For two days in February, we didn't have any water. Our neighborhood is on a community well and something went wrong with the pump. Once the pump was fixed, it was determined that a pipe burst under the roadway. Thus, two days without water. By everyone's reaction, you would have thought that this was one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. I am not leaving myself out in this criticism. I was impatient, cranky, and as the hours progressed, even pissed off. No water?! What were we to do?!
This got me thinking about the mass consumption of water we take for granted. I know that environmentalists have been harping on this for years, but I honestly have not been paying much attention. I turn on the faucet, and out comes the water. It is now clear that there is a bit more to it. So many of my everyday tasks involve water. To start the dishwasher, you need water. To start the washing machine, you need water. To boil anything to eat, you need water. To take a shower, you need water. To brush your teeth, you need water. To flush the toilet, you need water. To simply wash your hands, you need water. These are only the things I can think of off the top of my head. It was amazing how many times I automatically reached for the faucet when the water was off. The worst of the worst was living with 5 other people and having no ability to flush the toilets. Yuck.
We got by, needless to say. My husband has a full gym and shower facilities at his work, so we were able to take showers. We filled 7 gallons of water jugs from the tap after using the 7 we purchased. We also got a 5 gallon jug from a neighbor who had his own well. We cleaned out the toilets and did a fairly good job with most of the dishes. This was 22 gallons of water we carried into the house ourselves in less than a 24 hour period. It was not nearly enough.
To be fair, there were some people who had a genuine right to be upset with the lack of water. One poor neighbor had a colonoscopy scheduled the next day, so she was literally cleaning herself out prior to the procedure. Talk about poor timing for no flushing! Many of my neighbors have small children, so that means mess. Messy diapers, messy eating, messy everything. No water makes the mess hang around far too long. On the side of selfishness or impatience, are all of us who were angry with the simple inconvenience. Two days without water interrupted our schedules, our daily flow, our routines. It was a long two days.
Putting this all in perspective was a story I remembered seeing this year about high school children who volunteered in Africa as part of the Angel Network. One young lady was brought to tears at the sight of the river where the villagers gathered their water. The river was brown, filled with garbage, rotting animals and it smelled terrible. They had to walk 7 miles down a dusty trail to get there. This was the water they used to quench their thirst after the long, hot walk. This is the water with which they relied upon daily to drink, to cook and to wash. This is far from an isolated story. Many people around the world do not have clean water. Some have clean water, but do not have ready access to it. Some have access to water, but it is unreliable, as it dries up during droughts or other natural disasters. So think about it. We really are spoiled. We not only take water for granted, we often abuse the privilege. Scientists tell us that water will become the gold of the future; the commodity most rare and most valuable. I hope that we figure out a solution before then. War over water could become a reality. Until that time, think about your consumption of water. We need to stop taking it for granted and stop wasting it. The is literally no life without it.
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