Season of Creation We are Living Waters Week 4

The poor and needy search for water but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.” – Isaiah 41:17

From: Fortune Magazine

Largest U.S. reservoir plummets to lowest level since it was filled some 90 yeas ago as water crisis deepens for western states.

By Ty O’Neil, Dorany Pineda, and the Associated Press

August 8, 2026, https://fortune.com/2026/08/08/largest-us-reservoir-lake-mead-record-low-level-water-crisis-western-states/

From the article: “Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system. The record follows a winter that produced the worst snowpack on record in the Colorado River Basis. Melting snow feeds the river which is relied upon by farmers, industries, wildlife, hydropower producers and more than 40 million people across seven U.S. states, tribal nations, and Mexico.”

Even though only 2% of the earth’s water is available for human consumption, and while we are misusing it, the world will still have drinkable water in 2030. However, global demand is projected to exceed reliable freshwater supplies by 40%. This means severe water scarcity and unequal access will negatively affect billions of people around the world. Billions of people, especially in vulnerable and dry regions, currently face water shortages for at least one month every year.

If we didn’t know before, we now know the causes of this crisis. Water is viewed by too many people as a commodity, something to be used, something to be sold, to be part of the capitalist system. We know agriculture and heavy industry require massive amounts of freshwater. With the construction of data centers for AI (artificial intelligence) in the U.S. even more water will be consumed to cool these centers which can be between 300,000 to 5 million gallons a day depending on the size of the center.

While many countries have taken steps to stop pollution of water sources, untreated wastewater and toxic chemical runoff still contaminate local water supplies. And finally, there is climate change which disrupts rainfall, causes glacial melting and intensifies droughts.

We are one with the waters of creation.
We are one with each other through the waters of creation.
We are Living Waters.

All of this affects us, our bodies because we are one with the water. While our bodies are approximately 60% water, this is what our organs need:

Lungs: 83%
Heart and Brain: 73%
Muscles and Kidneys: 79%
Skin: 64%
Bones: 31%

To maintain our bodies, we need to stay hydrated – where is that water coming from? Is that water clean? How do we know? As we learned, too many people drink, bathe, and use water that is polluted, contributing to disease and death. Without clean and available water, we are harming ourselves.

Let us pray: Prayer of Lament – Keepers of the Water Vigil by Ellen Goulden, Diocese of Toronto (2017)

Creator and Life-giver, You water the furrows of the earth abundantly, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth, and we clear-cut the forests and till the edges of the fields, until the soil spills into the streams and pesticides and manure make foul the rivers.

O Source of Living Water, hear our cry, cleanse and renew us and all creation.

In every part of the earth, You have set humans to tend and steward the land as a goodly heritage, and the First Peoples of this land are poisoned with mercury from pulp mills and cannot safely drink the water in their own homes.

O Source of Living Water, hear our cry, cleanse and renew us and all creation.

You make springs to gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, giving drink to every creature, and we span those streams with pipelines that rupture and leak, oozing oil and bitumen, poisoning the fish and the birds of the air.