Essentiality of Water Resource - Essay Example

The writer, Edward Abbey, is a philosopher, anarchist as well as an environmental activist. The writer opens this article with a conversation between him and a tourist from Cleveland, Ohio. The opening statement by the tourist, “This would be a good country”, (Abbey, 377), literally opens the reader’s expectation of how beautiful the country would be if it had water and this triggers the need to reads the article. The writer has used poetic prose. A lot of humor is portrayed. The tourist argues that he would be comfortable living at such a dry and desolate place, he comments that it is good for pictures but not good for living. The writer Edward Abbey agrees. Water would change it into a Greenland with gardens and people would come and live there. However, the writer argues there would need to see something else apart from people and this brings an analogy of the beauty of the place as it is while without water. They all arrive at an agreement and acknowledgment of God's plan as the best and the tourist leaves. The writer goes on to explain how dry the place is, during July and August months, dry air made him to hardly shave in the morning as the water and soap would dry before he got to the razor.

The place, Utah area rarely rains. When it rains it receives very little; five to nine inches. The Devil’s Garden is unclothed and rocky, the little rain received causes a lot of runoff all the way to canyons of Colorado, and sometimes part of the rain evaporates before reaching the ground. The water sources in the desert include the rare streambeds that get water upon rains, which evaporate after some hours, permanent springs, waterholes and springs in canyon walls between the horizontal formations. These sources support plant life and trees like cottonwood tree grow around them whose odor has used an indicator of a water source. The writer advises one to carry water at least a gallon while on a walk to this place otherwise, it may cost you thirst and sweat while trying to dig the water, more than you could get, or get none.

The Salt Creek near Turn bow Cabin has a clear drinkable water but tastes like brine making it undrinkable or drinking it increases the rate of dehydration. Edward Abbey puts it that if your car failed you while there, better you tap its radiator, if it doesn’t have enough and you are unable to continue, crawl to a shade, write your will on the sand and let the wind have your last words if no other help at all. This poses a fear to any potential visitor wishing to see the place.

The writer’s first experience to Grand Canyon branch carried a quart of water, which he thought, was enough for him. The high temperatures forced him to ration it as food. Tired and exhausted, he fell into a waist-deep water, absorbed water to quench himself. A spring from Colorado River saves him where he struggles to keep gnat population by use of a handkerchief.

He argues that no one drinks water from the waterholes as it contains Sulphur, selenium, and arsenic that are harmful. However, spring poisons are very clear in that no living organism is found in them. Hence taking water from unknown spring might be fatal if no organism seems to survive in it. An example of bad water is poison spring Death Valley (Abbey,381).

In high deserts, in the months of July and August, thunderstorms come in the morning to trigger the start of rains. Clear and bright morning, blue-sky cloak and traces of clouds start to form. By the noon, clouds form on the mountains followed by thunder and lightning which strike. More clouds form which are viewed as a fleet of ships as per the writer’s observation. As he observed, lightning streaks through the clouds, thunder shakes the air and all of a sudden rains falls. These are some of the signs before the downpour. The writer experienced strong rainfall on his hat at a high pressure drumming like hailstones and plastering his shirt at his back, running into a waterfall off the brim. This happens in a period of not more than five minutes and soon. A rainbow follows this. At the sundown, bright light, the moon, and Venus are observed an hour or more after the rain.

The writer observes a cloud of water at a distance, which seems to roll towards him. As he stood there, the sunlight stroke him. The image of the water looks like a pudding sweeping along all the weeds and small trees stripped off from their roots. He watched a monster roll towards him with a hissing sound and it eventually passed. Poetically the writer explains that the other living organisms like flies seem not to worry as they fly, others crawl on the mud in celebrations. New swarms come to replace those swept away.

The writer talks of the quicksand. He states it that there cannot be a quicksand without water and that it is not as perceived, as a queer kind of sand with force to pull animals and human down. The writer says a quicksand is a mixture of sand and water in which the upward force of the water is enough to outdo the friction force of the sand particles. It is simple for a man to walk over the quicksand as long as he keeps moving. However, if he stops, he sinks. The depth in which he sinks is relatively proportional to the depth and the fluidity of the quicksand, and the efforts made against the sinking effect to float. However, now when one gets into the quicksand, he may not be in a position to get out of it without any assistance, since as you try to pull one leg, the other one sinks, (Abbey, 387).

An experience with the writer's friend, Newcomb, who has a weak leg happened to sink in a quicksand. This scene happened while they were trying to explore defile on the Glen Canyon. It turned and twisted interlocking the walls of the cleft and this made the writer unable to see the sky. As he went on, he came to a place where the canyon was so narrow, dark and wet, and he could not go ahead. As he retraced his steps, he heard mournful wails from far depth near the bowels of the plateau near the passageways. The voice seemed not to be a human. As he went on, it faded away. Again, the wailing came and this time around it was a bit louder and amplified with echoes. He came to find him, his friend; he was slightly above knees but sinking very slowly into the quicksand. The writer displays a character of a helpful person as he helps his friend to come out. However, he sounds a bit tough to him as he hesitates to pull his friend who is already sinking and worried about dying. He commands him to do all he can to draw himself out of the quicksand but unfortunately, he is unable to, in addition, his weak leg is helpless. This is a clear show that the quicksand is a slow killing phenomenon, as upon sinking, one will be starved of oxygen and definitely die.

The writer goes ahead to state the condition after the rains that there was plenty of water to meet his needs. The water had filled all the potholes and had set bare the rocky grounds, which do not support any plant life. In addition, he claims that some small creature in specific the amphibians survive in the dry wells and when it rains, they mate with the opposite respective gender to fill the pool with a swarm of tadpoles. Only a few that survive, mature and they find a place to hide underground when the pool dries off. Rain and puddles are more important to amphibian life, as they seem to put a kick-start of a very important state of joy into their life. They are all in celebration after rain comes simply because they have been able to survive a long dry season. A clear observation made by the writer makes him conclude that it is so interesting to come at the pool after an evening of thunder, lightning and a bit of rain. The writer argues that they do not necessarily sing to attract mates but to celebrate the joy of being in wetness after several weeks of dry desert conditions. Furthermore, according to the writer, joy has a value to evolution among these beings. Some of the amphibians continue their metamorphosis by the way of the nerves and tissues of higher animals hence contraction and relaxation during the croaking help them to change from one stage to another.

This term paper by Edward Abbey has extensively discussed the importance of water in the wilderness and how it has influenced the lives of the living animals living there. He notes very essentially human contributions at the end of it. He notes that the growth of life in the desert like giant cactus, junipers among others have been due to the small oasis formed as a result drilled wells by a human, the storage tanks, and windmills established in the Southwestern landscape. The windmill is a beautiful scenery as it has a cottonwood tree and the open tank at its foot. The tank can serve as a swimming pool, making the life of man and other animals comfortable.

Abbey (389), quotes that, ‘Water, water, water....There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, ensuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.’ He concludes that the developers, who are in constant complain of water shortage, proposes a project to draw water from the Columbia River or any resourceful source, and channel it into Utah, Colorado, Mexico, and Arizona. However, he sends out a critique in that this effort will be of little help as he stands to rebuke their mindset saying that a growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness. He then puts it that these efforts will not be in a position to eliminate the growth of desert, described as ‘iron glacier moving towards us’ as winds will blow and cover these areas making sand dunes where the blue-eyed Navajo will herd their domestic animals.

Finally, he has it that only the strong will manage to survive in the wilderness, a picture that portrays a fight for survival, survival for the fittest, to own and consume the springs of sweet, cool, still, clear and unfailing water.

Reference.

Abbey, Edward. "Desert Solitaire. 1968." New York: Ballantin(1991).

He argues that no one drinks water from the waterholes as it contains Sulphur, selenium, and arsenic that are harmful. However, spring poisons are very clear in that no living organism is found in them. Hence taking water from unknown spring might be fatal if no organism seems to survive in it. An example of bad water is poison spring Death Valley (Abbey,381).

In high deserts, in the months of July and August, thunderstorms come in the morning to trigger the start of rains. Clear and bright morning, blue-sky cloak and traces of clouds start to form. By the noon, clouds form on the mountains followed by thunder and lightning which strike. More clouds form which are viewed as a fleet of ships as per the writer’s observation. As he observed, lightning streaks through the clouds, thunder shakes the air and all of a sudden rains falls. These are some of the signs before the downpour. The writer experienced strong rainfall on his hat at a high pressure drumming like hailstones and plastering his shirt at his back, running into a waterfall off the brim. This happens in a period of not more than five minutes and soon. A rainbow follows this. At the sundown, bright light, the moon, and Venus are observed an hour or more after the rain.

The writer observes a cloud of water at a distance, which seems to roll towards him. As he stood there, the sunlight stroke him. The image of the water looks like a pudding sweeping along all the weeds and small trees stripped off from their roots. He watched a monster roll towards him with a hissing sound and it eventually passed. Poetically the writer explains that the other living organisms like flies seem not to worry as they fly, others crawl on the mud in celebrations. New swarms come to replace those swept away.

The writer talks of the quicksand. He states it that there cannot be a quicksand without water and that it is not as perceived, as a queer kind of sand with force to pull animals and human down. The writer says a quicksand is a mixture of sand and water in which the upward force of the water is enough to outdo the friction force of the sand particles. It is simple for a man to walk over the quicksand as long as he keeps moving. However, if he stops, he sinks. The depth in which he sinks is relatively proportional to the depth and the fluidity of the quicksand, and the efforts made against the sinking effect to float. However, now when one gets into the quicksand, he may not be in a position to get out of it without any assistance, since as you try to pull one leg, the other one sinks, (Abbey, 387).

An experience with the writer's friend, Newcomb, who has a weak leg happened to sink in a quicksand. This scene happened while they were trying to explore defile on the Glen Canyon. It turned and twisted interlocking the walls of the cleft and this made the writer unable to see the sky. As he went on, he came to a place where the canyon was so narrow, dark and wet, and he could not go ahead. As he retraced his steps, he heard mournful wails from far depth near the bowels of the plateau near the passageways. The voice seemed not to be a human. As he went on, it faded away. Again, the wailing came and this time around it was a bit louder and amplified with echoes. He came to find him, his friend; he was slightly above knees but sinking very slowly into the quicksand. The writer displays a character of a helpful person as he helps his friend to come out. However, he sounds a bit tough to him as he hesitates to pull his friend who is already sinking and worried about dying. He commands him to do all he can to draw himself out of the quicksand but unfortunately, he is unable to, in addition, his weak leg is helpless. This is a clear show that the quicksand is a slow killing phenomenon, as upon sinking, one will be starved of oxygen and definitely die.

The writer goes ahead to state the condition after the rains that there was plenty of water to meet his needs. Read More