Pay for Water?!

 The outrage was evident in the voice of our friend as she shared the news:

Filling the barrels

“They are doing work to fix the pipes, and then we’ve heard that they will install meters and people will have to start paying for water?!!”

Water has always been free on Clove Island. So it is understandable that suddenly being asked to pay for water would be met with resistance.

But just because water is free, doesn’t mean that water is accessible or reliable.  In fact, the way we interact with water here is so different than in many places, it may help to give you a better sense of what we see as a good and sustainable water situation.  We generally have “good water” for our house.  Here’s our definition of “good water” : Water coming to your indoor taps at least every two days.

For us, the water comes on most mornings for a couple of hours to our indoor taps.  This is enough to keep us very happy.  Why? We have a big barrel of stored water in each bathroom and in the kitchen, plus we have some big barrels outside that we share with our neighbors for washing clothes.  Moreover, in this current house, there is a small cistern on the roof with stored water.  That allows us to have running water when we want it (though the cistern quickly empties).  So each day we use the water we need mostly taken from our barrels.  In the morning, when the water turns on we fill them all up again. Even if water skips a day, it isn’t a big deal. The next day we just have more topping up to do.

Barrels and basins waiting to be filled

So if this is “good water” what does bad water look like?  Take our teammates for example, who will go days without water from the public tap in their neighborhood and only see water come to their inside tap maybe once a month.  That’s really bad. Thus our definition of “bad water” as more than 2 days without water coming to our indoor taps isn’t that extreme.  

Last week our water suddenly got bad.  On Sunday, it had been four days since we had any water to our house.  After four days, the outside barrels for washing clothes were empty, our bathroom barrels were empty, the cistern was getting low.  

We weren’t alone. Lots of people hadn’t had water at all. It wasn’t clear if it was because of the work being done on the pipes or another issue. Our neighbors had called someone because they thought that the problem was a pipe that was leaking out on the street nearby, potentially stealing the water away from our area. So several of our neighbors were out on the street Sunday morning, talking about water. “We’re waiting for water!” they shouted when someone asked what they were all doing.

Finally, thankfully, on Sunday morning the water started to flow a little bit—from the tap downstairs in the shared courtyard. When the neighbors heard, they excitedly came in from the road. But then a strange thing happened.  As the water flowed out of the tap and down the drain for the first time in 4 days, no one bothered to turn it off or put a bucket under the tap. They walked right by it on their way to collect clothes and dishes to wash.  Meanwhile, the water in the courtyard just flowed down the drain, wasted.  Tom called from upstairs, where he could see the water being wasted, “Someone put a bucket under the tap.”  But no one moved to do anything.  Finally, Tom rushed downstairs and put one of the basins that was sitting nearby under the tap to start collecting water.  We couldn’t stand to see all that precious running water going down the drain.

But this is part of the confusing mentality on the island. Even though people recognize the importance of water and know how hard it is to sometimes go without, Clove Islanders are generally clueless about conservation.  Many homes will just leave taps open constantly, even if no one is around, and just let the water flow down the drain. It is a source of great frustration when we witness it. When the water is on, some seem to consider that it is unlimited.

Our kids getting on buses back to school

But water meters might change all that. If Clove Islanders suddenly had to start paying for their tap water by the liter, we wonder if a culture of water conservationism would quickly take hold. Could it be that suddenly we’d have less shortages if everyone started using water conservatively?  Would we see water pressure improve as people all over town turned off their taps when not using them?

Tom challenged our friend, “What if paying for water means that you get it all the time?” She responded with conviction, “Then I would pay.” She was still somewhat skeptical that paying for water could result in that kind of change in water availability.

Only time will tell.  It will take a long time for meters to be installed at everyone’s houses and a system of paying established, so until then, we keep our barrels ready, and we listen out for the trickle of water starting outside, announcing water’s precious arrival!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan has returned safely to Clove Island after some nice travels.  The time with the kids went really well and their transition back to school after the weekend away seems to have gone smoothly.  Tom and our youngest son did fine on their own.  The women’s gathering was able to honor a sister’s daughter who just came of age and will hopefully have a positive impact on the household where the meeting was held.  Muki has come by less often since Megan came back, but he is still coming by to read.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for that the water situation in our town would improve soon. Our team has memorized a verse in the local language about living water, pray that we’d have opportunities to share it with island friends and neighbors and see meaningful conversations develop from it. Our team and the medical team are having a joint retreat this coming weekend. Pray for us as we look ahead that we would discern how God is leading. Pray for our team family as they prepare move and join the medical team and for all the preparations for their house and life up there on the plateau. Keep praying for our colleagues from the Big island who had to travel for health concerns.  Tomorrow one of their family member’s will have surgery.