It’s official, the well has been dumped.  As mentioned in previous posts of the great water debacle at Boxes in Fields, we now have to resort to other resources for all of our water collection, not just supplemental needs.  For the time being, water will be collected from a friend who has both city water and well water.  He only uses the well water to water his yard and claims the water is rich in iron.  Being this water is for showering, bathroom usage, and washing dishes, this should not be an issue.  Our other source for water collection is a little gray in nature.

Another friend is giving us one IBC tote full from their city tap.  No, we are not paying for the 275 gallons collected, it is a gift.  Maybe a gift that will need repeating, but a gift all the same.  This is not any different from this friend buying us dinner.  Hell, it is cheaper than dinner.  The current rate for city water is a hair over $1 per 100 gallons.  Therefore our gift of one 275 gallon IBC tote filled with city water will cost this friend an extra $3 a month. By giving us the water, this does not make us like our neighbors.  Oh wait, I have not talked about our neighbors and their well water, or lack thereof, and their water usage.

All of the neighbors, nine households averaging four people per house, get their water from the only neighbor was has city water that comes from several blocks away from a city water tower.  This neighbor, who was the first to move into this block, paid for a private line way back in the day before there was anyone else around for miles and miles.  This original neighbor moved here when the city had less than 4000 people, the county less than 9000 people, and neither city nor county offered any mores amenities than are currently being provided for a population 25K people. When the second neighbor moved in more than 20 years ago and discovered the well was undrinkable, the original neighbor allowed tapping into his city line.  It was their agreement the city water bill would be divided in half.  As the years went on, a new neighbor would move in and it was assumed they would buy their water from the original neighbor, too. The original neighbor was too nice to stop letting people tap in, knowing they did not have drinkable well water nor could they could afford to have a private line brought to them.  So this is how, now close to 40 years later, all nine homes buy their water from the original neighbor on a monthly basis. Sounds utopian right?  Like this would be something right up Boxes in Fields’s ally?  Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!  What essentially has happened is the original neighbor (a man who does not even live in the neighborhood) has become a smaller water company.  He has the total and complete power to turn off the water to all the houses at any time for any reason.  There are no contracts because he believes in a man’s word.  A man’s word is only as good as the man itself and man-o-man are there some shifty men.  As a result, water has been turned off several times when people refuse to pay their portion.  How is that fair to those that pay?  Is that legal?  Can he legally turn off the water? Can he legally sell the water even though he is not making any money off these other neighbors?  This original neighbor even pays his own portion of the bill.  Can the city turn off his water?  What happens when this elderly man moves? Dies? Gets tired of the monthly hassle of collections?  Thanks but no thanks. Getting water from the neighbor seems like too much work.

And if there was any room left for doubt, the no deal was sealed upon learning about the cost associated with bill divisions.  Equal is not always equal, fair is not always fair, and what’s easy may not always be the best.  How do you divide the bill evenly when water usage varies based upon the number of people residing in each home.  Why should the person who lives alone pay equal portions of the water bill to the home with seven residents?  This elderly original neighbor, whom we never meet, came to discuss the tapping into his water line.  He assumed we had already tapped in without notice because his bill was more than previous months.  In showing us his water bill, it stated that these nine houses had used almost 81,000 gallons of water in a month.  Holy crap! For the love of peter, paul, and mary! Are you freaking kidding me?  These nine houses used 9000 gallons of water each.  9000 gallons of water! That number is so large, it is almost incomprehensible.

9000 gallons of water!  The average pool bought at the local box store is 18″x48″ and is filled to 52″ in depth.  This pool, seen in backyards all across America, hold 10,000 gallons of water.  A pool that is filled once a year, not monthly!  And I repeat, what in sam’s hell are these people doing with 9000 gallons of water a month.  There are no pools, hell there aren’t even any yards for that matter.  9000 freaking gallons of water a month.  Oh okay, he said that it was $100 more this month than last so that means they only used 8000 gallons last month.  But still. No, no but still.  That means the water bill for the month of October was $90 per household.  $90 a month for water.  Don’t know what you pay monthly in water bill but even when the Planner and I lived in a suburbia with a garden, yard, and pecan trees to water did we ever have a $90 water bill.  As I said, thanks but no thanks.

What you ask, are they doing with 9000 gallons of water a month?  They are washing cars, watering and over watering pot plants, putting out their burning garbage piles, 15-20 minutes showers, and load after load of laundry.  Not a day goes by that the one neighbors across the street does not do at least two loads of laundry.  And I’d bet my weekend trip to Whataburger that these are not high-efficiency washers either.  These are water gobbling, 30-45 gallons per load washers.  If the kid next door is representative of his family, they change clothes multiple times a day.  There are school clothes, play clothes, church clothes, dress clothes, lounge clothes, and all the accessories like jackets, hats, and gloves.  Here at Plan473 blue jeans are worn several days in a row and towels are used more than once.  And while every house has laundry, this additional water usage does not apply to Plan473 because our laundry is done at the brand new laundromat in town.  Doing laundry is doing laundry but I would hope using high efficient models saves more water than old worn out machines.  The laundromat is a business and businesses want to make money.  So every gallon saved is money earned.  Besides, for a week’s worth of laundry, there are only three to four loads to wash. The thing is the neighbors are just doing the average joe homeowner thing at the cost of 9000 gallons of water a month.  It’s the American way.  It’s not the Boxes in Fields way.

I won’t say never because never is a long time.  It is not our intention to ever have to resort to buying water from the original neighbor.  There is no way to justify a $90 water bill when I KNOW we don’t use but 30 gallons a day.  30 gallons being when the dog is washed, there are two loads of dishes, and all us of take excessively long showers.  9000 gallons of water a month.  Good grief.

So thank you in advance to my friends in fresh water places for allowing us to fill an IBC tote with water.  We will use it sparsely.  Be that as it may, we are not to the point where we are sponge bathing, but if needed, it would be done.  It is our goal to maintain 15 gallons of water usage daily so that with the 550 gallons in totes already, your water will not have to acquired for about 30 more days.  Hopefully, a better water solution will become available soon.  Real soon.  Soon as in yesterday.