By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

The power of water

We all take things for granted. And then we get the wake-up call. In this case, it’s all about water -- the clean water we drink and cleanse ourselves with, and the murky water that gains speed and power, devastating our cities.

Fifteen years ago, my wife and I were living in an apartment near downtown Des Moines and working at The Des Moines Register. When the floods of 1993 pounded the metro, we felt the affects at home and at work. Our apartment lost power, and then water. The Register building lost both as well. At home, we learned to appreciate the water wagon that our apartment manager hauled in. Although we couldn’t drink or bathe with it, we were able to fill five-gallon pails to take to our bathroom to help the toilets flush. We gained the same respect at work. The presses were down, power was out and let’s just say we all got to know the flashlight path to the kaibos in the garage area quite well. Floods or not, there was much work to be done. We all learned that water demands -- and deserves -- our respect.

After 15 years, we tend to forget about things. This past week was a stark reminder. I realize some who are cleaning up from the mess don’t want to hear this, but we got lucky this time. Our friends in other parts of the state aren’t faring so well.

The Register did a good job covering the floods. Each local television station did, too. We even posted photos and updates on our Web site, but we struggled with how to cover the subject in these pages. We had a hunch that by the time this paper would get in your hands, most of the water would have receded, and Central Iowans would be bitching about the mosquitoes instead.

Even so, we couldn’t let a week pass without covering this historic and unfortunate disaster.

The flooding also changed our plans. Our Cityview Brewfest event was to be held last Saturday downtown, but water was flowing instead of beer. Knowing that our friends who helped us put on this event were dealing with more pressing matters, we all decided to postpone. We plan to reschedule and will let you know as we work out the details.

Thanks for reading.

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