How to Live without Running Water

This week Tropical Storm Bertha passed over the D.R. When I received notification from Peace Corps about the storm's approach my first thought was, "YES! I get to do my laundry this week!" One's concern about tropical storms changes a lot when you live without running water.

Overall, living without running water isn't too bad. I definitely prefer no running water to no electricity (dinner by candlelight is depressing when you are alone). Still, it can be a tough to adjust to life without running water. When my sister visited this summer I had to teach her all the things I had learned when when I first moved to my community. Here is what she learned:

Collecting Water: My community primarily relies on rain for our water. Every house has at least one gutter that deposits rain water into a trash can, old oil drum, or a tínaco, which is a big water container. Mine holds 150 gallons. During dry spells children are sent to local springs or the river to collect water for the family. Water can also be bought via trucks that pass by daily, but the water is too expensive for most of my neighbors to afford. Since I moved into my own home last September I have been able to rely on just the rain water I collect. That is because I live alone, Samaná gets above average rainfall, and I am a water hoarder.

Storing Water:My 150 gallon tank cannot store enough water to make it between long dry spells. It is also located outside my house, which means that on occasion my neighbors borrow some (or all) of the water stored inside. So in addition to the tank I keep two more trashcans filled with water inside my house (another 60 gallons). Also, whenever I empty a gallon sized container of anything (bleach, soap, vegetable oil) I fill it with water and store it under my sink (another 10 gallons). I fear that my water-hoarding tendencies are going to turn me into a emergency preparedness crazy-person when I return to the States.

Drinking Water: Thanks to the previous volunteer in my community, almost every house has a bio-sand water filter. The filter allows us to safely drink all the water we collect. The filters last up to 20 years and maintenance is minimal. Bio-sand water filters are awesome. Previously, families had to buy purified water, many could not afford to do so and instead drank the non-purified water they collected. Many people suffered from amoebas and other diseases because of the non-purified water. Many Dominicans continue to suffer from water borne diseases because there is no purified tap water in the country. Everyone has to either buy purified water, filter the water themselves, or risk getting sick.

Washing Dishes: Dish washing is a multi-stage process involving many buckets. You have your bucket next to the sink with clean water, your bucket in the sink with soapy water, and your buckets on the floor with dirty water. You use the clean water to rinse off the soapy dishes and after all the dishes are done you pour the soapy water into a dirty water bucket. You will need the dirty water to bucket flush.

Bucket Flushing: No running water means you cannot push a level and make the toilet flush. Instead, you have to take a bucket of water, preferably dirty, and forcefully toss the water into the toilet. The pressure caused by the water will flush everything down into a septic tank. Note: it is important that you put the seat up when you flush, nobody water dirty water on the seat. Also, flushing is trickier than it looks. Many volunteers have stories of accidentally overflowing the toilet or embarrassingly having to ask a member of their host-family to flush the toilet for them. The latter happened to my sister. The month she stayed with me was not enough time for her to master the bucket flush.

Bucket Bathing: Since shower heads are impossible to use and baths use up too much water, bucket baths are the best way to get clean. To bucket bathe you need two buckets. One filled with water and a smaller bucket or cup is needed to pour the water over your head. Unless you heat up the water on your stove, the water will be very cold. I recommend exercising before taking a bucket bath, but some days all you have to do is sit in the sun for a minute to work up enough sweat to make a bucket bath refreshing.

Doing Laundry: I go to my host-family's home to do my laundry because they have a washing machine, and I get to use their water and not my own. Laundry uses a lot of water, as I detailed in my post all about the process. Read it here.

Sharing: If your neighbors have a ton of kids running around and not a lot of water, share. Don't get mad when people use water you collected, it is inevitable. Can you blame them for taking water to quench their thirst and cook their food? Be a kind and generous person, and people will reciprocate. Just this week I received avocados, plantains, chicken, help organizing books, and one of my students told me I was beautiful in English!

How to do Laundry without Buttons

Doing laundry in the D.R. is not easy feat, it requires strategy and endurance. You can't just press a few buttons, and voila - have clean clothes. Here is my easy 10-step guide to washing your clothes in the D.R.:

So many buckets to fill

1. Consider the power schedule (if it exists). In my case, laundry is always done early in the morning (just in case the power cuts off early) and never on Wednesdays (power plant repair day). 

2. Decide if you have enough water. My community relies mainly on rain water. Water can be bought, but it is expensive, and you will need to wait around for the water truck to pass, and then haul all the water from the street to the house (It's a great work-out!). I tend to do my laundry every two weeks but I sometimes go a month without washing clothes during dry spells.

3. Fill the washing machine, rinse buckets, and softener bucket with water.

4. Throw in some detergent and crank the washing machine dial to 15 minutes.

5. When cycle finishes wring-out all clothes. Wringing-out clothes is a skill, and Dominicans will let you know if you have bad technique. 

Demonstrating proper wringing-technique 

6. Place clothing in rinse bucket number one, then wring-out clothes. Repeat steps for second rinse bucket and softener bucket. As you wring, you will realize that washing clothes is great exercise.

7. When clothes have passed through all the buckets, place them in the "dryer" for five minutes. In the "dryer" clothes are spun around really fast and water is sucked out the sides. After the "dryer" the clothes will still be damp. 

8. Water needs to be periodically added to the washing machine, so make use of the water being sucked out of the "dryer" by having the "dryer" hose fill up the first rinse bucket. Then take water from that bucket to fill the washing machine. Also, as you wash, the water will get darker and darker but don't worry too much - that's why there are two rinse buckets and a softener bucket!

First Load

Last Load

9. Once clothes are out of the "dryer" hand them up in the sun for the afternoon.

10. After a few hours in the Caribbean sun your clothes will be dry and warm - almost as if they came out of a real dryer. 

Total time needed: 4 to 8 hours. Washing: 3 to 5 hours. Drying: 1 to 3 hours.