Water: A Privilege

The Sierra Club Cup: designed in 1905 to dip water from mountain streams
in the American West. Source: "On the Power of the Sierra Club Cup."

When you are thirsty, all you normally need to do is take a glass of water from a container or a built-in spigot in your refrigerator, from a water tap at your kitchen sink, or from a handy water bottle. Maybe you have been on a walk in the woods or in a desert where you had to wait a while for a drink, but most of us in the privileged world (where bloggers mainly live) assume that we'll always have water when we need it. Until the mid-twentieth century, even when hiking in the wilderness you could drink water from streams if they were flowing quickly, but it's no longer safe to do so.

World Central Kitchen delivers water in Maui after the fire. (source)

After a natural disaster, restoration of purified water is one of the top priorities, as we have been reminded by reporting on several recent fires, floods, and hurricanes. Residents in some areas of Maui have been warned not to drink the water until the results of the fire on groundwater are fully analyzed (source). Hurricane Idalia may have contaminated well water and municipal water supplies with toxic chemicals and bacteria; residents in its path have been warned to have wells tested and to wait for authorities to certify the safety of tap or well water. Relief organizations are supplying bottled water to those who need it in these circumstances.

Ann Arbor Water Treatment Plant

At least five US cities are at risk of losing their water treatment capabilities according to an article on CNN: “At the rate our climate is changing, America’s water infrastructure is not equipped to handle the challenges to come,” (source). Several US cities have already experienced disasters when water treatment facilities failed, the most drastic being Flint, Michigan, where residents were without safe tap water from 2014-2019, and where the crisis continues in some neighborhoods.

The New York Times reports “America is using up its groundwater” — as aquifers in many states are depleted, both water for agriculture and drinking water for many regions is becoming unavailable. “A little more than one-third of America’s total volume of drinking water comes from groundwater, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. … Of the nation’s 143,070 water systems, 128,362 rely primarily on groundwater, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.” Recently, permits for new construction of housing near Phoenix were discontinued because underground water was not adequate. Areas in Utah; Long Island, New York; and Norfolk, Virginia are among those already severely affected by over-used groundwater. 

Overall, residents of the US and many other countries are generally supplied with safe and abundant drinking water. But the brutal fact is that around one quarter of the world's population lacks access to safe water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. (source) 

In sum: water is a privilege, and unlimited water use cannot continue, either for agriculture nor for the residents of large cities. Careful use of drinking water by our human predecessors is often overlooked when history is written; for example, the creation of vessels for transporting and storing water by the Native Americans who lived in the arid areas of North America.

Paiute Water Bottle Baskets from 1880-1900. The Paiute tribes made very fine woven
water containers, sometimes treated with pitch, and traded them to other tribes.
Source: National Museum of the American Indian.

Remembering the Sierra Club Cup

To return for a moment to the Sierra Club Cup, a reminder of the early days of a long tradition of American outdoor camping and exploration. At that time for campers out west, water was safe and easy to find, and you could drink it straight from a stream. Outdoorsmen and women in the early 20th century loved the cold, fresh taste of snowmelt as they hiked the high mountain trails.

Sierra Club cups are still in use. You can buy them from the Sierra Club in the original design by John Muir (1838-1914), Sierra Club founder. The cups were made of tin; this changed to stainless steel after World War II. The shallow shape and the hooked handle for carrying on your belt or backpack strap are unchanged. You can buy many versions of this iconic item on Amazon.com today, mostly made of stainless steel, but also in other materials: even titanium!

"Muir was famous for trekking through the wilderness with 'only a tin cup, a handful of tea, a loaf of bread, and a copy of Emerson.' This tin cup eventually evolved into the sierra club cup." (source)

Blog post © 2023 mae sander

Photos as credited

Shared with Elizabeth's weekly celebration of beverages.