Yvonne Hollenbeck: Savor your water
After recently spending several days in Arizona, I have a renewed appreciation for the amble and good water available at home. Of course, home is in South Dakota and after being born and raised in the Sandhills region of Nebraska, water is not taken for granted. We all have known since birth that the two most precious things on earth are air and water, but good clean air and water is not always available, as it seems that both are often contaminated, not just by forces of nature but by we the people.
If you are flying from any airport such as I was, be sure to get a good drink before you deport. I managed to drink some good Sandhills water before leaving North Platte, as you are unable to take your own water on a plane which creates the need to buy bottled water either in an airport or on the plane itself. Unfortunately, there really is a difference in taste from the delicious drink we get at home and what is in those little plastic bottles. The cheapest bottled water I found was $2 for eight ounces. I have no idea of the source of that water other than it was “bottled in California.”
The price of bottled drinking water does not get lower after the plane lands, as the average cost of a 16 ounce bottle seems to be $3 and higher. Twenty-three ounce bottles in the Denver airport are over $4. Even restaurants charge for a glass of water, a fact that this old country lady finds hard to accept.
Then it seemed that practically every conversation I had with residents on the Prescott community where I was involved the shortage of water in the area and the fact that the locals do not understand what the solution will be with many folks moving in. In fact, not only Prescott but all urban areas are exploding, and as they all claimed, “there is a major water shortage.” Then in contrast from the airplane, I saw many swimming pools and wonder if perhaps that could be an addition to the problem.
While sitting in the Prescott Regional Airport waiting to board a plane to Denver where I was to transfer to a plane back to North Platte, I was working on this article. I took a break from writing as I decided to check the news on my iPhone. The first headline I saw was by the Weather Channel about water shortages in the United States. Then surfing through posts on social media, with the exception of politics which I tried to avoid, folks are either complaining about drought, extreme weather events, or the high cost of meat. No one seems to be concerned with the cost of eggs or shortage of toilet paper anymore, but beef is getting the most attention and taking a bad rap. As usual, there are many self-proclaimed experts putting the blame on packing plants or grocers, but I cannot help but wonder if those experts have a clue as to the time, expense, work involved and difficulties in producing that meat before it is processed, before it ever gets to the packer or grocer and the expense that is put forth by them making it available for sale. That, compared to a company that bottles water, much of which is from a city tap in California or elsewhere, resulting in them charging $3 or more for 16 ounces, makes a pound of hamburger seem quite cheap.
We had best savor our good, readily available water, as when you figure the cost of commercially bottled water to all other products needed today, it is a priceless commodity.
