I arrived home yesterday to this message that started a conversation among the residents in my ten-unit condominium.
What the heck? How can that be? I wondered as I hustled to the kitchen and turned on the faucet. Nothing.
I shot off an email letting people know my water was off too and called the water bureau’s emergency line. Apparently, a contractor in our neighborhood had hit a water main and created a “water emergency”. Well, that would explain the work crew and the “road closed” sign I’d seen down the block when I got home. The woman I spoke with wouldn’t say when work would be finished. When I told her I was thinking I should go to the grocery store and get some water she said that they anticipated the repair would be done by evening.
Okay. Maybe I don’t have to make a water run, but I decided to take stock of what I had.
Nothing.
No bottles of water. No three-day emergency supply. Not even ice cubes I could melt. I did have some cans of flavored mineral water in the fridge… I was failing basic preparedness.
What would I do if it took longer, and I couldn’t shower tomorrow morning? What would Lucy drink?
I thought about all the comedies I’d seen where water is cut off and the characters use water from the toilet bowl. They never think about the water in the tank, which could be boiled. Is that potable? I could boil it to be sure there was water for Lucy. Could I bathe in that? The ick factor is high, even from the tank. So many unanswered questions.
Fortunately, the water came back on just after seven. I am glad I won’t have to shower in toilet water, but I think I should get some emergency water. Maybe I should start building a real emergency kit while I am at it.
booksandbassets 
Life has a way of throwing us curve balls. I’m glad you didn’t have to bathe in toilet water, but I’m pretty sure the water is potable. It amazes me when I think that the water in our toilet is better than the water most people have around the world every day! Glad you’re clean and hydrated! Ha! ha!
Oh no! Such an inconvenience. You just made me remember that my son-in-law told us (when we arrived home on Sunday) that we are scheduled for 8 hours of no power sometime this week. I better check on that asap.
No water is as bad as no electricity. I know we are spoiled by our ease of utilities. Glad your water came back on before you were in dire straits.
This made me laugh! Yes, you can boil the water from the toilet tank and use it. I’d say you probably don’t even need to boil it. Remember Matt Damon’s ice bucket challenge? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlGhuud-s4w
Nothing like an emergency to start us thinking about emergencies. So happy your is back and yes, start getting better prepared. Good luck.
Glad you didn’t have to shower with toilet water. Nothing like this to make us take stock and start thinking about what we should have in store for emergencies. My problem is things get back to normal and I forget what I wanted to do until the next crisis hits.
Oh! I laughed out loud when you said that you didn’t even have any ice cubes to melt!! What a skillfully written blog that took us through your panicked chain of thought that included you bathing with water from the toilet tank! Oh you poor thing! I have had to just abandon my home at times like this before. I’m so glad they resolved it quickly. And bathing in toilet tank water is a good recommendation for not using Tidy Bowl or such a product–you would end up looking like a Smurf!!
Glad everything worked out okay! Yes, we should all have emergency kits, shouldn’t we? This is a good reminder. Now I just need to act on that. 🙂 ~JudyK
I laughed out loud. Showering in toilet water! And it got me to thinking…surely that is drinkable water…isn’t it? Ha! I would not survive long on my own.