ABSTRACT
Water is a primeval element of human existence. At its most basic, water is life. Water is both symbol and shape, fluid, and concrete. Water is connected to time, by the second, and yet there is something timeless about water as well. Everyone knows water, and yearns for their own story that weaves it into the tapestry of their life’s journeys. The chapter focuses on the authors’ own unique vantage points of the entire watershed, revisiting inspiring cultural stories of all time on a watershed scale. Resourceful and amazing people, in their own words, reflect and recount inspiring moments, events, and people that catalyzed awareness and action to protect their water. Written through the perspectives of on-the-ground history, this brief introduction to modern Ozark water history is generated from and spoken by those who were there, “in the hollows and hip waders,” which has truly transformed the trajectory of Ozark water quality awareness and action.
