Water is connected to (almost) everything

July is water theme month at Uusi kuopiolainen, because water is connected to almost everything around us. It is connected — to name just a few examples — to tap water, bottled water, sparkling water, coffee water, tea water, washing, rinsing, parboiling, steaming, boiling, spilling, splashing, using water freely, floating, getting wet, drying, droplets, the kitchen sink, washing hands, bathtubs, showers, toilet bowls, water charges, pipe renovations, leaking taps, water damage, swelling floors, mould, rusting, laundry, carpet washing, watering cans, rainwater barrels, garden hoses, drought, thirst, sweating, urinating, kidneys, tears, saliva, blood, amniotic fluid, birth, the fact that the human body is largely made of water, swimming skills, swimming lessons, beaches, swimming pools, spas, saunas, löyly, ice holes, piers, life rings, drowning, thin ice, currents, all kinds of clouds, drizzle, sleet, snow, ice, fog, mist, rainbows, thunder, waves, the roar of rapids, the murmur of a brook, the dripping of a tap, the gurgle of a drain, lakes, rivers, brooks, small streams, ponds, seas, bays, straits, peninsulas, islands, islets, skerries, shores, open lake waters, open seas, cottage shores, shoreline rocks, bridges, harbours, boats, oars, sails, floating sauna rafts, canoeing, rowing, stand-up paddleboarding, fishing, ice fishing, vendace, perch, pikeperch, ducks, black-throated divers, swans, frogs, dragonflies, plankton, the now nearly vanished leeches, algae, water lilies, reed beds, shoreline reeds, mires, wetlands, springs, groundwater, blue-green algae, eutrophication, microplastics, littered shores, dredging, shoreline construction, hydropower, dams, fish ladders, mills, log floating, tar rowing, old washing places by the water, wells, steamboats, winter, spring and autumn floods, heat, heavy rains, glaciers, icebergs, warming seas, rising sea levels, holy water, consecrated water, baptism with water, waterboarding, purification, the memory of water, fear of water, staying afloat, ending up in the deep end, being like a chip on the waves, coming up empty-handed, watertight explanations, the names of places and people around us, memories, the body, the landscape, language, and everything we usually fail to notice until water is missing, rising, freezing, polluted or carrying something away.