In our place at Makati, we enjoy continuous supply of water. The building where I live has a water tank in the rooftop so water for washing and bathing are not a problem here. We also don’t have any problem with the drinking water. We buy purified water at a nearby water-refilling station.
What piques my curiosity is this thought: how come there are thousands of families here in Manila who don’t have faucets at home. They have to get out with their pails and get water from a water pump that the whole community shares.
I saw a long queue once while I was in a taxi stuck in traffic. It was a different sight for me because the people in line have different kinds of water containers with them. Do they fall in line everyday so they can have water for bath? I just find it a little ironic because Manila is surrounded with water. Heck, the whole Philippines is surrounded with water. Not to mention, the amount of water that frequent typhoon brings. There are even areas submerged in flood water the whole year. What is ironic is that there are many Filipinos who do not have clean water at home.
I have not always been a “conservation-conscious” person especially with water. Water conservation is pretty new for me. Water is just around us, it’s not like oil which is a limited resource. Besides, water is very cheap.
But the sight of the long queue of people getting water for their morning bath is a learning experience. It makes me think about my faucet in the kitchen which I always forgot to change because it was dripping. I let the water dripping for days before I was able to go to the hardware store and buy a new faucet. It made me appreciate my daily morning bath. Yeah, it made me think about the importance of water conservation.
In the Philippines, there are people who get too much and people who get nothing. It is also true with clean water.
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