Jack Byrnes

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Jack Byrnes
Grade 8 – Mrs.Rigas
Immaculate Conception School
24 Maple Avenue
Wellsville, NY 14895
(585) 593-5840

“A Day Without Water”

The computer announces into my ear, “We have arrived.” I climb out of my cryosleep casket, and say, “Where are we?” The computer responds, “Third planet from the star Sol, this planet has a thick atmosphere, but very little life. There are signs of water in the past, and of ice caps at the poles.” “What happened?”, “No major causes, such as an asteroid strike, but it may have been disease.” The computer informs me. “OK.” I say, and walk outside, outside, it is scorching hot, and I see no movement, or anything to break up the scenery, until, far off in the distance, I see ruins, large rectangular buildings, rising into the sky, but falling apart and broken. Nearby I see a cracked, black, paved surface, and decide this must be the remains of a road. The inhabitants of this world, they must have died off long ago, and for them, this is a day without water, and without life.
My vision for the future of water safety in Allegany County would be to improve upon the systems we already have in place, and to keep what we already have protected. To improve upon what we currently have, we could replace our current town water cleaning systems with Ultra Violet filters; this is an improvement, as it puts no chemicals, like chlorine, into the water. It also can kill any waterborne pathogens, like other methods, without the harmful chemicals. To keep what we already have protected, we should educate the public on how water can become polluted and unsafe, as well as the dangers of certain drilling methods, such as tracking. If such a problem were to arise, an educated public would be able to rise up, and keep our water systems safe. This is my vision, and how we, as a county, can make our water systems even safer, and keep them protected for years and generations to come.