It's the water!

Glenn Harper

Gloria Towne | All Around Towne Photography

When I think of what makes Thurston County and Western Washington a great place to live, for me, it comes down to the water. Puget Sound, rivers, lakes waterfalls and the surf of the Pacific Ocean nearby. The abundant rainfall keeps forests and vegetation green, while recharging the lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers for the artesian wells. 

All life on Earth requires water. When you consider that 60 percent of our bodies are water and our lives depend on a steady supply, it should come as no surprise that water features so prominently in cultures around the world. It’s speculated that our primal need to seek out water accounts for our fascination  and valuation of gems and precious metals because their glistening reminds us of light reflecting on water. 

Water is a big part of religious and philosophical traditions worldwide from baptism to immersing cremation ashes in the Ganges. If you look at it a certain way, we ourselves are bodies of water, being composed of a circulatory system resembling rivers and tributary streams. As we age, our bodies often experience hydrological ailments such as silting up and springing leaks. 

I try to walk alongside a river or stream every day as part of my mental hygiene regimen. Watching bubbles in a stream one day, I was struck by their journeys as a metaphor for life — some are large, some are small. Some gather together in foam, some travel alone. Some pop right away, some carry on downstream and out of sight. Whatever their particular journey, when they can no longer maintain physical integrity, they burst and water returns to water and air returns to air. Maybe our matter returns to matter and our spirit returns to spirit? 

On average, 50-60 percent of all the food we eat is water (1) and many times the weight of the actual food in water is required to grow it (2). Water shortages in the United States are driven by severe droughts, climate change, and overused river basins — particularly threatening the Southwest where critical multi-state agreements govern the Colorado River (3). The Southwest produces more than half of the nation's high-value specialty crops for direct human consumption, including over one-third of its vegetables and nearly all its specialized fruits, nuts, and berries. 

We are truly blessed to have abundant freshwater. I suggest supporting more local food production to provide some protection from supply disruption from regions that may no longer able to grow the vegetables in our supermarkets. Local food also has the benefit of helping our local economy providing  jobs that might not pay a lot in money, but are more soul satisfying than other occupations that don’t produce such an essential life-sustaining product. 

My favorite local body of water (other than my own) is Tumwater Falls. I walk along the Deschutes River at the Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls almost every day. With so many challenging situations bombarding us in the media, it’s nice to have place to go and let the sights and sounds of running water wash the world’s troubles out of my head. 

The running water creates negative oxygen ions through the "Lenard effect," a physical process where splashing and colliding water droplets break apart and transfer free electrons to surrounding oxygen molecules in the air. This is why we find high concentrations of negative ions near waterfalls, rivers, and ocean surf. (4) Inhaling these ions is linked to higher oxygen flow to the brain, increased serotonin production, and a boosted sense of alertness and calm. (5) 

Sometime after Labor Day, the Chinook salmon will be welcomed back to the Tumwater Falls Hatchery (6). This is always an amazing, life-affirming event. 

From an Olympia Tumwater Foundation press release: “Unlike many public parks, Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls is privately owned and maintained by the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. The park logged more than 271,000 visits in 2025, yet the park operates without ongoing government operating support. 

Friends of the Falls was created to give community members a meaningful way to support the park they love.” 

“Tumwater Falls is one of the most beloved places in our region,” said Lee Wojnar, President of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation. “Friends of the Falls gives the community an opportunity to play a direct role in preserving and strengthening this special place for future generations.” 

The membership program offers several levels of participation beginning at $10 per month. For the details, click here. 

To learn more about the park and all its programs and events, click here.

What’s your favorite local body of water? Feel free to share it in the comments. 

Glenn Harper provides support in aging and end of life. He is Chair of the Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council and board member of the Senior Action Network. He facilitates several free Death Cafe and Elderhood Roundtable gatherings in the area where Elders are invited to talk about difficult topics in a nonjudgmental space. Learn more about these events here.