Connection Of People To The Water

Water is a basic necessity of life and its availability in adequate quantity and quality is necessary for people, environment, eco-system and economy. Historically, water is a primary factor which affects the creation of settlements, towns and cities. People tend to form their dwellings near the fresh water resources. Therefore in order to sustain, we must sustain our water resources. In today’s world, lot of attention has been drawn to preserving the water resources, not only preserving but also rehabilitating the existing degraded water resource.

Connection of people to the water is same as the connection of the body to the soul. Both cannot live in isolation. Whether it is civilization of Mesopotamia, Indus Valley or Egypt, each of them had very strong social and cultural connections with their respective rivers which were River Tigris and Euphrates, River Indus and River Nile respectively. Architect Christopher Alexander said in his book, A pattern Language: “Our lives are diminished if we cannot establish rich and abiding contact with water.”

Earlier civilizations had greater contact with water, simply because of its role in their basic survival. The Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indus and Mesopotamian civilizations developed along river deltas, and they constructed decorative ponds and canals, which also doubled as irrigation canals and places like fish farming and agricultural farming. They also used to celebrate their social, ceremonial and play areas with large, open and spectacular displays. Many of their features were adorned with elaborate sculptures or fancy water features.

Water has also been a sacred element in some religions like Islam. “Aab-e-Zamzam” is believed to be sacred water which has many benefits. Hindus believe water of “Ganges River” is sacred and it will wash their sins if they will take bath into it.

In today’s modern world people find water bodies as a relaxing point where they can relax and delight themselves from serenity of the water. It is evident that connection of human being to the water has been developed from the creation of the mankind and people consider water more than a basic necessity, they have developed social ties with the water around them. Even in the today’s modern world, people tend to have some sort of connection to the water bodies such as streams, rivers or sea. This connection may be only type of recreational, or it may also be cultural and social because people may have some life events, stories or memories linked to such water bodies.