TORRENS TALK

It was good to see in the paper that the county will be considering a policy to treat water as a resource. It was a concept some of us labored to see come to fruition when I served on the county planning commission from 1990 to 2000.

Then, as now, there are those who are adamant that such an idea is wrong-headed. That is too bad. If anything, the need has become more critical. Water is a resource and one that is not infinite, just like any resource. If we do not take steps now to ensure its longevity, it is our progeny who will pay the price.

Kitsap County is entirely dependent upon aquifers. These are underground formations that hold the water that has worked its way down the layers of soil and substrate to reach this point. Whatever falls out of the sky is what we have.

Depending upon where the rain falls, the water will go straight into another body of water, down a drain, run off a hard surface or percolate through the soil. Working its way through the soil is what filters the water that will eventually become part of the water we drink and use. This process takes years, far slower than how quickly the water is taken out of the aquifers.

And, that is the problem. We consume the water resources much faster than they can be replaced. This means a net loss of available, potable water for consumption. There is actually a term for this — it is called water mining.

The term was coined to show that what happens to minerals and other finite resources happens to water. All the water that is on this planet is it. There is no place else to get water. That is why it is a core sustainability issue.

Sustainability is the view that takes all the facets of our lives into account and looks at ways things can be done so that not only do we live good lives, but so do human beings in the future. It means not using resources — animal, vegetable or mineral — to their extinction. Water, rightfully, is considered one of those resources.

It is good to see utility companies, local governments and other major water users are finally looking at ways to reuse “dirty” (gray) water instead of clean water where appropriate. While that has been going on for some time in many places, it has been lagging here in this county.

It only makes sense to use gray water for landscaping, golf greens and various industrial uses instead of drinking water. The more ways we can figure out how to use less than pristine water for uses other than consumption, the more water we save for future use. That is the sustainable approach to this resource.

I always thought how interesting it was that Frank Hebert, living in the wet Northwest, would write a science fiction series about a world where water is virtually non-existent and thus is the coin of the realm. But, seeing how profligate people out here are about using water, it now makes sense. After all, since it keeps falling from the sky, it must be limitless.

What a false premise. If we continue on the way we have been without making some major changes, not only we will not be living a sustainable lifestyle, we will ensure neither will the people of the future. That is not a legacy anyone should want to leave.

Val Torrens appears in the CK Reporter the second and fourth Friday of every month.