Water Woes, Continued…

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a “normal” shower over the past month or two. The water pressure has been low-to-nonexistent in the house quite often.

But don’t worry – I’ve gotten sort of clean somehow most days – it’s all about systems of buckets and bins! Filling them, carrying them, saving them. And, of course, everything takes longer.

It can sometimes take hours to do dishes when there is a mere trickle of water coming out of the tap – or perhaps, only out of a tap outside.

And a little cleaning can certainly stretch out when you are trying to clean a toilet you can’t flush.

The other day Shari and Mayra went to the ODAPAS office. ODAPAS is the water company. By the way, ODAPAS stands for the Organismo Descentralizado de Agua Potable, Alcantarillado y Saneamiento – that is, the Decentralized Agency for Drinking Water, Sewage and Sanitation (but DADWSS doesn’t sound quite as cool when you say it out loud).

Well, our sewage is working, sort of. Then again, actually, the shower is a little bit plugged, but that’s our problem, not theirs. And I go to the corner store to get drinking water, so that’s me carrying the 20 litres (5.28 gallons) of water down the street.

Anyway, Shari and Mayra went to the office to express their deepest concerns about the unending challenges of trying to do laundry with hardly any water, heard the obligatory excuses, and went home. Will the complaints accomplish anything lasting? We shall see.

Just another ongoing challenge. Regular readers know that this issue comes and goes but never goes for good.

Yesterday I had to use buckets to shower, and then all the lights went out when I tried to get ready (no windows in the bathroom). Oh well. At least the internet worked for most of the day, once the power went back on.

Anyway, just another glimpse into some of the things we work around each day! 🙂