Advice from Mona Polacca, one of the Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers: “Know your water.”  Living in the city of Portland, we have city water in our home, which comes from Sebago Lake before it is processed.  So we share a collective responsibility for keeping the water clean.  After being on a private well, it is a bit strange to get a bill for water, but it gives us a better consciousness of its careful use.  (Unfortunately, Portland treats its water with fluoride, which has been implicated as detrimental for thyroid health.  Something to explore for another day.)

But on a more local and personal level, I have been walking around the neighborhood, and discovered a trail near Hall School that goes along Capisic Brook.  We are now in the Capisic Brook watershed. How wonderful to be able to walk to the water!  And this is the water that all the run off from our roads and lawns enters. I found a sign alerting children and everyone to our watershed and the need to clean it up and protect it.  What a great neighborhood effort!