Water is seen as one of the indispensable elements of life, perhaps the most dramatic of the primary conditions of life. Water has been an essential natural element of our settlements throughout history, from the first collective settlement established in the oldest record of humanity to agricultural societies, from agrarian societies to industrial societies and today's technology metropolises. In addition, it is known that the first of the components that today's space agencies look for signs of life outside Earth is the presence or trace of water. For instance, NASA has shown some chemicals, water, energy and climate as criteria for tracking life on Mars (Kaufman, 2022). With such an important component for life, human's long adventure with water should be examined in order to reveal what stages humanity has gone through and the final point reached.

As it is known, the first and later settlements were established near freshwater resources (UN Water, 2022). The first people who set out from the African continent spread over the Ganges river and its surroundings, Mesopotamia, the Nile delta and many other geographies and established new settlements (National Geographic, 2022). One of the dramatic reasons for the migration is drought and the reduction of resources triggered by it (Drake, 2017). The search and discovery of fertile land brought along the establishment of new residential areas which became a centre of attraction. For this reason, the population that needs to be fed has increased, the need for food and water resources has increased with the population.

While humanity's need for water resources in ancient settlements increased, water resources began to decrease in settlements due to intensive use. Therefore, the search for new water sources began. There were new resources found. However, a new problem arose: water resources were far from ancient cities... It is possible to see the solution they came up with to overcome this problem in the form of canals and aqueducts today. Humans started to transport water from its source to settlements and develop aqueducts. The most striking examples are the vast aqueducts built during the Roman Empire. In order to meet the water needs of the growing city of Rome, ancient Roman engineers were able to bring water to Roman houses, palaces, baths and many other structures from new freshwater sources they found outside of Rome. On the other hand, the ancient Egyptians calculated the Nile flood periods, built canals and irrigated the entire Nile delta to turn the Nile delta into the most significant agricultural area in the world for that period. This became the most critical touchstone in the rise of ancient Egyptian civilization. As agricultural societies are beginning to complete their development, they have also started to explore the ability to derive power from the life-giving properties of water. Inventions, machines and all other new products that developed with the Renaissance, we got power from the steam and flow of water and operated the machines. This was one of the first indicators that water would be used in industry as well as agriculture.

In our industrialized world, the energy demand has started to increase day by day to keep the wheels turning. With this demand, the increase in the need for new alternatives instead of steam power would introduce humanity to electricity, a new type of energy that would change the world from beginning to end. Electricity began to take place first in residences and then in industry. With the invention of electricity and the water tribunes developed to ensure continuity, water has now started to provide energy to people. In this way, a new structure entered people's lives after the aqueducts and canals. Dams... For more power, people built dams on rivers, created huge lakes, and produced energy. They established new and modern water transmission lines and started to rinse mega agricultural areas. In addition, it has begun to use water as a leading role in product production processes in industrial areas.

In light of all this information, will the life that started with water, and developed civilization, end with water?

Of course, discussing a few issues before answering this question would be helpful. Especially recently, typhoons in many parts of the world warned metropolises of deadly threats. According to the data published by Colorado State University, hurricanes, storms and floods occur worldwide (Colorado State University, 2022).

But if we look at the other side of the coin, what will we see? What if water threatens our civilizations with its absence? According to the Global Drought Observer, it is reported that more than 50 drought events occur each year, and more than 7,000 drought events had occurred since 1950 when records began to be kept (European Commission, 2022).

To sum up, water is both defined as one of the most critical components that make up the beginning of life, and it has a devastating effect due to the rapid and unplanned development of humans. However, its absence has the potential to cause more significant problems. For this reason, for the continuation of our civilization, humanity needs to review water planning, establish more efficient transportation systems while delivering water to settlements, develop education policies for the efficient use of water, take action worldwide, develop cities that adapt to climate change and maintain the water cycle.

References:

Colorado State University. (2022, October 10). Global Historical Tropical Cyclone Statistics. Retrieved from http://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/Realtime/index.php?arch&loc=global

Drake, B. L. (2017, April 27). Changes in North Atlantic Oscillation drove Population Migrations and the Collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Nature: Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01289-z

European Commission. (2022, October 10). Global Drought Observatory. Retrieved from https://emergency.copernicus.eu/downloads/CEMS_PosterGDO_2021.pdf

Kaufman, M. (2022, Oct. 12). Life, Here and Beyond. NASA: Retrieved from https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/

National Geographic. (2022, October 10). Global Human Journey. National Geographic: Retrieved from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/global-human-journey

UN Water. (2022, October 16). Water and Ecosystems. UN Water: Retrieved from https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-and-ecosystems

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