Conserve Water

It has become clear that the weather is starting to shift from the dry to the rainy season. A couple of weeks ago we would hope for a little bit of rain once a week. The water barrel outside our house had been dry for quite a few days. Small sprinkles were little victories until about a week and a half ago. We have started to get rain almost every other day and when I say rain, I mean a lot of it. I mean the skies go black and it’s going downpour for hours.

Thankful for the rain that we get, we try to conserve as much water as we can. We are aware the rainy season is coming but that is usually followed by a particularly harsh dry season for this area. We try to be careful of what kind of water we use and how much we use. The rain water from the roof and water barrel outside is usually collected with jerry cans and put into our 2 larger 10 gallon barrels. This water is used for drinking after being boiled. There is water that comes from the tap, which only runs a couple hours a week, we use for doing dishes, laundry and showers. Lastly there is water from the river. This is the dirtiest water which we usually use for cleaning the house and toilet. If we run out of one, we have to use the others to fill those needs. For example we had to use the collected tap water as our drinking water for a couple weeks when we had no rain.

Every day we see children and adults carrying jerry cans to the river for water. Many collect this water and walk it back to their homes to use to fit their basic needs. Many people use this water for everything as they have no devices to use to collect rain or this no rain to be collected. As I said earlier, this water is as dirty as it gets and everybody drinks it. This is why so many people die each year from water borne illnesses. I suspect when the dry season is upon us in full force we will have no choice but use the river water as drinking water.

Please maybe think about these things as you turn on your tap water to get a drink of water or take a shower that water is a luxury and millions in the world are living without fresh water. If you have house, maybe consider purchasing a rain collection barrel to use when watering the plants or washing the car. There are many things that can be done to conserve water. Please think about them.