Recently we had to have our septic tank pumped out. We’ve been living here for nearly ten years, and this is the first time we’ve filled the tank. Since it is now winter, we had to wait for warmer weather to resolve this issue because our tank is buried and digging it out was a problem with frozen ground. So for a time we had to manually remove all our household water. This experience has made me aware of just how much water we use.
After my morning shower I had to use a wet vacuum to remove the water from the bathtub. Each morning I carried out three, two gallon buckets after showering. Each time I washed dishes I removed three buckets. The laundry was far more – eight to ten buckets depending on the size of the load. This adds up to lots of water per day.
I wonder how much water each person in a developing country uses in 24 hours. I’d bet it is roughly the same amount I use for my morning shower.
As time goes on, we will be experiencing more world-wide water shortages. This is amazing, considering that 2/3 of our planet is water. Yet very little of this water is potable or even good for washing. With more droughts world wide we will be facing some severe water shortages in our future unless technology can save us by converting some of the seawater into potable water. I know this technology is around the corner, but what will we have to endure before it does, and how much will water cost in the future?
Municipalities around this country are looking into various ways to save water. Here in this little town water meters are being installed, in spite of the protests of the people. We were told that water won’t cost us any more money and that the meters are being installed in order to keep track of the water supply and how much is actually being used, but we know this is a lie. Water meters mean that it is a question of time before we will be paying large water bills which some people won’t be able to afford. This is already happened on Vancouver Island.
In the meantime, we use gallons of water just for dust control year round. Municipal sprinklers are on full and hard every morning during the summer in order to water lawns, but the residents have stringent water restrictions for watering their gardens. As a result, many properties have brown lawns, dying trees and veggie gardens which must be hand-watered. Not only is this very unattractive, but it is dangerous.
We live in an area which is threatened by fire each summer, as our summers are very hot and dry. As well, we have beetle-killed pine trees which are difficult or impossible to remove due to the mountainous terrain. This means high fuel loads and with water restrictions the danger is increased. And it’s crazy because we’re surrounded with wonderful ground water that our municipality won’t use, which runs downhill year round. They tell us they’re concerned about Garidiasis (beaver fever) bacteria, so instead they’re using arsenic laced well water to supply the town’s drinking water and will soon be cutting off the surface water altogether. It costs much more to treat arsenic water than it does to get a one micron filter for Garidiasis treatment. Also, our surface water is gravity fed and doesn’t have to be pumped uphill to the users as does the well water.
Why is this happening? Someone is making money, I would suppose. Why else would stupid decisions such as pumping arsenic water uphill be employed when other much cheaper and safer water could be gravity fed to users? And where is the province in all this? When citizens write to our local ministers we are told to simply trust our local municipality, yet they’re the source of all our problems.
If we were living in a developing country there might be riots in the streets from the way things are being run here. Water delivery is an essential service. No one can live for very long without water. And we are not allowed to collect the wonderful surface water which is running past our doorsteps!
My parents used to tell us kids that we’re very lucky to live in Canada. In other countries there’s so much government corruption, they said. They believed in their government to do right by its people. If that was true then, things have changed drastically.
