We have to remember that water is a finite resource

Welcome to the brave new world!

Hearken friends, and shed a tear: The supply of superb well water in King Township's part of the moraine is no longer regarded as inexhaustible!

Perhaps readers will be confused, having heard so short a time ago that there was no problem with water from the aquifers, and that a well was found somewhere east of King City with water over-flowing.

Expect no sympathy if you're confused or upset. One must keep up with the fast-changing times, and we do mean fast.

A short time ago, residents fell asleep peacefully, lulled in the assurance they would always have their matchless water on tap, water from the moraine aquifers, the legacy of a dozen or more millennia.

Would anyone ever have imagined that this water (now recognized as being in limited supply) could be bargained away for the (ugh!) substitute water to be brought up from Lake Ontario through 25 miles or so of pipes, pipes equal in length to the "big pipe" taking the aquifer water down to the lake?

We live on the cusp (past the tipping point, some climatologists tell us) of the collapse of the planet's environment. We've heard about it all - relentless consumerism, the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, rape of the earth's non-renewable resources, unsustainable development, destruction of the great forests, critical loss of fresh water, et al. We learn that some far-seeing venture capitalists are investing in sources of potable water, comprehending the looming scarcity, and what profits may accrue.

Pause a moment and think of what is happening in King: a village, a settlement area of no inconsiderable size with a precious heritage of pure water (it has some "cosmetic defects" we are told) is having enormous quantities of this water sent down in pipes in to Lake Ontario (without the consent of the residents, mind you), so that in due course, after it has been exposed to every kind of pollutant, and then "treated" and then it is returned, at great expense, back to the community in which it originated.

A year or two ago, a guest speaker at a meeting of Concerned Citizens of King Township, speaking for water conservation, advocated that residents adopt (as he has done) the two-litre shower. In good faith, some residents signed on.

It is to laugh! And all that glossy literature coming to us from the Region: "Water for Tomorrow" - what a joke!

A houseful of water (as one engineer described it) going as we speak, going, going down the pipe. How long before it's all gone?

From the Massey series of lectures on CBC Radio about a year ago, A Short History of Progress, in which the audience learned how, throughout history, advanced civilizations were destroyed by despoiling and destruction of their forests, arable land (of which we in Canada have a finite amount that is top grade, despite appearances) and their fresh water resources.

Oh that we in King could learn from history, from what is happening now, and reverse our course so that we might leave a legacy of pure water for the children of future generations.

John Whalley,

King City