"We need to drink more water." Many of us have heard this plea or some variation on it in the news, in magazine articles, even in advertisements. We know we should...water is essential for good health. Our bodies need water to function properly. In the United States, we are blessed to have access to safe, clean drinking water, thanks in large part to state and federal regulations. Perhaps that is why we take our access to safe, clean drinking water for granted. The Flint water crisis served as a somber reminder of how precious our water resources are and the impact they have on our health, especially the health of our youngest and most vulnerable.

 

So...how healthy is our water, really? This is an important question with no easy answer. To start, we must look to our watersheds and at the role we play in their health (and, ultimately ours). We all live in a watershed, and the actions we take every day, from flushing medications down the toilet to disposing of outdated chemicals down the drain, have an impact on our neighbors, human and non-human, downstream. Now more than ever, scientists are reporting the discovery of trace (or larger) amounts of chemicals and pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. We do our best to treat and clean our water, yet even the most advanced filtration and treatment systems cannot capture every contaminant. It's too early to tell how this will eventually impact our health, but it's not too early to start doing something about it.

 

This issue of GreenNotes takes a critical look at the issue of water quality in K-12 schools. We do this from a couple of angles. First, we explore the human health aspect. That is, how healthy is our schools' drinking water? How can we encourage students to drink more of it? You will hear from Cara Wilking, who summarizes findings and policy recommendations from a twenty-state review of policies for drinking water quality and access in public schools; Christina Hecht, who discusses the current state of tap water in schools and why it is important to improve drinking water quality; and Kimberly Pettigrew, who shares how the Tennessee Clean Water Network's Bringing Tap Back program is improving access to clean, free drinking water for Tennessee students.  We will also look at how students are learning about watershed health and its impacts on larger systems. Specifically, science teacher Caley Bloodworth describes how engaging students in water quality testing in their school's creek is teaching them about the impact clean water has on the environment, their community, and global water quality.

 

Water is life. We must take this to heart for the sake of our health and that of our planet's. Ensuring our schools have access to safe, clean water won't solve our problems, but it's a huge step forward toward addressing them...and getting the next generation to understand that water connects us all.

 

Jenny