This morning we woke to a small flood [ok, I heard the rain overnight and knew to expect it] and not long after I had made by first brew for the day, the electricity failed.
This left me unfazed because of my Tanzania experience, and without the radio, I could think - or remember.
As I have written previously we lived on knife-edge as far as water was concerned. Sure I had rehabilitated the the line from its source to the reservoir just above our house, and to Nkoaranga hospital.
It was never said, but my motivation was to provide water for the nursery but the wider need was for community water and the hospital - the hospital needed as near as possible, a continuous supply.
So someone - I never knew who - every day turned the water on to our reservoir at 7:00an for just one hour. This flowed into our 200 gallon tank, which was never over half full. Sometimes there there was a fault when nobody got any water.
Each day the tree nursery required two 44 gallon (2oo litre) drums of water. So there was not too much leeway for household use.
Therefore each time it rained, out would come the buckets and we would collect as much as possible - for toilet and washing floors as well as irrigation.
It occurs to me that if each household here in New Zealand collected enough water during rain to use in there toilet, it would represent a considerable saving.
When the electricity went off, it was a simple matter of lighting the candles we had ready and as well we used a storm lantern. We were fortunate to have a gas cooker.
There was no need to feel agitated or angry at the loss of the utility and it is the same here today on this rainy morning.
This left me unfazed because of my Tanzania experience, and without the radio, I could think - or remember.
As I have written previously we lived on knife-edge as far as water was concerned. Sure I had rehabilitated the the line from its source to the reservoir just above our house, and to Nkoaranga hospital.
It was never said, but my motivation was to provide water for the nursery but the wider need was for community water and the hospital - the hospital needed as near as possible, a continuous supply.
So someone - I never knew who - every day turned the water on to our reservoir at 7:00an for just one hour. This flowed into our 200 gallon tank, which was never over half full. Sometimes there there was a fault when nobody got any water.
Each day the tree nursery required two 44 gallon (2oo litre) drums of water. So there was not too much leeway for household use.
Therefore each time it rained, out would come the buckets and we would collect as much as possible - for toilet and washing floors as well as irrigation.
It occurs to me that if each household here in New Zealand collected enough water during rain to use in there toilet, it would represent a considerable saving.
When the electricity went off, it was a simple matter of lighting the candles we had ready and as well we used a storm lantern. We were fortunate to have a gas cooker.There was no need to feel agitated or angry at the loss of the utility and it is the same here today on this rainy morning.
Our storm lantern was more rusty than this one but they are a very effective light.
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