When water becomes a luxury

Living in a dry climate, and coming originally from a country where rain is described as "bad weather", you really get to appreciate rainfall. I'm kind of ashamed now that in the past, I used to call rainy weather "bad weather" too. Now I really do know better! Dry climates can be challenging in and of itself, but what if the rainfall ceases even more? And what if that happens already five years in a row? Well, that's when you've got a problem. 

This is what happens here now and it affects people in so many ways. The most noticeable, of course, is that the prices of produce have gone up tremendously. Not only produce though- also the prices of meat, eggs, and all animal products. Which is understandable, but the thing is that the majority of people living in this country aren't particularly well of financially so it's defenitely a challenge for a lot of people to get some simple groceries these days. Another way how it affects people is the water supply inside: in most areas, the tap water is off from 9 PM to 4 AM (or something like that). Fortunately for us, in our area we nearly always can use our tap water without any problems, although the water stream at times might be weak. But, at least we have water and don't have to worry about collecting enough buckets of water etc. So we're very grateful for that. The government has set a few rules for people for being frugal with the water, like not washing cars for the time being (which I find a bit silly, to be honest- usually people don't wash their car everyday, so it would be much more effective to advise not to take long showers, not washing up the dishes with running water, etc. But that's just my opinion.) I really don't understand how a government should even warn people to be careful not to use too much water. To me, it's just something logical. Even more so when there's such a scarcity of this precious resource. But apparently this doesnt work like that with other people I guess, so the government has laid out guidelines for what to do (and what not to) with water. 

Most people don't realise this, but even though it's a necessity, water can really become a luxury. Despite the current situation, I think it's a good thing to be reminded of the luxury of a tap with running water. 

For the past few weeks, however, it has started to rain! How wonderful is that! It's amazing how after all these months it's raining almost daily. My new "problem" is to squish all the laundry on our limited line drying space on the days that it isn't raining. But that's a problem I do want to take for granted in such a situation. Despite the rain, we still try to conserve as much water as we can. Even if it does rain now, the problem with drought isn't solved overnight, so it's still very important to be grateful for what we have and as a consequence, being very frugal with water.