If water scarcity was a dream, I am living that dream
Hello, it is Rachel and this is my second post in Ladies of Hive
As a lot of people already know, I am a Nigerian and over here not everyone has access to constant supply of water. I won't call it scarcity really, it's more of access. I know in foreign countries, y'all are connected to a central water system or something and you pay water bills right? Well over here it's not like we don't have that plan in place, it's more like it is not working. So many people have to result to creating solution to it personally.
Early Nigeria had all these things in place but over the years and with the change in government most of these facilities were ignored and then left to rot. In Nigeria most people have their own personal borehole, like they dug down deep to reach the water bed and had it running for their own personal use. Something like this:
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Image: Business day NG
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Image source: Afrishop
The Borehole in the second image is connected to the tank in the first image and then into the home. Atleast 6 in 10 homes in Nigeria has the Borehole leaving the remaining 4 at the mercy of these 6. Meaning very early in the morning or late evening, people like me have to go to these homes usually in the neighborhood to get water for house activities like bathing, washing or cooking. Just like this in the next image
Source: Research gate
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Source :ICIR Nigeria
In a country like Nigeria, we understand just how important it is to save every drop because in cases where we can't get from these 6 homes we have to buy at very expensive rates. A bucket of water can go for as high as 10cents or so depending on the area you are. In cities like Lagos, it might be even more expensive due to the demand and growing population. It becomes worse in cases where there is no light to power the Borehole and they have to rely on other electricity sources.
It can be very annoying knowing I might have to wake up very early the next morning to get water but then we don't have a choice. We have very big drums or containers where we store these water so it can last for a very long time or until we have time and strength to go for multiple trips of water. The rainy season is a really blessed one for us because we can use large containers to store these rain water for activities like washing clothes that don't really need super clean water, same as washing the bathroom or toilets or even flushing the toilet.
Most times we buy bottled water for consumption and use water gotten from the neighborhood for other household activities.
Over time we have learnt to carry out major water consuming activities at once so we don't waste water. For example we have laundry day, and for most homes it is usually on the weekend. We gather the clothes and wash all together on the weekend. Same for dishes, you don't wash twice or thrice a day, most times we just wash everything at the end of the day and that's why you will hardly find a Nigerian home with dishwasher, where is the water for all that?
It is all about saving every drop. I know many people might not subscribe to these methods but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Thanks for your time
It is unfortunate the situation you have with the water, my friend @biem , hopefully at some point they can improve this problem.
Hopefully it would be solved one day, thanks for the comment
An unfortunate situation. Water is a luxury and an expensive commodity. The day that people, factories and governments direct their efforts correctly, that day we will all have water.
Very true, thanks for the comment