Water, water, water. We are never too far from water. It’s a love-hate relationship. When it rains, it pours and we hate. When it’s sunny and hot water provides a cool and refreshing retreat and we love it. Clean your face, the dishes, and clean your clothes. Wash your car, the kitchen floor, and the living room windows. Brush your teeth, take a shower, have a glass of water. I could go on forever, but I won’t. The point being is water in our lives is ubiquitous and we take it for granted. But what if were gone, taken away from you? For the past two days, I have had no water supply to my house. A water main ruptured down the street and just to make matters worse not only was the neighbourhood at a loss for water the resulting sink-hole made any repair a major event. Let’s be clear the world has not come to an end, but the realization of how important water is to our everyday life has been remarkable. It is everywhere and everything, but when it’s gone it’s gone. Taking a shower, brushing teeth, cooking, washing dishes — all pretty much comes to a standstill. However, I did learn something. When the water is turned off remember the one-flush rule. In my house, we have three toilets. Since I work early I am up first and even before I knew the water had been turned off I flushed, successfully. Next, my son followed in bathroom number two and again one last successful flush. That left one last toilet, one last flush, and two women. Let’s just say I don’t even want to know how it ended. Water is as precious as life itself. Let’s protect it with all of our might so that we can turn on the faucet whereby a fresh supply is always at hand. More than anything the past couple of days have been a glaring example of how woefully unprepared we are in the event of an emergency.
Ian Power
@ianonair
ian@pulsefm.ca