When we died of thirst

Growing up on the slopes of Mount Kenya, where streams of pure water flow against smooth pebbles and sand, water was never an issue.

There was so much water to take for granted, especially as we splashed around in it, and disturbed the quiet life of water beetles in the process.

Of course at a certain age, girls began to hunt for water beetles. Myth had it that if you put a water beetle to your chest and it happened to bite in the right place, that place would blossom to the envy of flat-chested pre-teen girls.

I have never been one to subject myself to unnecessary pain and I opted to let the beetles be and let nature take it's course. It eventually did.

Back to the water.

With so much water around us, to do with as we pleased, it pained me to watch documentaries of young girls in arid lands, girls my age, living in the same country as I - and yet having to struggle so much for water while I played. Girls with sunken eyes and parched lips.

It touched my heart then, but little did I know that I would soon be facing water problems, though not at the scale that the parched sections of the country faced.

As I grew, so did global warming. Words like climate change became frequent in the conversations I heard. Moreover, having moved from the slopes, the reality of dry taps struck me in the face.

The water sector had by now been privatised to make the service more efficient, but as the sector changed from public to private hands, things did not just remain the same, they got worse. (What did we expect when we don't expand infrastructure to cater for the growing population?)

I had never known a scenario where you had to wait for days to get clean water flowing from the tap. But at least the water company 'gave' us water three days a week and slapped us with a regular bill every end of the month.

Recently, I had stories of frogs flowing from taps - but that is something I would not want to get into.

There are places I lived, where we had to wait up for water to the wee hours and when it came, it was a trickle that was to be shared by all the neighbours queued with their containers - from the smallest cup to the largest tank. Woe unto you if the water ran out before your turn to fetch came along.

Nowadays, water issues are a normal part of life, so when we mark World Water Day and think of sustainable ways to fix our water problems, I know where the shoe pinches.

However, I cannot claim to have walked tens of kilometres to get the precious life-sustaining liquid. On the rare occasion that the water company withholds water for more than a week, there are numerous water vendors that save us from the long walk and deliver it to our doorsteps.

We can't live without it, we need to preserve and protect our catchment areas - our water towers.  We need to use and re-use it sustainably. We need to sober up and deal with this. If we do not, we will surely die of thirst.

AOB.

1. I appeal to the water company to provide water to the Public Service Vehicle crews at least twice a week. A trip to anywhere next to a smelly, unwashed person can be rather unnerving. Sweating on a hot day doesn't mean that your body has self-cleaned - go take a bath!

2. The irony of our drinking water supplier in denying us water without notice, on World Water Day, so that we can stand in solidarity with those who lack water. We should be given adequate notice next time.

3. Is it only in Kenya where the landlord rations water? He gags it during the day, complains that you have too many guests who use gallons of water to flush the loo, and generally polices your water use like a maniac. You have to apply to use water for every little thing. Surely, we are more responsible than that now - especially after realizing how endangered the liquid is.

4. Who follows that advice about taking eight glasses a day consistently? It is good for you, but we all know that we seldom do what the doctor ordered, unless it becomes a matter of life or death.