Conserving water and the “Largest Water Fight” in Vancouver

So I learned about the fact that today, a flashmob attempting to created the “Largest Water Fight” happened in Vancouver at Stanley Park. I have spent the last 13 years of my life working to reduce both the amount of water wasted as well as to increase the quality of water in every single region of the world that I have lived in and undertaken research on. So it’s hard for me to be comfortable with, be happy with or even remotely support a a flashmob that engages in a waste of the vital liquid. I know that I’ll be criticized for (in turn) criticizing a fun activity like this. After all, well, it’s summer in Vancouver, it’s hot, “we have lots of water here in Canada (this is, by the way, a complete myth, as anybody who has looked at my work on water stress and water scarcity will attest). Sure, conserving water might not seem like it’s going to do anything for people who already are experiencing water scarcity. But witnessing people engaging in irresponsible behaviours and wasteful practices towards water are exactly the kinds of things that irk me. As I suggested on Twitter, instead of doing a flashmob to waste water against each other, how about a flashmob to raise funds towards water wells? In the interest of giving everyone a voice, chime here in the comments. I might be offline for a while so if your comment is not approved yet, don’t think I’ve blocked it, it will appear eventually!