Source of Life

From the ocean down to the tiniest droplet, water is the essence of our entire planet

The miracle, beauty and natural wonder of water.

 THE RAINY SEASON in East Timor starts in December. The rivers on the Southeast Asian island swell with up to 3000 litres of rain per square metre until they burst their banks. Sweeping along vast quantities of soil and debris, the floodwaters create a spectacular border as they hit the sea: muddy river water on one side and azure blue ocean on the other. The fish seem to like it, too, as vast shoals magically appear – much to the delight of East Timor anglers.

 AN ORDINARY CUMULUS CLOUD of roughly one cubic kilometre in size holds around 300,000 litres of liquid water, while a towering thundercloud may carry as much as 18 million litres. But for the residents of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, a heavy downpour remains nothing but a pipedream. The cotton woollike layer of clouds enveloping the skyline of the desert metropolis usually just evaporates. And when it does rain, very little falls. Less than 100 litres per square metre falls here – and that’s per year!

 SEEN FROM ABOVE, the floating islands off the coast of Lanzarote, Canary Islands, do not look like cages. But if you take a closer look, you can make out the large, fenced tanks used to breed fish in their natural environment. This process of underwater animal farming is called aquaculture and is designed to help feed our planet’s steadily growing population. However, the farms are also set up in marine reserves and the waste products they generate contaminate the seawater, making them a rather controversial method of fish farming.

 SURFING PROBABLY ORIGINATED in Polynesia. Cave paintings there show people riding on waves as far back as the 12th century – presumably without a board, though. It was most likely the Hawaiians who added the surfboard to give the surfer more buoyancy. Hawaii also hosts the annual World Surfing Championships every December. Surfing through the wave in our photo is Brazilian Gabriel Medina, who missed out on his third World Championship title by a whisker to take second place in 2019.

 EVEN ANTS GET THIRSTY! Creepy-crawlies love a good drop of water, especially in very arid regions. Photographer Analiza Daran De Guzman thought the same thing when she put some water out for the creatures in her garden in the Philippines. Nobody knows exactly how much they drink, but if the insects do the same as they do with food, they would drink as much as they can and then regurgitate the liquid again inside the anthill. Not only would they satisfy their own thirst, but also look after the rest of the colony.

 THIS FARMER IN MYANMAR built a waterwheel so that he could safely reach the waters of the river below. The principle is similar to that of a mill: the force of the flowing water moves the wooden barriers attached to the wheel. But unlike most mills, this wheel is not used to drive something like a millstone. All it does is carry the water from the bottom to the top, using bamboo canes.