Water

For the regular readers of this blog, you know we have has some water issues. As I wrote, last week, our shallow well failed, leaving us high and dry, and necessitating a series of actions to make sure our lives continue. You really do not know just how necessary water is until you have none.

This failure has radically changed our lives. Although it is just a time limited inconvenience for us, it is impossible to go through this challenge without thinking about other people who are in much worse situations.

When you have plenty of water or easy access to it, you tend to forget about all the times water touches your life. Live without running water for a week or 10 days or two weeks or however long it will be until we get a new well, and you get a significantly better understanding of what it means to be without.

The issues become obviously very quickly. We are rationing water so that we can get by on the failing well until a drill goes 200 to 300 feet into the ground to find us some water. We have to turn on our pump and then turn it off a couple of times a day to have the basics. This means flushing toilets only once or twice a day. Very quick showers spread out over the day, not consecutive or too close together. No washing of clothes, no dishwasher. We bring in bottled water to drink or to cook with. Trips to the Laundromat. A single glass of water used to brush teeth. All of this because we cannot get enough of the stuff from a well 50 feet from the back door of our house, pumped to our basement tank.

Imagine having to walk a mile to get water of questionable quality to drink or cook with. Imagine having to carry the heavy containers back with you. Imagine not having water to shower or wash with. How do you get clothes clean or wash cooking pots or dishes? Water is something we often take for granted until this is none.

So today I am writing about this in support of Blog Action Day, an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year's topic is water. If you go to the website you can read some of the almost 5000 bloggers, with a readership of some 35 million people, talking about this issue. Read some of the blogs, sign the petition, maybe donate to the fund to provide wells for clean water for people who have none. Reflect on your own water use. Stand in the rain and enjoy the feeling. Recycle your plastic bottle. Have a drink of water on me!

A special thanks to Clairz of The Zees Go West for information about this important effort!