It drains away to somewhere else. Most of us have been able to swim when we want, bathe when we choose, water our lawns, and let our children drink from fountains at school. Like good health, we ignore water when we have it. But, like health, when water is threatened, it's the only thing that matters. Fresh water is the blood of our land, the nourishment of our forests and crops, the blue and shining beauty at the heart of our landscape.
Religions bathe their children and their saved with water.
Greek philosophers described water as one of the four elements that made up the earth. To the Kogi Indians of Columbia, the three things at the beginning of life are mother, night, and water. The Koyukan Indians of Alaska define cardinal directions not as north or south but as upstream or down. Where there is no water, there is no life. A healthy human being can live for a month without food, but will die in less than a week without fresh water.