Indispensable ~ Theme Thursday Image for 06.03.04

Water is...

... life giving and life sustaining. It is indespensable to every creature on the planet. Human beings can survive a month without food, but one week at most without water before total dehydration and death.

A person must consume 2.5 litres of water daily to live healthily. Water leaves the stomach five minutes after consumption, hydrates and sustains the body and removes waste. Approximately 66% of the human body consists of water. Water exists within all our organs and it is transported throughout our body to assist physical functions. The total amount of water in the body of an average adult is 37 litres. Human brains are 75% water. Human bones are 25% water. Human blood is 83% water. Plants and animals are also made up of water. 80% of a pineapple is water. 95% of a tomato is water. 75% of a chicken is water. 70% of an elephant is water.

Water moves around the earth in a water cycle. The water cycle has five parts: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and surface run-off. In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere. Water is the only substance that is found naturally on earth in three forms: liquid, gas, solid.

Many science fiction writers say that the wars of the future will not be fought over territory, or oil, but over supplies of clean drinking water. Of all the water on earth, only 2.5% is fresh water. If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon. Over 90% of the world's supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica. Less than 1% of the water supply on earth can be used as drinking water. Right now more than 2 billion people on earth do not have a safe supply of water. Water is my submission for this week's Theme Thursday challege of Indespensable.

This photograph was shot along the Susquehanna river in south central Pennsylvania on Memorial Day, 2004. My cousin-in-law, David took me up to the river to see the nesting place of an American Bald Eagle. He drove me there in his Hummer H2. Yes, I rode in his SUV and I am not proud of that. To see the eagles I had no choice, as he wouldn't tell me exactly where they were. He also wanted to prove to me that all SUV drivers aren't ass-hats or ass-clowns. Okay, so he's neither, but that still doesn't change my mind about SUVs and the majority of drivers out there. We were able to see the eagles with binoculars, but unfortunately I eed a 500mm or greater focal length lens to photograph the eagle and her two young. My 200 and 300mm lenses didn't cut it. So instead I focused on the river, the damn spillways and local scenery. Thanks for taking me up there David.