Song 364 – Impure Waters

By July 24, 2018Songs

The image shows Eldon Schmutz showing me how to water witch on Jeff and Paula Jurinak’s property east of Richfield, Utah. Since we moved back to Cedar City, water has been a them in many of my discussions and activities. Well before we moved to Cedar City I became involved in the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District: log of activities; 19 September 2005 Presentation; 04 May 2006 Presentation; 06 June 2006 Presentation; data to recommend MX-Missile water, rather than Lake Powell Water;  Keynote Talk at SUU Annual Research Symposium 18 November 2013; Field Trip Notes 18 November 2013; SUU Talk for CICWCD 22 September 2014; Presentation to Iron County Commissioners on 11 July 2016; Presentation to Rotary, 06 September 2016; Presentation to Iron County Historical Society 08 March 2017; videos of Joseph Armstrong water witching 17 July 2017; etc. This song is about water, within the bounds of the last words of the 3rd and 4th lines of each of the 7 verses being “scum” and “sun” respectively. It ties in Joseph Smith’s question: “How long can rolling waters remain impure.” It talks about the danger of falling water, and about the beauty water reflects of nature. It talks about how too many forget their baptismal covenants and asks “How long can clean waters remain pure?” It points out how rain water washes away the trash, and how rising water warns us to move, especially when fast water floods the earth. Note this song was written on the 2nd of December 2014, shortly after we had moved from Houston. I had felt there was going to be major problems in Houston, which was part of my willingness to move to Utah (Song 362 – The Move). Note there were 500-year floods in Houston at Memorial Day in both 2015 and in 2016, and then the enormous devastation of Hurricane Harvey 25 August 2017. Note a 500-year flood is not something that happens once in 500 years. Rather it is an event that has a 1-in-500 chance of occurring in any given year. I was very glad we were not in Houston during and following Harvey. I had thought the problems would be riots and social unrest. I feel very sorry for my friends and colleagues in Houston who struggled with impure waters.

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