Biggest Need but Most Overlooked

By: Andrea Lynch

"Think of it as the Holocaust on our future."

This statement was made by Dr. Philip Allen, a presenter from FSU's department of Geography. Dr. Allen's presentation, Water Water Everywhere (Maybe Soon) Not a Drop to Drink Anywhere, explained the biggest threats to the worlds water supply. A few of the threats are: disease, natural disaster and ignorance. A major point that Dr. Allen made in his presentation this afternoon was the mistakes that our economy continuously repeats. He feels that if we as a whole do not change our mindset and our practices, our future water supply will be affected.

"If you have water, you have power," says Dr. Allen. This statement refers to the lack of understanding our economy has as far as our resources to clean water. Dr. Allen made it clear that there are a lot of countries that do not have the availability to clean waters such as the U.S.. This disadvantage is exemplified in the picture above. Dr. Allen advises that the children in the countries with little no to no clean water "plays Russian roulette with their lives." This is a metaphor of the children drinking from the rivers and lakes in their area, even though they know the water is poisonous.

With such conditions in other countries, one would think our country, or even closer, our campus would make such changes to avoid similar occurrences. "Much of the usable water is being contaminated and becoming a growing issue." Dr. Allen pointed out that on Frostburgs campus last winter 900 tons of salt was used. With the melting of the snow, that water washed the salt into our Chesapeake Bay. You may question what problems salt may bring when draining into the Bay. Well, Dr. Allen addresses this question by stating "salt is becoming a silent killer." He explains that the acid in the salt compound is polluting our water.

Dr.Allen has pitched different ideas to the University that could help change this pollution to our Bay. But of course, it is going to take more than one professor to speak on a problem that affects our entire general body.

Before Dr. Allen closed out his presentation he concluded us with qoute, and I shall too. "Water is our future, spread the word."