"Water: The Drop of Life" is a classic television series that presents a unique global exploration of what is predicted to be the biggest issue in the 21st century: coping with the scarcity of fresh water. The story of water is told with the help of global personalities, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Kofi Annan, The Dalai Lama, President Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, Queen Noor of Jordan, Ted Danson and Isabel Allende. Their combined insights guide the series from beginning to end as it looks at the past, present and future of water. Episode 1, "Body and Soul" looks at the sacred and practical properties of water. Water is vital for life, supplying life with its energy. A Tukano Indian in the basin once compared water on earth with the blood in our veins. In a wide variety of religions and cultures, water is considered to be sacred and has symbolic value. In this episode, we look at the spiritual role of water in different cultures. In a Japanese tea ceremony, the washing and rinsing of each bowl, each utensil, before making the tea, symbolizes "purity." In Bali, a priest performs a blessing with holy water, and uses water to safeguard the coming harvest. In Japan, Shinto priests use water in a ritual of purification and initiation. We also see elaborate rites in the River Jordan where Christian pilgrims are being baptized. Also known as the "City of Death," Varanasi is a place where millions from all over India come for the ritual of endings and of beginnings: cremation. In the second half of the episode, we learn how our need for daily water takes many forms. The most basic is biological. When pushed to the limit, one can survive for nearly a month without food. But, without water, a person may die in less than a week. From daily necessity to liquid extravagance, from simple chores to full-tilt recreation, the different geographical areas in the world, together with the standard to life, determine to a great extent how much water is available per household. Three families from three different countries are shown using their household water in dramatically different ways. The series profiles the daily water use of a family in Valencia, Spain -- a modern city now facing the modern realities of water rationing. Why does a family in Namibia have to save every drop of water, while a household in a similar climate -- Phoenix, Arizona -- uses hundreds of times more water? In the three places where these families live, local campaigns to promote water conservation are set up. In Namibia, we see an extreme example: it is the only country in the world that purifies sewage water, and then distributes it back to consumers.
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