Water Conservation

Saturday night we got a call from the phone tree . . . the tanks are almost empty and Titchie dorms and surrounding homes are without water. Try not to use water, please. This came as particularly bad news to me, since I hadn’t showered since Friday . . . or was it Thursday? As seasoned RVA staff told stories of past shortages where dorm hygiene consisted of a common bucket to brush teeth out of, I envisioned a campus of unwashed staff and students staggering around, followed by clouds of dust.

The initial panic was resolved a bit when updated information allowed for 3 minute showers. Phew. Never been so happy to have a shower limit before! You can get a lot out of the 3 minute if you turn the water off while you lather up. It kind of feels like camp, only in my own house.

I’m trying to do my part with the conservation effort. I haven’t washed a dish since the announcement. =) I get very paranoid about watching water go down the drain and try to dump any water I have into a bucket so I can use that to ‘bucket flush’ the toilet. I’m getting better at it . . . I only get water all over the bathroom floor half the time. But it is way better than not flushing – of that, I am not a fan.

So . . . we haven’t had much update since Saturday night, except someone told me it’s down to 2 minute showers. I’d like to do laundry sometime soon . . . but I’m not going to be the only person on campus with laundry flapping in the breeze. That’s like having the one green lawn on a street of brown lawns in Edmond.