Holy water

By JOANNE WASSERMAN

A major issue with gas drilling is the very real threat to our water supply. The millions of gallons of water required for deep horizontal well drilling is staggering. One source of this water is a federally designated “wild and scenic” river that provides drinking water to millions of people. No one knows what the impact will be on stream flow or how the large volume of waste fluids will be treated and disposed of. There is potential for direct pollution to the river, along with possible well and groundwater contamination.

A gas company has already submitted an application to withdraw one million gallons of water per day from the East Branch of the Delaware River for five horizontal wells—and this is just the beginning. The cumulative impacts of numerous drilling sites up and down the watershed can only be imagined.

Emotions are high on both sides: landowners eager to cash in on this new gold rush, claiming their private property rights to do so vs. environmental groups and concerned citizens seeking to preserve what remains of an unspoiled ecosystem. What it comes down to is a clash of world views.

The world view of the dominant culture says the earth is real estate, a storehouse of natural resources to be exploited for the benefit of humans. Water is a cheap commodity taken for granted. Man is separated from nature. Water flows to profit human development and any resulting natural destruction is accepted as the price of progress.

But here’s a different world view: the earth is a living, sacred entity to be honored by humans. Water is the lifeblood of earth. Rivers are to the land as veins and arteries are to the human body. Water supports the cycle of life of all living things. We are a part of this ecosystem, and humans have a responsibility to live in a sustainable way to ensure that there will be adequate water for the survival of all beings.

Albert Einstein said, “Human beings are a part of a whole called by us the ‘Universe.’ We experience ourselves as something separated from the rest…. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires…. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

As drought has been affecting large areas of the United States, the crucial need for water will make it the most significant resource to worry about in the future. And it’s not just because of global warming. Despite adequate rainfall, many areas are experiencing such rapid population growth that water delivery systems cannot keep up with the demand for water. Add gas drilling to this demand, with unprecedented amounts of water usage, and we have a recipe for disaster.

Last summer, 10,000 livestock perished in the Navajo Nation when a severe drought hit the Southwest. Native cultures have warned against destruction of the natural world if people lost respect for their sacred relationship to the earth. Some fear that society’s greed is leading to a world out of balance, devoured by development in the name of progress. A Navajo elder said, “Why are we searching for potholes of oil? Why are we not looking for alternative sources of energy that will not destroy the environment? Do we have to milk the Earth dry before we look elsewhere for energy?”

The following excerpt is from “Slow Road Home:” “I watch the signs… looking for some portent of future rain.… It’s been so long since the last drops fell that when they come—if they come—they will be a liquid miracle, a holy gift.… Then the blessed rain came. It swept in sheets up the valley, passing over me where I lay supplicant in baptism, rejoicing in it…. We live on a Water Planet, but it is all too easy to think of this miraculous liquid as ordinary. I hope that I never will again, or complain about it when it comes once more in glorious excess.”

Drought, pollution, famine, disease—how could we possibly choose energy over water? It shouldn’t take such an enormous grassroots effort to prevent the exploitation of our watersheds. We need a change in our collective world view. We need “holy” water.

(Joanne Wasserman has been a full-time resident of the Upper Delaware area for 35 years, the last 13 years in Milanville, PA. She is involved in a number of environmental grassroots organizations such as the Upper Delaware Community Network and the Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition.)