Sayonara Pereira da Silva
Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco High School
Water is one of the most precious possessions we have, but as its waste is very great, serious consequences are already noticed. The human being is putting an end to this resource, which is, however, indispensable to its own survival.
In many rivers, where there were a lot of water years ago, there is currently no more drop, and the trend is that this will happen in several other rivers, including the large ones, such as the Parana River, whose water level comes down with each passing year. In the city where I live, many rivers have dried up. One of them passes in the back of my house. It is scary to think that one day I almost drowned in this river and today I cannot even wet my toes.
The most incredible of all is the stories I hear my father tell.
“When I was a little boy, me and my brothers went out to bathe and fish in the river. At that time, there was a lot of water and many fishes too. The river was not very big, but we could obtain our food from it. My grandparents told me that in their time, they did not bath in this river because it was very large and dangerous, but they also took their livelihood from it”.
“This river was born at the bottom of the mountain and until it drains into the Paranã River, it was about 20 km long and 5 km wide. Near the source there was the Whale Waterfall, but today there is no more water except when it rains. There were also wells of water, where on the holidays we were going to bathe, and other deep wells that had many varieties of fish that served as food for the population. There were also other animals like armadillo, monkeys, anteater, deer and jaguars. In order to preserve the river banks, fences of stones were built up, which still have vestiges. They did not use to cut the trees of the river banks. No cattle were raised near the river and water was collected in pots. To irrigate the plantation they made dams and soon after that the water returned to its normal course.”
This was what the elders did to preserve their means of survival, unlike the generations that succeeded them, which began to tear down trees for livestock, without worrying about replanting. They were also planting monocultures along its banks and damming the water to irrigate it.
We can no longer continue with this culture of destruction!
As everything changes, it is time to change and act in a correct way, making the reality of tomorrow different from what we live today, so that in the future we will not regret of having done nothing. It is necessary to focus on the awareness of society, especially young people and teenagers, who are the future of the world, showing them the conservation value of natural resources, which are the survival source of all species on Earth.
If, by chance, the drinking water of rivers and springs of the planet ends, many countries will seek other means of access to this resource, such as groundwater, for example. It is important to note that Brazil has one of the largest reserves of underground drinking water in the world! Therefore, if countries do not enter into friendly agreements, we will probably experience a world war, with the main reason being the search for water for survival.
We are already feeling the climate changing, the heat increasing more than normal, and we cannot stand idly waiting the world change by itself. We must act, in a planned way, aiming for sustainability, to reach out a quiet life, in a more pleasant living environment that allows us to observe how truly beautiful our planet is.
And remembering the lyric of some Brazilian song that says “Earth: Water Planet”, we must keep caring so that she never misses this honorable title.