(Roughly) Daily

Katherine LaGrave with the story of America’s first water sommelier believes that the more we think about what we drink, the more we will care about the planet. But first, he has to get people to take him seriously…

… Martin Riese, is America’s first water sommelier, curating menus and tastings around what he calls “the most important beverage on the planet.”…

Riese is taking cues from the element he considers most beloved, going with the flow and flowing where he’s able, taking opportunities as they come, and sharing why we should care about water with anyone who cares to listen.

“Water is not just water,” he says to me one sunny October afternoon, shining bright from Los Angeles via laptop with the urgency of a theater attendant walking you to your seat just before the lights dim and the show starts. OK, I think. Off we go. Down into waterworld…

A trip worth taking- Riese’s story and his provocative thoughts on that most crucial substance: “Waterworld,” from @kjlagrave in @AFARmedia.

* W. H. Auden

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As we get wet, we might recall that on this date in 1993, after weeks of flooding elsewhere in the state (dramatically, in Ames), efforts to protect Valley Junction in West Des Moines from flooding failed, forcing 5,000 people from their homes. The Court Avenue district in downtown Des Moines was awash. By the next day, more than 250,000 people were without water after flooding shut down the Des Moines Water Works. In addition, An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 people were without electricity. Then-Sec Taylor Stadium, now the Iowa Cubs’ Principal Park, was underwater. The entire state was declared a disaster area.

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