Cheers! Raise a glass of high-quality H2O for World Water Day. This is one day that I truly feel the need to celebrate. Water is something of a theme in my life. Beyond it being approximately 60% of my body and 73% of my brain, my middle name is Waters, I am a water sign (Cancer), and at my first engineering job, I was affectionately referred to as “Water Dude” by some in the office. Even my last name is derived from the Scottish translation for Mouth of the River Roe (Monroe).
As a kid, I used to help my dad install (and repair) our spring-fed water system, hike around our family property and stop to sip water from the free-flowing pipes at each spring interspersed throughout the hillside, get out the pick and shovel to clean out ditches and cut water-bars during heavy rains, and, yes, get upwind when it was time to call the septic pumper.
And now, whether it is onsite septic, process wastewater, sewer, drinking water from wells or tap, or shaping the land for controlled and clean stormwater drainage and runoff, WATER remains a huge part of my life.
Windy thunderstorms still excite me (although preferably not dry lightning in the summer) and atmospheric rivers, with their swollen streams and ditches, bring me as much comfort as a sunny spring day.
From most every way that I look at it, water is wonderful and something to be celebrated. Happy Water Day! – Ben Monroe
