Yesterday as I was attempting to remove a tree that was too close to our house, I managed to puncture a PVC irrigation pipe. Unfortunately, the only way to shutoff the water to the pipe was to turn off the water to the entire house (why anyone would put a shut off to the internal water, but not the external water baffles me). After a trip to Home Depot and a few attempts at repairing it, I finally succeeded. In order to let the PVC cement set, I had to leave the water off in the entire house overnight. We still had some clean water in our reverse osmosis system, but not enough to wash hands and brush teeth. So, I happened to have a few 1 gallon containers of water in my car. As I’m washing my hands with the water from the container, I start thinking of how much water we waste everyday. If I was restricted to using just a few gallons of water a day, I’m not sure what I’d do. Next time water is going down the drain, think about how many gallons of water you just used.
We live rurally and have a well which uses a pump… Well, if we lose power it’s all over for the water. And, we have to be careful in summer not to run our well dry. So, we have a slightly more intimate connection with our water than folks who have “city water.” Four years ago our well got hit by lightning and the pump had to be pulled along with the cashing. That’s about 500 feet of cashing all spread out on the lawn to lift out a 1 yard long cylindrical pump that sits near the bottom.
I tell ya, living rurally has it’s up and downsides…