if a shower is more efficient than a bath, then…

Living Water is the name of the charity that dug a new well at the hospital we support in Haiti.  As we all know, life is so very precious.  But so too is water; because water is life.  Here at the Disability Centre (in Bidi Bidi Base Camp, Zone 1, Health Centre 3, to give its full location) we rely on water from one of two boreholes at least 1 km away.  The supply is not certain, in fact last night the stand-pipe was dry at 1900; though it should resume in the morning.  Not sure why the pipe was dry.  It could have been a blocked pump – the iron that makes the soil so red often clogs the filter.  More likely it was simply just supply and demand.  The two boreholes supply many villages around us, as well as the Health Centre in which we are located.  Health Centre – it has an International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital with inpatient, outpatient, maternity and laboratory facilities.

We are getting a new well though, the charity has found a donor to fund a new well and distribution network around the Health Centre.  This is probably only a small reduction in demand for the two existing boreholes I mention, but it is a reduction, so will indirectly affect more than just the 250 or so patients (or staff that live in) the Health Centre facilities, each day.

Even so, the precious commodity will not be wasted, taken for granted or used with abandon.  Many of the staff are refugees themselves, as are the patients of course.  They understand the value of water; it is engrained into their DNA that water is scare and so to be treated with great respect.   And when I say new distribution network, I mean again to stand-pipes around the Health Centre, so each day people will still have to fill up their containers.

At the Disability Centre we are lucky, it’s only 40 yards or so to the nearest stand-pipe.  But with a 5-gallon container, its far enough.  Though I am slowly trying to learn the technique of carrying it on my head – good for posture I assume – and I hope soon not to get wet carrying it.  Anyway, when you have to put some forward planning and effort into it, you naturally learn to be careful.  I wash my clothes in a couple of litres, plus another couple of litres to rinse.  In the UK an A Class Washing machine will use well over 40 litres of water.  I probably use about 4 litres to bathe, using a half full bucket and cup.  A two-minute shower will use between 20 and 40 litres.  

Though how often do you actually have a 2-minute shower?