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Changing the Rules

March 4th, 2010

Almost from the early years of elementary school, everyone learns that substances occupy more space as they get warmer. Almost initiatively understand that a balloon will quickly burst if put in the sun or shrink in stuffed into a freezer.

What if there was a substance that got larger when cooled and heated? Moreover, the same substance is its heaviest at only one temperature, at all other temperatures it was lighter.

While the underlying science is not yet fully understood, this is exactly the substance that one gets when then the elements hydrogen and oxygen are mixed just right. Two cups of hydrogen combined in a certain way with one cup of oxygen will produce what could be the most amazing substance in the universe. Do not try this at home, you may get wet.

The world as we know it today could not exist without these unique properties of this miraculous substance. Not only that, every living thing on our planet absolutely requires it. When exploring for the possibility of life in other parts of the universe, it is the first thing we seek.

It is worth noting that there is no more water on earth now than there was billions of years ago. Water is merely recycled within our biosphere. The water used to make your morning coffee may once have been dinosaur sweat, or worse!

The unique properties of water play a critical role in many ecological processes. Water is it heaviest at four degrees centigrade. In the spring when the ice on a lake melts and the surface water is warmed to four degrees, it sinks.

The heavier surface water forces the lighter water from the bottom to rise. This turnover brings to the surface all of the nutrients that has collected on the bottom since the fall. These nutrients provide the fuel to the spring flush of growth. The turnover process is a key ecological process.

When water cools, it also expands. Freezing water is key to the erosion processes that build soils that sustain most ecological processes.

Most elements and chemicals are easily dissolved in water. On the plus side, water becomes the key pathway for the transport nutrients that all living things require.

Unfortunately, because of this unique property, water also becomes the primary waste disposal method. Each year, we poison billions of liters of water with our industrial wastes. It will take decades, centuries and perhaps even millions of years before natural processes finally cleanse that waste water.

In spite of its importance, water continues to be mistreated. Nova Scotia does not yet have a comprehensive policy framework for the management of our water resources, although a water strategy is in the works and is should to be adopted later this year. Hopefully, it does not stall at the political or bureaucratic levels.

At the national level, the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy is in the processes of developing guidance for this badly needed direction. Currently there is no national framework for water.

When dealing with water, the time is long past for even debating how water is used. The current rules simply must change.

Comments are always welcome and can be addressed to stephenhawboldt@annapolisriver.ca