Never take water for granted!

After rationing water for over a week, we finally completely ran out Tuesday afternoon.  We just knew we would have some water flowing after seeing the big trucks with potable water en route up the hill, but it was not to be.  I felt so bad for our neighbors who do not have access to a pool or a storage tank on a vacant lot that I decided to haul a few buckets over to them.  From what we have gathered from the neighbors, this is the worst it has been here.  Furthermore, allegedly, one of the neighbors up close to where the trucks dump the water has installed a big ass tank so they are hogging the initial loads of water being delivered.  So wrong!  Those of us down the line get some of the water, only if the neighbors with the big tank filled theirs up completely.

We had made a decision yesterday morning that we, unlike our unfortunate neighbors, could pick up and move to another rental home where the water would be flowing.  So I rapidly typed an email at the crack of dawn advising our landlord that while we loved the rent house, we could not continue without knowing from one day to the next what the water situation would be like.  Doing four loads of laundry by hand was okay as a one time thing, but I did not sign up to do the laundry by hand for four people as a regular thing when I moved here....not to mention rationing showers, using a bucket to flush the barely working toilet, finding creative ways to prepare meals to minimize dirty dishes, and having to purchase drinking water too.

Fortunately, the adjacent vacant lot with the pool has an outdoor shower and my dad figured out how to open the valve to the storage tank so some of us managed to take a shower there yesterday morning.  My hubby had gone almost three days without a shower and the sheets had not been laundered in 12 days so it was time to take drastic measures.  Within a couple of hours of sending the email to the landlord, the property manager called and said a full truck of potable water would be delivered to the house within the next two hours.  We had planned to go look at a rent house in another area if Atenas right at the time the water truck showed up to deliver the precious liquid.  Since we have been promised a regular supply of water until we vacate the house, we have decided to stay put for now.  Naturally, municipal water started flowing into our tank about an hour before the water truck showed up with our delivery.

I know one thing for sure...I will never take water for granted again!