Water

Water. I have been thinking about it quite a bit for the past month or so. You see we are experiencing an unusual draught these days. We haven’t had much rain for some time now. The town closest to us actually ran out of water for about three days. Not having water is scary stuff. But it is the kind of thing that you really do not stop and think about most of the time in a developed nation. Water is just there. You can turn on the tap and out comes the water.

The only time I remember being concerned in the least bit about water and access to it was when Houston was hit by a hurricane. I remember filling the bathtub with water so that we could be assured we would have water in the event the municipal utilities were harmed in any manner. We didn’t have power for several days following that hurricane but I do not remember actually losing access to water.

Life on Isla Bastimentos requires that we constantly monitor our water consumption. We have to make sure that we will have water to support our guests. Each of our cabanas is self sufficient with regard to the water supply our guests actually use. We never run into issues with consumption at the cabanas. And if we did, we can divert water from the main supply to a cabana. Instead we monitor our usage in the main building and in all of the support buildings. We have all learned to wash our hands and brush our teeth with a limited use of water.

I have learned to ration my use of water. I still have a long way to go. Water is very important to us all and yet we use and abuse it day in and day out. Where would we be without water? Exactly not a question one wants to answer.