miraculous powers; Hera, for instance, regained virginity each year through immersion in the fountain of Kanathos. In Teutonic myth, the shaggy wood-wife who loves the hero Wolfdietrich is transformed into a gentle human girl when she's baptized in a sacred fountain. The Norse god Odin seeks wisdom and cunning from the fountain of the nature spirit Mimir; he sacrifices one of his eyes in exchange for a few precious sips of the water. In Celtic myth, the salmon of knowledge swims in a sacred spring or pool under the shade of a hazel tree; the falling hazelnuts contain all the wisdom of the world, swallowed by the fish.

     Ritual washing in water, or immersion in a pool, has been part of various religious systems since the dawn of time. The priests of ancient Egypt washed themselves in water twice each day and twice each night; in Siberia, ritual washing of the body -- accompanied by certain chants and prayers -- was a part of shamanic practices. In Hindu, "ghats" are traditional sites for public ritual bathing, an act by which one achieves both physical and spiritual purification. In strict Jewish household, hands must be washed before saying prayers and before any meal including bread; in Islam, mosques provide water for the faithful to wash before each of the five daily prayers. In Christian tradition, baptism is described by St. Paul as "a ritual death and rebirth which simulates the death and resurrection of Christ." According to mythologist Mircea Eliade, "Immersion in water symbolizes a return to the pre-formal, a total regeneration, a new birth, for immersion means a dissolution of forms, a reintegration into the formlessness of pre-existence; and emerging from the water is a repetition of the act of creation in which form was first expressed."

     The idea of regeneration through water is echoed in pan-cultural tales about the miraculous Fountain of Youth. So pervasive were these legends that in the 16th century the Spanish conquistador Ponce de Leon actually set out to find it once and for all -- and found Florida instead. In Japanese legends, the white and yellow leaves of the wild chrysanthemum confer blessings from Kiku-Jido, the chrysanthemum boy who dwells by the Fountain of Youth. These leaves are ceremonially dipped in sake to assure good health and long life. One Native American story describes the Fountain of Youth created by two hawks in the nether-world between heaven and earth -- but this fountain brings grief as those who drink of it outlive their children and friends . . . and eventually it's destroyed.

     To the Celtic people of the British Isles, certain waters were deemed to have regenerative, healing properties and thus were under divine protection. The famous hot spring at Bath (Aquae Sulis) was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, who was linked from Roman times with one of the Roman's own goddesses to become Sulis Minerva. (The Romans built a temple on the site, and a magnificent public bath house which still stands today.) The standing stones and circles of Britain are generally found near wells or running water, attesting to the importance of water in pagan religious rites. With the spread of Christianity, a concerted effort was made to stamp out the older animist religions, which attributed divinity to nature. In the 5th century, a canon issued by the Second Council of Arles stated uncategorically: "If in the territory of a bishop infidels light torches or venerate trees, fountains, or stones, and he neglects to abolish this usage, he must know that he is guilty of sacrilege." Despite the destruction of ancient holy sites, pagan beliefs proved harder to eradicate. By the 7th century, Pope Gregory decided on a new approach and instructed St. Augustine to convert sacred sites to Christian use. Pagan wells became holy wells; churches were built upon them or beside them -- yet the old ways must have persisted for in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries a stream of edicts were issued denouncing the worship of "the sun or the moon, fire or flood, wells or stones or any kind of forest tree." Over time, however, pagan and Christian practices slowly blended together. Wells named after Christian saints were celebrated with festivals and rites on old pagan holy days, in ways that would not have been unfamiliar to "heathen" people. On the Isle of Man, for instance, holy wells are frequented on August 1st, a festival called Lugnasad (a day once sacred to the Celtic god Lugh). August 1st is Lammas in the Christian calendar, but the older name for the holiday was still in use on the Isle of Man until the 19th century. In Scotland, the well at Loch Maree is dedicated to St. Malrubha but its annual rites, involving the sacrifice of a bull, an offering of milk poured on the ground, and coins driven into the bark of a tree, are clearly more pagan in nature. The custom of "well dressing" is another Christian rite with pagan origins. During these ceremonies (still practiced in Derbyshire and other parts of England), village wells are decorated with pictures made of flowers, leaves, seeds, feathers and other natural objects. In centuries past, the wells were "dressed" to thank the patron spirit of the well and request good water for the year to come; now the ceremonies generally take place on Ascension Day, and the pictures created to dress the wells are biblical in nature. [For an excellent evocation of this tradition, see John Brunner's magical story "In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells," in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Volume VI.]  End of Part 1.

Presented with permission from the author, Terri Windling, and The Endicott Studio. 

 February 2005                                                                                                                     Back to the Top

 

Hidden Hazards of Winter Dehydration 

Many people who are vigilant about drinking enough water during the summer months tend to be less vigilant during the winter. Whether you are an athlete or an armchair quarterback, your need to attend to hydration after the temperatures fall is every bit as important as it is during the summer. Winter dehydration can be an insidious contributor to health problems associated with cold weather. Children and the elderly are at the greatest risk. 

The human body loses water in many ways during the winter. For example, although it may not seem as pronounced, exercising in cold weather still caused the body to lose substantial amounts of water through sweating. Cold, winter air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air, therefore drier air draws more moisture from the lungs as we breathe. In addition, interior environment are usually very dry in the winter due to drying heating methods. The decreased interior humidity also increases water loss from the lungs and skin. When the body becomes chilled, blood is drawn away from the periphery (i.e. arms, legs, skin) toward the interior organs to preserve vital body heat for these life-sustaining tissues. The directing of blood to the interior increases its flow to the kidneys, automatically increasing the kidney filtration rate and urine output. This effect is called �cold diuresis.� Cold weather increases the body metabolism and associated water needs required to maintain healthy body temperature. 

Respiratory illnesses associated with winter, such as the common cold and influenza, cause the body to generate large amounts of mucous in an effort to rid itself of the offending microbes. The water in these discharges must be replaced. Intestinal influenza, leading to diarrhea and vomiting, requires additional water and, perhaps, electrolyte replacement. We recommend four to eight additional cups of water daily. 

Excerpted from �Water, The foundation of Youth, Health, and Beauty� by William D Holloway Jr. and Herb Joiner-Bey, ND.

January 2004                                                                                                                           Back to the Top

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