As a child, I had a bit of a thing about running water, especially streams in woodlands, and waterfalls, none of which were part of my immediate landscape. I was late learning to swim, so I wasn't keen on the idea of doing more than getting my feet wet. I was drawn to small streams, and to the one spring I knew about.
Where I live now, there are a lot of streams, small rivers and springs. The springs in particular change with the weather conditions, with even the more reliable ones drying up sometimes, and new ones appearing briefly in unexpected places when there's been a lot of rain. There are several streams and a spring in very short walking distance from my home. If I'm equal to going a few miles, a lot of wilder water is available to me.
I find encountering the sound of water to be really powerful. How much water is on the move greatly informs the sound. The small river / large stream nearest to me is almost inaudible when it is swollen. In drier conditions, there are weirs, and the water makes a lot of noise when it is shallow and passing over them. The canal only makes sounds around the lock gates and where there are water management features. The lakes are quiet.
Getting into wild water is something I find appealing, but I'm also conscious that it can do a lot of damage. That can include erosion of banks, adding chemicals to the water - not that there's ever much on my skin, and moving diseases around. We had a few years when crayfish diseases were an issue locally and there were a lot of signs requesting people stayed out of the water to avoid spreading that. Sometimes it is more than enough just to put a hand in the water, and to feel the coldness of it, and the flow.
I've always found wild water to be spiritual, and connecting with it and experiencing it has a soothing, uplifting effect on me. I try not to fetishise what seems to be wild - most of the water in the UK is managed in some way. Many of the streams where I live were straightened for early water mills, some of the ponds are millponds. They still support a lot of wildlife, and there's a lot of aliveness in that water even if it has been interfered with. There is something wonderful though about water that declines to be managed, though. I take great delight in water that is not behaving inline with human expectations.
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