As part of fun times in late capitalism, or as Cory Doctorow puts it, the enshitification of everything, a water main went down last week at the south end of my town. Nobody was hurt though the road is now another gaping hole. However, in the process of fixing it, actually when they were just bringing it back online late yesterday afternoon, there were several more breaks. Only one of which resulted in another hole… however… there has been no water in my town since about 5:30pm, and we’re under a boil water notice when the water comes back. Which is feeling more like an if this morning, with no updates on the town website or its Facebook page.
I did not know any of this when I got home from work last night. But when I went to toss an apple core in the compost bin under the sink, I saw rodent droppings. Of course, I checked elsewhere immediately and found three contaminated drawers, though thankfully none of the towels or silverware drawers. Those take the most effort — and water — to clean. Which is what I set about doing immediately.
I noticed the water pressure drop, but I thought that they were still working on the broken main. Didn’t think much more about it as I plowed through the mess… however… turns out I was just using what pressure remained in the system to pull hot water from my water heater tank. Still didn’t think much about it though because I was already too grumbly about rodents and time-wasting and YUCK!!!! Among Many Other Reasons to be grumbly this week…
I was listening to a poetry reading from the Academy of American Poets at about 8pm when my neighbor texted me. “Do you have water pressure? Because we have nothing.” Only then did it click… So I went into the kitchen with foreboding and, sure enough, nothing came out of the tap. I went to my town’s webpage and learned the whole sorry story, texted that back to my neighbor and made sure they had drinking water, and decided to go to bed… rather than edit a “real” post for today.
But it occurs to me this morning that this is the real news… this falling apart of everything, metaphorically and physically.
Lucky I am a desert rat and know how to get clean with only a few ounces of water. Lucky I keep a full tank of water in my filter set-up for drinking. Unluckily, I have not yet bought the gallons of emergency winter water I normally have on hand, so there was only one flush in the toilet. But luckily the rodent fiasco put me right off food, so one was all I needed.
I hope there is water tonight, even with the extra annoyance of boiling. I did not get the cat box cleaned this morning — because that is one task that I will NOT do without flowing hot hand-washing water. So…
Hope you are faring better under enshitification today…
© Elizabeth Anker 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 
The situation you describe could have been what we have been living with since 1994. Only this morning, a group of neighbours were out fixing some of the worst potholes in the street leading to the main road – from funds collected from the residents. Private citizens can do naught about the leaks in the municipal pipes though … as if the latter organisation really cares (about anything!). I hope your water supply is back online; that your rodents stay away; and that you can ablute properly in warm water before long.
LikeLiked by 1 person