In The Know About H2O

As the travel clinic nurse informed me, the safety of the water is an issue here in Tanzania, as it is in many other developing countries. Although I came here aware of that, living it is so different than I imagined! Because the water is stored in large tanks that are occasionally rusted and old outside of the buildings, none of the water that runs into our residence hall (or that runs into the residence halls MOST of the time... it has been shut off some days - like today) is safe to ingest because of parasites and other organisms or particles that might transmit illnesses to us. No, I'm not in any danger using the water for laundry or bathing, but we were advised to brush our teeth with bottled water as well as to not open our mouths in the shower or wash any open wounds with the water. The first night in Arusha, I was brushing my teeth at the sink and almost rinsed my brush under the faucet out of habit. But after remembering, I grabbed my Nalgene and felt like I was right back on a Luther Crest Bible Camp canoe trip again!

We buy lots of bottled water from the dukas and drink at least 1.5-2 liters per day because did I mention that it's really hot here? And that it's only going to get hotter? Because it is.... it's going to be a rough transition coming home to Minnesota in December! Just now am I getting used to there being no water fountains anywhere. In our rooms, there are water boilers to treat water from the faucets, and I've done it a few times. The first time I tried to filter and funnel the water into the jug, I wasn't really thinking and poured the water from the pot right after it stopped bubbling. It wasn't until my little makeshift funnel (the top of a water bottle cut off) began warping that I realized, "Heeyyyy, so this maybe isn't what I should do quite yet. Maybe let it cool down a little first?" Genius.

Boiling and filtering the water is quite the process and takes a long time, but it gets the job done, and that's really all you need. So while living and working around these circumstances can seem tedious at times (especially when I'm having to wash my hands, sanitize them then rinse with clean water before taking out and putting in my contacts), I would rather spend the extra five to ten minutes brushing my teeth or walking to a shop to buy drinking water, or five to ten minutes less in the shower (actually, my showers are down to 2.5 minutes with the water actually turned on for only a minute because 1. water conservation and 2. the water is COLD! We're far, far away from the land of warm showers) in order to play an active role in conserving a very precious and, at times, limited resource.

*Picture of my water treatment process. Pretty resourceful, wouldn't you say? :)