AMAZING AQUIFERS:THE WATER OF LIFE

Many years ago in the Yucatan Peninsula,there existed an extraordinary people known as the Mayans.The Mayans built pyramids,created a language,and were advanced mathematicians and astronomers famous for their 360 day calendar.The Mayans were obsessed with climate change and they went to extremes in order to bring rain and to prevent drought.Young children were sacrificed to the Gods and their bodies were dumped into the cenotes or water wells which was their main supply of drinking water but yet the drought persisted despite their sacrifices to the rain god Cha.The Mayans believed that giving away their personal wealth such as gold,corn, and labor
to their kings and priests would please the rain god Cha and they even stripped the
forests to build lavish temples for these kings but the drought did not end.There were no rivers,no lakes,or any sources of water above ground sufficient for this large population and the farm crops were not rotated but superimposed one upon the other until the soil was stripped of nutrients.These underground aquifers were the only supply of water these people had.The environmental gridlock brought on by rapid deforestation as well as the lack of rain sealed the fate of the Mayans.Descendants of the Maya still live in the Yucatan Peninsula,surviving on the land in much the same way there ancestors did and still obsessed with climate change performing the cha 'a chac rain dance of their ancestors.The three point dance performed by boys 12 years old and under while imitating the sound of frogs is a history lesson in itself.
The ever existing water-cycle abuse has been responsible for the demise of many great civilizations.The underground aquifers,some as large as lakes,have been the water of life for centuries and even before then.The Aquakhan,a major underground
aquifer is located just 23 miles west of Cancun and covers 12,000 acres.An even larger aquifer stretches underneath eight states and supplies drinking water for a large portion of states west of the Mississippi River.
The Maya left us a great piece of history in the Dresden Codex and in the Mayan Calendar.Whether they are as advertised remains to be seen but I give you one word of note.The Mayans had over 200 miles of underground caves and passages and 2500 cenotes(water wells) and yet they could not maintain a supply of drinking water nor could they predict the days it would rain.