The Worst Water Indignity Of All

George lives in Michigan. He’s a retired teacher who moved there with his young wife while in his late 20’s and hasn’t left. He makes a point of saying so. In fact, he refuses to leave. What is it about the Wolverine state that drew George there and why he won’t leave?

“Water,” he says.

Now, George is not a hunter or water sportsman. He doesn’t fish or water ski or sun bathe. He doesn’t own a boat or go para-sailing.

“No matter what else happens, Michigan will never run out of water. We are surrounded by fresh water, and water is life.”

And he’s serious. At a spry 84 years old, he is still active and caring for other family members (all younger), including his wife. George is taking care of business, as he always has.

Lately, George has been feeling justified, even satisfied, with his choice of living.

After all, the news regarding water is pretty grim. A chemical spill not long ago in West Virginia resulted in an emergency water ban. Residents have been falling ill, and a great deal of suspicion remains about the safety of the water they are now free to drink.

The DrudgeReport published a headline stating that California is in the worst drought in over a century, while the government discusses publicly rationing drinking water.

Examples could be multiplied, but for George, his foresight has made him happy if not a little smug.

He knows where there’s water, and he’s not far from it. Even then, he’s careful. He makes sure he has enough. It’s not uncommon in Michigan to get a ‘boil water’ alert. When he heard about the ‘water ban’ in WV and about when California officials were talking, publicly, about rationing drinking water, George knew his preparations were all the more important.

George told me one other thing. Evidently, while the residents of West Virginia had been told they can now drink the water again, not all of them could.

The little town of Bud, WV (population 487) were without safe water for over 5 months! (http://www.businessinsider.com/bud-west-virginia-hasnt-had-drinking-water-in-five-months-2014-1) Evidently the only thing the water in Bud, WV was good for was flushing toilets. The whole town was surviving on bottled water privately purchased by residents and trucked in from Charleston, WV, over two hours away. Merchants lost millions, all for lack of safe, drinkable water.

To make matters worse, no one from any federal, state, regional or charitable organization offered any help. Not one. Only the local churches stepped up to help their struggling flock.

Perhaps the worst indignity of the whole situation was that, in the midst of it all, Bud residents still had to pay their monthly water bill.

Wow.

“Are you prepared for…?” is a question we often ask when making disaster plans. I try to think this way for my own family, but how prepared are we?

You may be prepared, but are you “5+ months of drinking water” prepared?

In other words, are you Water Prepared?