What's In Your Water?

On Friday, January 5th Ernesto Reyes, Supervisory Fish & Wildlife Biologist for the Alamo Ecological Service, presented "What's in Your Water?" as part of EWBC's Friday Night with a Naturalist Series.

The focus of this months topic is water quality and the impact consumers have on this resource that can affect the quality of life for humans and wildlife alike.

Reyes describes how only 1% of the worlds water is drinkable making it one of our most valuable natural resources found on earth. Ocean or sea water makes up the largest portion of water (97%) but like frozen water, it is unsuitable for drinking.

He states, "Since we are limited to the amount of water available, maintaining the health of rivers and lakes is essential. In fact we have already seen the damage contaminated river water can do to the wildlife; mutations among amphibians occur, fish kills become frequent, and low birth rates being to develop."

Listed below are a few simple steps Reyes suggests we can take to preserve this precious resource and to protect ourselves from the long term effects of contaminated water:

1.) Reduce the amount of cleaners, detergents, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals used in our household.
2.) Dispose of chemicals and medication appropriately by reading all directions on labels before disposale.
3.) Educate yourself and others on the effects of harmful chemicals and learn more about runoffs.