Our bodies use water to absorb and excrete chemicals. Chemicals enter ground and surface water and circulate with it. These chemical agents include ingredients in everyday consumer products or components of road dust. They also include chemicals that are used to protect plants in agricultural lands and urban green areas or released in oil and gas extraction and processing byproducts, industrial waste, and animal byproducts. When we eat and drink, chemicals in water pass through the digestive system. They enter our bloodstream through pores, small cracks, and cuts in our skin. They also enter through our respiratory system as we inhale air containing water vapor. We predominantly excrete and secrete chemicals in liquid form—through urine, sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids.

Water nourishes and sustains us. But the chemicals that enter our body with water also have the potential to harm us. Astrida Neimanis’s concept of bodies of water can help us navigate our vulnerable watery embodiment in relation to wounds suffered by planetary waters and water systems. What does it mean to be a body of water when the water it contains is increasingly contaminated by anthropogenic pollutants? What collectivities, complicities, vulnerabilities, and responsibilities are we implicated in when we drink, wash our hands, clean objects around us, urinate, sweat, sneeze, or cry? This protocol invites participants to engage with the chemicals they absorb through drinking water and excrete through urine, sweat, saliva, and other body fluids and secretions.

instructions

The workshop facilitator welcomes participants and covers venue housekeeping details. The facilitator introduces the topic of absorbing and discharging chemicals through water, inspired by hydrofeminist Astrida Neimanis’s figuration of bodies of water.

According to Astrida Neimanis, water, more than any other element, entangles human bodies with more-than-human worlds. Given that up to three-quarters of the human body consists of water, its significance extends to numerous essential bodily functions, such as regulating temperature, supporting kidney function, maintaining blood density, and facilitating waste removal. Neimanis considers the profound interdependence between human and planetary waters, exploring their origins, paths, and transformations. Where does our water come from? Where does it go? What happens along the way? Building on Neimanis’s ideas, the session delves into the implications of this interconnectedness, emphasizing our responsibility toward other planetary bodies of water that flow through us, replenish us, sustain us, and depend on us.

The workshop delves into these relationships, particularly focusing on the escalating contamination of water by human-made chemicals. Given water’s universal solvent properties, it has the capacity to dissolve a myriad of substances upon contact, altering its composition and quality in the process.

The workshop primarily focuses on drinking water and the contaminants we ingest through it. Tap water undergoes various treatment stages before reaching consumers, typically involving coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection processes. Despite these treatments, small amounts of contaminants, both natural and anthropogenic, persist in the water. The types and concentrations of these contaminants vary depending on the materials through which groundwater flows and the quality of the recharge water. Groundwater passing through sedimentary rocks and soils may accumulate compounds like magnesium, calcium, chloride, arsenate, fluoride, nitrate, and iron. Anthropogenic contaminants encompass synthetic byproducts from industrial and agricultural production, such as heavy metals (mercury, copper, chromium, lead), hazardous chemicals, dyes, insecticides, and fertilizers. Improper storage or disposal of household chemicals, including paints, detergents, solvents, oils, medications, disinfectants, bleach, pool chemicals, pesticides, batteries, gasoline, or diesel fuel, can also contribute to groundwater contamination. Microbial contaminants include pathogens like bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and worms. Moreover, water may acquire additional chemical and microbiological contaminants as it travels through pipelines, which could be contaminated or rusty. Even bottled water is vulnerable to groundwater contamination, and depending on its source well, it may be more polluted than municipal drinking water from public systems. Public water undergoes more stringent monitoring and testing for safety purposes.

The workshop commences with a round of introductions. Participants briefly introduce themselves unless they are already acquainted. Following this, they share details of their daily drinking habits and provide information about the water sample they brought. The session facilitator records pertinent details about each sample on the whiteboard or sheets of paper. This includes identifying the water source, potential contaminants arising from its origin, and any treatments employed to enhance its quality (e.g., toxin and microbe removal, filtration, boiling, or cooling). Utilizing both collective group knowledge and online resources, participants collaborate to gather as much information about the samples as possible.

Once information about all the samples is collected, the facilitator announces that after a brief break, the session will proceed with sampling the waters. Before submitting their bottles to the facilitator, participants taste and smell their samples, endeavoring to recall their distinct characteristics to differentiate them from others.

During the break, the facilitator transfers all samples from their original containers into prepared bottles or containers, assigning each a number for identification.

Upon reconvening, participants taste the numbered samples and provide observations addressing the following inquiries:

From which source could the sample originate?

Is it sourced from tap water?

Does it exhibit any taste or odor of chlorine?

Does it appear to have undergone filtration or other purification methods?

Is it derived from bottled spring water or dispensed from a water cooler?

What specific smells and tastes are present in the sample?

After fifteen to thirty minutes of tasting, the session progresses with a round where participants articulate their observations and attempt to recognize their respective samples. In addition to discussing specific sample characteristics, participants are prompted to reflect on broader insights gained from the tasting experience. Following each participant’s presentation of observations and shared insights, the session facilitator unveils the identities of the samples.

Following a short break, the session facilitator provides participants with an overview of the subsequent workshop segment, which explores potential water contamination from bottles utilized for storage and transportation.

When water is bottled, there’s a risk that some of the packaging material may seep into the water, particularly under conditions of high temperature or prolonged storage. Water bottled in polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most commonly used plastic for beverage packaging, may contain microplastics (small plastic debris less than 5 mm in size) and toxic chemicals at potentially hazardous levels. Although PET bottles don’t contain bisphenol A (BPA), a compound notorious for its endocrine-disrupting properties found in other plastics, they do contain phthalates, which can also leach into the water and disrupt hormonal and physiological systems. Phthalates are chemicals utilized to enhance the flexibility and durability of plastics. They serve as plasticizers and solvents found in various products, including vinyl flooring, lubricating oils, soaps, shampoos, hairsprays, cosmetics, and personal care products. Despite being rapidly converted into breakdown products and excreted in urine, phthalates remain a significant health concern due to their widespread presence. Phthalates and their metabolites migrate into drinking water, rivers, sewage sludge, sediment, and soil, impacting plant and animal life.

Most plastics, including PET, are derived from fossil fuels, a finite and non-renewable resource dating back millions of years. Once transformed into plastics, these materials persist in the environment for centuries, disrupting ecosystems. Moreover, the production, recycling, and transportation of plastic bottles contribute significantly to carbon dioxide emissions.

In this segment of the workshop, participants delve into the materials used in manufacturing their bottles. If they possess a plastic bottle, they can locate the resin identification code on the base to determine its composition. This code is devised to facilitate proper recycling by identifying the material. Apart from polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), common plastic materials include high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polystyrene (PS). During this phase, participants locate and exchange information about their bottles and the various materials they’re made of, with the workshop facilitator recording this data on the whiteboard or paper sheets. Upon completing this task, participants engage in a discussion regarding the extensive network of relationships implicated by the simple act of drinking water from a bottle. Drawing from the insights gathered during the workshop, participants construct a map or diagram illustrating these temporally and spatially extended connections. They establish linkages, offer predictions, and contemplate narratives and histories. Embracing the hydrofeminist perspective advocated by Neimanis and utilizing their maps/diagrams, participants ponder the philosophical and ethical ramifications of consuming water from a bottle.

In the workshop’s final phase, the facilitator emphasizes to participants that water serves as a crucial conduit through which potentially harmful chemicals enter and exit our bodies. It’s noted that water acts both as a contaminant and a purifier of our bodies. Waste materials, such as urea, ammonia, lactic acid, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, phosphates, along with synthetic chemicals like pesticides from dietary intake and traces of pharmaceuticals, are expelled through urine and sweat. To signify these intricate watery relations, the workshop concludes with participants gathering any remaining water and embarking on a collective journey to the nearest river, lake, or other body of water. Together, they pour the collected mixture into the water they visit, symbolically marking the interconnectedness and interdependence of bodily and planetary waters, thereby bringing closure to the workshop.

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