Author: Beth Davis

“We will not appreciate water until the well runs dry.” This famous quote by Benjamin Franklin holds many truths for me, both personally and professionally, so let me tell you about our summer vacation experience when the well literally ran dry…

My family and a group of friends rented a home in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a week. I’m sure you’ve heard the warnings to never drink the water in Mexico. Well, in our case, that would have only applied if we actually had water to drink. After being there for a couple of days, suddenly there was no longer any water flowing from the faucets, we could not shower, we could not flush the toilets, nothing!

When we contacted the property manager of the rental house, we were informed that the public utility shuts off water in grids periodically in order to conserve water and control demand. We received no notice or warning. Later, we noticed that some of the other residents in the neighborhood were having water delivered via trucks so the property manager arranged to have a company come to our house. Apparently, each house has a water storage tank under the carport along with its own pump system for pressure. Not only did we have to get water trucked in, but we also had to get the pump primed to be able to use the water. The word did finally get out that public water was going to be turned off in our grid for two days, but at least we had filled the tank in the meantime.

Since I work for a public water utility, I found this whole experience to be quite ironic, but it also made me appreciative of how well we really do have it back in the states. I could never imagine going to the extreme of turning the water off as a conservation and demand control method, but it made me stop and realize the true value of this precious resource and why it’s so important that we use water wisely and never take it for granted.