THE ULTIMATE IN RECYCLING
            All the molecules of water around today were around when water first appeared on planet earth. These water molecules are the substance of the water cycle – using energy from the sun, it is the ultimate in recycling.
            Evaporation leaves behind on earth’s surface everything but the molecules of water. Water vapor becomes part of the blanket of air that surrounds us. It moves from place to place. When conditions are just right, the water condenses around specks of dust and forms drops. Then, under just the right conditions, the drops fall to the surface of the earth as precipitation.
            Everyone on earth depends on rain to recharge drinking water supplies. Precipitation dissolves and/or mixes with other substances from the atmosphere, from the surface of the ground over which it runs, and from underground sources when it infiltrates the surface.  The water then has other elements in it – some are harmful, some are not. Many people depend on community water systems to keep their water pure enough to drink – collecting water from surface reservoirs and lakes or drawing water from groundwater aquifers. Many people, especially in rural areas, draw water from private wells and depend on themselves and others in the recharge area to keep the water safe to drink.
            When given a chance, nature helps maintain good water quality.  Plants return fresh water to the air (transpiration). Nature provides wetlands and flood plains to slow runoff to remove sediment and to purify the water before it runs on. Depending on the subsoil and rock beneath the surface, some, but not all, groundwater flows slowly enough to be purified naturally.
            The fresh water provided by the water cycle is precious. Only three percent of all the world’s water is considered suitable for land plants and animals (including humans). The rest is in the oceans. Of the three percent considered “fresh”, only one-third of that is available to us in streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater. The rest is frozen in the polar ice caps – and what melts there mixes with the saltwater of the ocean.
            Nature provides pure water for us with the water cycle, the ultimate in recycling. Knowing that rain is the source of everyone’s drinking water, including our own, might make us pause to stop and think about how our activities affect the quality of our drinking water and the quality of water bodies downstream in our watershed. Now we need to do our part to manage the activities that might make our water unfit to drink.
            Find out more on the Internet. Search for water cycle, Natural Resources Conservation Service, backyard conservation, rain gardens, rain barrels, watersheds, Driftless Area Initiative, Illinois EPA – Bureau of Water, or water conservation.

Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water
Conservation District, an equal opportunity provider and employer, 05/28/09 (for publication on 06/06/09 in the Journal-Standard, Freeport, Illinois). Della can be reached at info@stephensonswcd.org