Water, Water Everywhere, but Can We Drink it?
(Part I)

Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian naturalist, once said: "It is only nature which can and must be our teacher. We must try to understand how Mother Nature transforms water into the lifeblood of the planet and makes it available to us, pure and life-giving."

Good Housekeeping Magazine, not usually known for tackling controversial issues, said "Every time you turn on your faucet, you are committing an act of faith. You believe the water you give your child to drink, the water with which you cook and wash your food, is fit for human use. Don't take it for granted!"

The May 1-May 15 issue of Hawaii Island Journal presented information on water use in Hawaii. The next three Healing Island columns will focus on water quality in general, Big Island water quality in specific and measures we may take to insure that the water we use is as pure as it can be.

When my 13-year-old son asked me what I was writing about, I told him that this column was about the necessity of water to sustain life. His reply was, "Duh, so what else is new?" What seems so evident to a child must be of less relevance to humans, given the rate at which we are destroying the elements that we need for survival on the planet.

Volumes can be written about the functions and uses of water in the human body. Humans can live for weeks without food, but can only survive for five days without approximately four and a half pounds of water a day. Nearly 80 percent of the average adult body is comprised of water. As little as 15 percent water loss will cause death. Water controls body temperature, digestion, assimilation and efficiency of circulation. Poor water quality or inadequate intake of water can result in loss of energy, loss of coordination, back pain, neck pain, headaches, aching joints and muscles and degenerative diseases.

Water is the number one solvent the body uses to dissolve and eliminate wastes. Five million people die annually from water-borne diseases. The World Health Organization states that 60 to 90 percent of human tumors are environmentally produced and 80 percent of world illnesses would be eliminated by drinking a sufficient amount of pure water.

There is a startling increase in the cancer rate in the past half-decade. There is direct correlation between the increase in environmental pollution, particularly as regards Air, Water and Earth, and the increase in the cancer rate. Three of Chinese Medicine's five pillars of health are under direct assault. Only Fire and Ether remain to be tampered with.