A Carbon Fast for Lent: Day 23

Day 23 - Turn the taps off. In one day a hot, dripping tap could fill a bath.

Wow. I can't believe that one dripping tap can do that. But it's worth checking anyway. I've always lived in water-rich areas - the Midwest has the Great Lakes, and of course Bayonne is surrounded on three sides by water. Manhattan is an island. So water waste has never really concerned me too much. Now of course we're reading that the state of Georgia wants to move its northern border with Tennessee so that it has a little access to the Tennessee River, because the aquifers that serve Altanta are drying up. Seems Georgians would rather take water from someone else than do the hard work of conservation.

I confess though - more than anything, I don't get bottled water. I mean, New York City has the best tap water in the world - it's clean and tastes good. I've always liked tap water, even when I lived in Indianapolis and the water from my well always vaguely like sulphur. But the billions of empty water bottles are becoming a real pollution problem, apparently. Not sure what to do about that. Recycle them, sure, but I have to give credit to Coke and Pepsi, the bottlers of Aqua Fina and Dasani - they've gotten us to pay more than a dollar a bottle for what was in some cases tap water anyway!

Check your water taps. Make sure they don't drip.

O Lord our God, in your holy Sacraments you have given us a foretaste of the good things of your kingdom: Direct us, we pray, in the way that leads to eternal life, that we may come to appear before you in that place of light where you dwell for ever with your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RFSJ