This week – coincidentally and conveniently, to coincide with a scenario in a Preparedness Group I’m part of – Edmonton and area cooperated by having a minor emergency that required citizens to step up and voluntarily reduce their normal water usage. The scenario we are living with at the time of this writing is WATER shortage. And as luck would have it, as we’re wrapping it up, a major pump in the water treatment plant shut down. While it is being repaired water availability to over a million homes and business became a worry. Fortunately, people responded well and there seemed to be an over all spirit of cooperation. Also fortunately, the problem is expected to be resolved in about a week – about as long as people’s patience could reasonably be expected to last.
To my knowledge, the situation never developed into an emergency or crises, but sometimes the transition can be over a very fine line, and the general public probably would never know how close we may have come to that. While it’s true that people often come together in an emergency, it is also true that patience can be stretched as time goes on, and good natures become less so, as inconveniences turn into real struggles. The line between selfless and selfish becomes blurred and everyone justifies their own focus on self.
I’m glad we didn’t go there – but on the other hand, as I write this, the situation hasn’t been resolved so we’re still yet to see how it ends.
This time of year in Edmonton, we generally have quite a bit of snow on the ground, and snow can be melted to provide water. But currently we have very little snow in our city, even our own backyard has hardly any snow after many days of melting temperatures. Things we might have counted on in the past, let us down this winter.
Having water storage is absolutely critical, and all must take this seriously. If our only source of drinkable or useable water comes from our taps, we can be in serious trouble with zero notice. Depending on our living situation – farms, acreages, rural, urban, single family dwellings, multi family complexes, apartments . . . we can all store something. Even if we’re only talking about an extra case of bottled water, a few extra cooler bottles, or a few jugs of water in the back of a closet, . . . everyone can and should do SOMETHING to store water.
When I was young I couldn’t even imagine a need for conserving water. It seemed like ‘air’ to me – constantly available, and I believed it should be FREE – for everyone. My father had a different outlook. He well remembered hauling water into the house as a young man to use for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning and laundry. I recall my gramma saying she used to feel bad for the boys especially on laundry day and she was very conscious to never waste a drop because they worked so hard to bring her the water. They pumped their water from a well in their backyard. Even as an adult living on a military base where we didn’t pay for water and it was in constant supply, he couldn’t break the habit of conservative water use. I love this quote from Benjamin Franklin. 300 years later, we’re still THAT close – whether we realize it or not . . . “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
Not wasting water is now a social responsibility. We recognize that clean water is not an inexhaustible resource, and it is a privilege that few in this world actually enjoy. In most cases, the water we rely on – especially in urban areas, is 100% dependent on systems you and I cannot control. Depending on someone else to fix our lack of planning problem is shortsighted and irresponsible, but at the same time we must be aware of those around us who are more vulnerable.
I don’t pretend to have the answers – but there should be some degree of responsibility we feel to help our neighbours.
We can start by getting to know them. Putting faces to names and sharing experiences with people in our neighbourhoods, humanizes them to us, and us to them. We naturally feel more desire to help those we know and recognize, than those we do not. Part of feeling part of a neighbourhood is that neighbours help neighbours.
I am completely against being neighbour natzis, and I hated the reports we heard during Covid about neighbours finking on neighbours and being afraid of neighbours. There is however, a certain degree of public accountability that can be positive when we’re all in this boat together. We’re a little less likely to water our lawns or wash our vehicles when we’re on a water advisory – because doing so would be visible, and we can expect some disapproval from our neighbours for doing so. Peer pressure isn’t always a bad thing – just sayin’ . . . .
We have EQUAL responsibility to use water resources wisely, and equal accountability for doing so. We have equal rights, and should have equal privileges.
Share Your Ideas:
Comment Below: Share your thoughts about how having strong community connections might help us with a prolonged water shortage.
Inspire Others: Share ways you can make your neighbourhood a better place for you living in it?
Charity: How can we help a neighbour when faced with a water shortage that affects us all?
Remember: preparedness can be a community effort! 
By collaborating and sharing knowledge, we enhance our collective resilience.
· Now is the time to make a plan and extend the hand of friendship to our neighbours.
· Start with those on either side of us. If we don’t know their names yet – LEARN their names, and two more facts about them.
· Then reach out to those on the other side of each of them, and those across from us. LEARN their names and two facts about them. Make it a game to accomplish these goals, and then continue on with those on the other side of them, and so on.
Warmly,
Cindy Suelzle
