Thursday, July 06, 2006
Water Water Everywhere?
In Willimantic Connecticut, about a mile from our home, there is a spring that flows with clean, fresh, cold water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The water is tested twice a month and is very safe and very tasty. People come with jugs to fill from some distance away. I saw a person fill 18 gallon jugs one day, but I’ve heard that some fill even more.
Some draw this water because they like the taste better than the water from their well, or “city water” that has an odor from the chemicals that have been added. A few live in an area where the water is toxic because of chemical waste from an abandoned factory.
We meet the nicest people at the spring. Often people with many jugs to fill will let people with a few jugs to go ahead of them. It’s a real community.
There is no on or off switch for the spring so if keeps on flowing at all times even if no one shows up to take advantage of it. The water that doesn’t end up in jugs flows out to a river and is gone.
As I continue to draw the spring water (we prefer the taste) I think of the water supply in developing nations and see the stark contrast. We will be going to Ecuador and plan to take some gifts along. Oh, to be able to take along a spring that constantly flows---safe, cold, tasty, free water would be such a fantastic gift.
