"I never drink water; that's the stuff that rusts pipes." ~W.C. Fields A couple weeks ago I posted about how unseasonably dry our dry season has been, about how hungry for precipitation the floor of our tropical island has become. How desperate the local gardens are for water to sustain their fruits and vegetables, how empty and close-to-empty the water tanks around us are.
Well, it has gotten worse.
Just tonight we heard the rain coming across the valley. We got excited, but our daughter said, "It won't last." (I have no idea where she got her pessimism ... er, realism.) That "rain shower" and the one that followed a few minutes later, together, probably lasted short of a minute.
It was barely enough to leave a few water spots on the dirty car parked next to our house. Certainly not enough to clean the nasty, dusty windows.
Like today, the tiny bits of rain that we've received over the past few weeks have done little to relieve the ground or the gardens, to replenish the tanks.
And now, even the river is getting low.
We actually have another source of water besides collecting the rain. We call it RAM water (though I'm not sure why or what that stands for), and it comes from a nearby creek. It is pumped up to raised holding tanks at the top of the hill and flows down to homes all over centre. Almost everyone uses it to flush toilets. Many people use it for showers, or to do laundry or wash dishes.
No one drinks it if they have a choice.
But, now even that water source is drying up. Quickly. We had a couple of days when we didn't have any RAM water. Paul checked our tank today and it has dropped to about 1/3 of its capacity. If we have to go too many days on tank only, that won't last very long.
Will you pray with us for rain?
"Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things." Jeremiah 14:22
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