Water Boil Order

The town I live in recently had a main water line break. Although our house was never cut off from water, the town did put all residents on a water boil order as a precaution. The water boil order lasted about 5 days before the line was repaired and the water tested and cleared. The purpose of a water boil order is to inform all residents they need to boil any water for consumption for about a minute in order to kill off various bacteria and viruses that may have contaminated the water supply. This is the first time I have ever been in under a water boil order. I grew up in the country so we were always on a well. Our first house as an adult, where I lived for twelve years, was also on a well. Aside from scattered apartments in college, I've only lived in a house with city water for the last five months.

The water boil order was annoying, but also a first world problem that helps put easy access to water in perspective. Throughout much of the world people do not have easy access to water and in many cases, access to clean water is hard to come by. This will only increase in the future as climate change increases droughts throughout the world, further decreasing clean water supplies in many locations. I'm fortunate where I live that water supplies are readily available and aside from the occasional water boil order, I never have to worry about clean water.

According to PCI Global, between 600-700 million people lack access to clean water and 2.4 billion people lack access to improved sanitation facilities (toilets). This is over 30% of the world's total population, which is incredible when you think of all the technological advances. 30%!!!! We in the U.S. are very fortunate and need to keep this in mind every time we complain about minor disruptions in our water supply.