AM Tris Hardyanto

THE WELL THAT WE BORROW FROM CHILDREN WHO HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO ASK FOR

A Story of Water, Time, and Responsibility That Flows Beyond Generations

Water is not lost in one day.

He went away quietly, until the future became thirsty.

Great tragedies often come silently. It doesn't always start with floods that destroy cities, droughts that kill fields, or wells that dry up. In contrast, tragedy is often born long before, when small signs begin to appear but are considered commonplace. When the river is a little shallower, the rain is a little more erratic, and man is too busy with his progress to listen to what nature is saying.

In a small village, a girl grew up with an old well that stood in the yard of her family's house. Every morning he saw his mother drawing water for cooking. Every afternoon he plays near the river that flows not far from home. Water is as much a part of his life as the air he lives and the sunlight that shines on his days. He never asked where the water came from. And no one felt the need to explain. Because for everyone in the village, water is always there.

Perhaps that is the beginning of many human errors.

We tend to keep what we're afraid of losing, but often ignore what we think will always be available. Since the well was always full, the river was always flowing, and the rain was always coming, people began to believe that it was all certainty. They forget that nature never promises immortality. He just gave him a chance.

Year after year passed. Villages develop into small towns. The streets were widened. The residential area is increasing. Wetlands that used to absorb rainwater are slowly turning into buildings. Forests are decreasing. The river is narrowed to make room for development. All of those changes look like progress. And indeed many lives have become easier. However, every convenience turns out to have a price that is not immediately visible.

At first nature only whispers.

The river is slightly lower.

The soil cracks a little faster.

The seasons are a little more difficult to predict.

But humans rarely listen to whispers. We often wait until nature screams.

Then the scream came. It rained heavier than many people ever remembered. Floods overflowed onto roads, houses, and farmland. When the flood receded, drought followed. The reservoir shrunk. The well becomes deeper. Farmers had to pump further underground to find water that was once easy to obtain. In different parts of the world, people are beginning to face the same reality: water can no longer be considered a certainty.

But the problem doesn't stop at the amount of water. Below the surface of the ground, other threats move invisibly. Nitrate from agriculture, PFAS known as forever chemicals, pesticides, drug residues, and various micropollutants slowly enter rivers and aquifers. Water is still available, but its quality is getting more and more expensive to restore. More and more cities are having to spend huge sums just to produce drinking water that nature used to provide for free.

Scientists have actually long warned against this. Hydrologists have measured the subsidence of groundwater. Engineers have modeled the risk of flooding and drought. Researchers have shown how climate change is changing water patterns that for hundreds of years have been the basis of human planning. Data availability. Maps are available. Evidence is available.

But as long as the water is still coming out of the tap, most people feel the future can still wait.

Years later, the girl had grown up. One morning he opened the faucet in his house as he always did. But this time there was no running water. All that could be heard was the sound of air sizzling slowly from inside the pipe.

He was silent.

For the first time in his life, he felt something that his childhood had never taught him.

Silence.

The silence of a system that for decades has been considered to always work.

And in that silence, he understood a simple but painful truth.

Water is not lost in one day.

He went away quietly, until the future became thirsty.

A few years later he was standing near the old well where he had played as a child. Now experts are coming to discuss aquifer recovery, catchment area protection, network leak reduction, PFAS treatment, and the massive investment needed to repair decades of damage. The number is huge. The technology is getting more sophisticated. But one thing money can't buy: time that has been lost.

He looked down at the bottom of the well which was now much lower than he remembered.

Then he asked quietly:

"Don't they know that this is going to happen?"

The question is simple, but it is perhaps one of the most important questions that will be passed down to our generation.

Because the answer is uncomfortable.

They know.

Probably not knowing all the details. Perhaps not being able to see the whole picture of the future. But they know enough to start acting. They know that rivers are not endless pipes. They know that groundwater is not a never-ending savings account. They know that wetlands are not empty land waiting to be built. They know that every drop of water polluted today will be a cost that someone will have to pay in the future.

They know.

But knowing doesn't always mean acting.

Today the story does not only take place in one village or one country. It is being written in various parts of the world. In Europe, society faces a strange paradox: too much water in the form of floods, too little water in the form of drought, too much expensive pollution to clean up, and too little time to continue to delay change. But the same story is also starting to be seen in Asia, Africa, America, Australia, and many other places.

We are entering an age when the question of water is no longer just an environmental question. It is a question of health, food, economy, energy, social justice, and the future of civilization. Because no city can thrive without water. No farm can survive without water. And no society can live in peace if its water source is no longer reliable.

But this story is not over.

And that is precisely why hope is still there.

Every protected forest is a reserve of water that is saved. Every wetland that is restored is a protection against floods that have not yet come. Every river that is kept clean is an investment for the unborn generation. Every decision that considers water risk today is a reward whose value will be felt decades to come.

Because in the end, the future is not determined by the crises we inherit.

The future is determined by the courage to act before the next crisis arrives.

One day, a child will stand by a river, near a well, or next to a reservoir we left behind. He may never know our names. He may never read the reports we write or the policies we make. But he will live with the consequences of our decisions.

And when he drinks a glass of water, the quality of the water will be the answer to one simple question:

Do we care when there is still time?

Because at the end of the day, water is not just about dams, pipelines, pumps, or treatment technology. Water is about life. Water is all about choice. Water is about the responsibility that flows from one generation to the next.

And perhaps the greatest lesson that water can teach humans is this:

We don't inherit water from the past.

We are borrowing it from children who have not had time to ask for it.

Someday, they will live the way we give them back.