What a Difference a Day Makes.

I’m not even sure when it started but I think it’s been about a month now… but we keep running out of water!

We have a cement tank in the ground, my guess is that it’s about 6 feet wide by 10 feet long and probably 10 feet deep. Ideally as the water level goes down, water is pumped in from the city supply to keep our tank full. For the last month or so, this hasn’t been the case. It seems we run out of water at least once a week.

The view from the opening in our tank. 

Keep in mind that we have 20 people living here. That’s 20 people showering, flushing toilets, washing dishes, doing laundry and drinking water… and that doesn’t include the many children that come and go throughout the day. So yes we use quite a bit of water.

The water that comes into our tank isn’t purified or treated or anything glamorous. And when the water flows on a daily basis the water isn’t that dirty, but when you start getting down to the bottom of our cement tank, you start to realize just how dirty the water is. The lower the water level the dirtier the water.

Don’t worry I don’t drink this water, we have a reverse osmosis water filtration system that the Missionaries use for drinking water. However, the children and staff do. When Julia purchased the system, she was advised that our children and staff drink right from the tap, because their bodies have built up immunity to the water. And if they ever drank water at school or a friends house, it would make them sick. 

About a week ago, the water shut off… again. Even after the water shuts off, we still have some water in the tank. We use a small oil jug with holes cut in the side to fill up larger buckets for showering and such. So that day I got a bucket of water. The very next day Nunu wanted to take a bucket shower, but he needed more water than what was left over. So he went and got another bucket.

Joao using an oil jug to get water.

In the bucket it goes.

I was shocked at what he brought back. What a difference a day makes. My bucket was clear water, his was a foggy mess! I suggested that he wait a day and let the dirt settle, but I can neither confirm or deny if he used this water to shower =)

What a difference a day makes!

We decided that since the tank was so empty, it would be a good time to clean it out. Ernesto climbed down into the tank and scooped buckets out… each bucket got darker and darker. I started saving the nasty dark water for flushing our toilets. I think the kids thought I was crazy when I asked them for a bucket of dirt water!

When our tank runs out of water, we have to get water from a local well. The kids usually take on this task for us. Juma G even came back once with the bucket perched on his head. I think they like going because we pay them well for their hard work. Sometimes the neighborhood kids even ask if they can go and they will carry a big bucket together and grin from ear to ear when we let them keep the change.

This last week for the first time, the community well was out of water. It wasn’t a pretty sight… or rather scent. Imagine living in Florida without air conditioning and a bunch of boys who don’t wear deodorant. Last night I had a dream that I went back to the States and one of my friends pulled me aside to tell me that I had really bad B.O.!

Thankfully this morning a little water had come into our tank. Enough to be able to flush our toilet =) This afternoon I went to get another bucket of water and I hear the sound of running water… the tank proceeded to fill up and just like that we have running water!

I think it must be the time of year. I have a feeling we will continue to go a few days each week without water for the next few months. We are planning to build a water tower to house more water and increase our water pressure, but until then, if you could be praying for our water supply, I would really appreciate it!