The water is so invitingly clear, I’m tempted to sip. Knowing I’m very likely to get sick if I do, I resist the urge. But this sends me down a familiar line of thinking. I am constantly in awe, in a terrible kind of way, that to be alive today—almost anywhere—is to exist in a world of poisoned water. There have always been parasites and pathogens that can foul water and make humans sick, but that we must also constantly assume the water around us has been contaminated heavily by industrial waste, sewage, or runoff is a dystopia we’ve been habituated to.
