Got water?

[annuin]

Many things always seem to happen at the wrong times. Like today for instance, I'm in the bathroom earlier today about to have a shower, I flush the toilet and as I turn on the water in the shower I notice the water filling the toilet bowl is brown. So first I assume it's clogged or something, so the plunger gets whipped out, I plunge, I flush. It's then that I notice that the new water is brown also, and there's this strange earthy smell coming from it too. I look into the shower, and the water there is brown also, ditto the cold taps.

Augh! Of course this happens when you're just ready to step into the shower, not just after. Murphy's sodding law. So I cancel the shower, feeling more grimy than I am, just because of the fact that I can't shower. I call the landlady upstairs and ask her if her water's brown too, and yes, their cold water is also coming out nasty... she'd also noticed them digging at the end of the street as she came home from work. So she checks with the water department to find out what's going on, and it was some problem with the mains that they were working on. I'm not sure if the digging caused the problem, or they were digging because of the problem, not that much difference in the end result really.

Of course it took at least 8-10 hours before the water ran clear again, without smelling earthy or rusty or something icky. I'm just glad that I keep several gallon jugs of spring water around, cooking gets to be a lot more complicated when all of a sudden the water source gets cut off when you least expect it, and when meal plans include food that needs boiling.

Comments

[houseshadow.livejournal.com]

Plumbing problems and frigid weather seem to be quite popular lately. :P

[daskreestof.livejournal.com]

When I got home Friday morning our pipes were frozen so there was no shower for me then either. It cleared up by the evening, but the extreme cold did give me a little wake up call about how modern civilization spoils us, and we take these amenities for granted till their suspended. Kinda like the black out.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the reliance on electricity especially is something that I find scary. Nearly everything we do or use needs some form of electicity or electrical appliance.

Blackouts are also one of several reasons I prefer gas cookers. At least when the power's out you can still heat items to eat, rather than with an electric stove, where you can't do anything.

[vinlander71.livejournal.com]

If I had the means, I'd just go solar.. stick solar panels on the roof. Decrease my dependence on the grid. Sure it's a large investment, but it pays for itself over time.

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

Maybe Karen will have seen this once, but several years ago on tv I saw this show about a house in the UK, that was like the most environmentally friendly house. Foot thick walls that were insulated so well that the house maintained an easy 21C summer and winter. They had solar panels, either on the house or greenhouse or something, and a deal with the powercompany for them to take the surplus in the summer, and give back what they lacked in winter. They would also catch rainwater, which was sluiced to a vat in the basement where it would get filtered and then used for shower and toilet flushing water, rather than using drinkable tapwater for something like that. So yes, a house with a high initial investment, but which paid for itself in the fact that it had very little running expenditure.

PreZ also saw that show or at least one about that same house, even though this was long before we met, and one day we want to have a home that approaches this scheme. Sun energy shouldn't be too big of a problem in AU ;) Geothermal heating also would be interesting, but AU doesn't get that cold in winter, not on par with NY anyway. But yeah, our goal at least is to own our own home, and have it be environmentally friendly and less resource consuming.

[vinlander71.livejournal.com]

Great minds think alike!
That's exactly what Kaz and I want to do!
Earth-burmed home, solar and/or geothermal. Recycle grey water naturally (there are plants that can purity water.. reeds I think..) composting toilets.. the works!

[daskreestof.livejournal.com]

I have gas cooking too, but I also have gas hot water, so during the black out I was not showerless.

I think the only thing I enjoy that doesn't require electricity is probably sex.
I don't know what I'd do to alleviate boredom had I been born a few hundred years ago. No wonder they worked all day.

[vinlander71.livejournal.com]

Yeah sometimes our water's done that, but only if they've been digging down the road or working on the pipes in the ground. It's very annoying.
It would be nice to get some kind of advanced notice!

[tanthe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, indeed. Though if they were digging because they found a problem, that wouldn't really have been possible.

Back in Holland in our town you'd generally get notified in advance if the water was going to get shut off, so you could put a few jugs or buckets aside or something for cooking/toilet flushing/general use. They never let the water keep running and have it all brown and disgusting like they did here yesterday.

[vinlander71.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Amurrrika. Companies that don't give a shit about you because their a monopoly and you're forced to use them. There's no standard way to complain and get results. Welcome to monopolistic capitalism!