I came home hot and thirsty yesterday afternoon, wanting a drink of cold water. But...no go! I tried the faucet; nothing. I tried the cold water dispenser on the refrigerator; nothing. I tried different sinks; nothing. I had no idea what was going on, but it was really weird not having any water in the house. It turns out that a major water main carrying water from the Dalecarlia Reservoir in the District of Columbia to Arlington County sprung a leak, bit time. Great quote from Kerry Payne of the emergency management office: "The whole freaking valve blew. There was water everywhere." Yeah, everywhere except our faucets! Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink. Luckily, the outage was just for a few hours, although when it came back it was cloudy and I wondered if it was safe to drink. It also made all kinds of gurgling and spitting noises as it flowed back through the pipes in the house.
The lack of water got me thinking about my 3 weeks living with a family in Guatemala back in 1997. They would get water sporadically, so when they DID get water they made sure to store it in a big basin in the kitchen. Still, the point is that for many if not most people in the world, access to clean, potable water is not a given. Even in Arlington, Virginia, it's a bit disconcerting to realize that we can lose water like that; we just take it for granted, pretty much, even more so than electricity. Electricity and running water: without them, what would our civilization look like? Virginia, circa 1776? Or Iraq, circa 2006? Just a thought.