by Isha Rajput

What’s in our tap?.......The Tuolumne River!!

The Tuolumne River from California supplies water and habitats for countless organisms, including you and me. Think of all that usage for water! With all these people and organisms using water, the Tuolumne River is facing a new challenge: It will start to become polluted and unhealthy.  What can we do to save this caring river? Think about what you did throughout your day. Did you possibly waste any water? Now think about if everyone wasted water. We couldn’t use the clean and fresh water we get from our tap! The Tuolumne River is especially important to the plants and animals that depend on it for food and shelter. Without the Tuolumne River, these organisms would have nowhere to live and nothing to eat.

How?

Every single droplet from your tap is a droplet that should be appreciated with great care. We as humans have so many needs for water, that sometimes, we don’t realize that we can reuse the same water again. Around your community, try using these effective ways to conserve water:

1. Turn off water in the tap, when you are not using it.
2. Take shorter showers.
3. Check for any leaks in equipment using water.
4. Recycle water

Anyone can make a difference, and it all starts with someone ready to help out. Be that someone in your community, and help the Tuolumne River.

    Inspire Others by Sharing What You Know

My knowledge might not go as far as you can go with conserving water for the Tuolumne River. To give you a mental picture of the scenery in the Tuolumne, here are some facts I know about the river. The Tuolumne River is home to many animals, such as the Foothill Yellow Legged frog, mountain lions, and Chinook Salmon. Day to day, you can watch these creatures in their natural habitat. Green plants are found on the banks of the river, which are food to many other creatures. If you listen closely, you can hear the soft calls of the birds, the buzzing of little critters, and the ripples of the water. From Mount Lyell in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne River flows 162 miles long, until it intersects with the San Joaquin River. Along the way, a lot of the fresh water in the Tuolumne River collects in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. 

That’s where a lot of our tap water comes from. Usually, we only think about the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but never the source that provides the water for the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. That’s why the Tuolumne River is so important. Ways we use this water is to:

1. Water our crops
2. Drink
3. Power objects that use electricity.
   

To make sure we have enough water to fulfill these needs, and many more, we have to be the ones that prevent the Tuolumne River from becoming unhealthy.

Expand your Knowledge, Visit Nature

Another way to learn about the Tuolumne River is to visit nature. After all, the Tuolumne River is a part of nature. I really enjoy nature, especially when my family and I go to Yosemite. We all wake up early to explore the forest of giant redwoods that seemed to touch the sky. Little frilly, green pine needles are stuck to the branches that stretch out towards us. The earth below us is moist, rocky, and a bit dry, and the morning air is a damp and fresh scent of pine needles. Some rivers and creeks flow by with some sounds of the water crashing on nearby rocks. It is an overwhelming experience.

Why?

As I talked about before, we need the Tuolumne River for various reasons. We, as humans only get about 1% of earth’s water due to the fact that the rest is frozen or is salt water. With the population up high, water that is fresh is soon becoming harder to get. By conserving water, we can achieve the goal of keeping the Tuolumne River healthy, so that it can supply us with the water we need.

Water Tu-ol-u-mne and Tu-ol-u-you, thanks to the Tuolumne River!!!