A Day without Water

Not my image.

We take a lot of things for granted living here in North America. We have religious freedom, schooling for our children and many social services to name a few. But, here's one thing we may not have thought about - clean, potable water piped straight into our homes.

A few days ago they were fixing something with the water connection at my condo. The water was shut off to the whole building from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Think about it... no water for 1/3 of the day. Think about how many times you use water a day at home. When you wake up to go brush your teeth, wash your face, take a shower, flush the toilet. No tea, no coffee, you can't boil rice or pasta or eggs. After you eat breakfast or lunch and you want to wash the dishes, wash your hands, get a glass of water to drink or try to do your laundry... and nothing... nothing comes out of the faucet.

Try living without water for a day. Each time you go to the sink just pause and turn away. How long do you think you'll last? Not long I'm guessing. Try it and you'll see how many people around the world live. Where there is no running water and they have to walk across their village to a well or a kilometre or more to the nearest river to access it. Where they have to lug a heavy container back with them in the hot sun, the pouring rain, the cold, the dark of night... whenever they need it.

Think about it the next time you turn on the tap to brush your teeth and let the water flow down the drain. To many people that's life flowing down the drain. And we don't even give it a second thought. I suppose maybe now we should.