Of the 25 nations in the world with the greatest percentage of people lacking access to safe drinking water, 19 are in Africa.
Recently we have been issues with water in the compound. I have access to drinking water no problem. Even that water that comes from our tap is safe to drink. The issue is that we are using about five times more per day than we should be. This is a combination of an issue with the pipes and over usage by the students and people in our compound. For the last week we have been having a water curfew. The water has been turned off during the day and then again at night. Running water in the morning and then again from 6:00PM to 11:00PM. When I turn on the tap and find that there is no water, I always have that second of frustration and then pick up my water bottle, which I have filled for this exact reason and use that to wash my hands or whatever I need to do. Not having running water 24/7 is certainly a “First World” problem. I have never lived without running water. It has not been until I came to South Sudan that I have really experienced having water supply issues. Having your water come from a water storage tank, which needs to be filled weekly is very different than functioning off of a city water supply. If that tank runs out of water you are out of luck and possibly left in the middle of a shower. Then left to use a bottle of water or wait until the water tanker comes to fill the storage tank up. Here at the compound we have these water storage tanks, however there are a number of them and they are filled via the borehole that we have here so we do not have the issue of needing the tankers come and fill our water tanks. Back to the water curfew as I call it, really solidifies the fact that water is a precious resource and we have to use it wisely.
I was reading an article about Canadians who have chosen to go off the grid. This is not directly related to water but fits in with my thought process on this issue. This article featured people from around Canada who have chosen to life off the grid, mostly choosing to live without electricity, using alternate sources of power for their daily lives. The writer of the article is setting out to prove that it is simple to embrace changes and commit to new, more energy-efficient lifestyles.
Here is the article: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life+without+utilities+hard/6036070/story.html
I'm going to tell Josh to read this. You'll be his new favorite person. :)
ReplyDeleteWater is something that I have had on my heart so much recently. It really hit home when I was in Puerto Rico but when I went home again it was easy to fall back into the groove and stop caring as much.
ReplyDeleteBeing back in Colombia it has been up front again. It is no where near as bad as South Sudan! But it has been a good adjustment back to taking showers where you get wet and then turn off the water and then turn it back on just to rinse off. I am really going to try and bring that back with me when I go home lol. Small changes haha. I am really excited to read this article.
I am thankful that we have no shortage of water here. It is important to conserve as much as possible.
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