Recently, I was talking to a family member about the Northeast US blackout. I mentioned that I thought it was annoying how much press the people in the Northeast US got for being without power for a few days when Iraq has been suffering through the hottest months of the year with electricity that has been unpredictable at best. Their response? The Iraqis aren’t as dependent on electricity as we are.

Excuse me?

What kind of society do we think we have been at war with? They have the same kinds of material things as we do, albeit less of them. They have air conditioning, computers, TVs and DVD players, just like we do. Their cities have street lights. But most importantly, electricity is what drives the water pumps that brings the population clean drinking water. Suddenly, electricity doesn’t seem to be a “frill” anymore. (During our country’s blackout, Cleveland learned how important having electricity is to having clean drinking water.)

From Iraqi blogger Riverbend’s dispatch from Saturday, September 6th:

No running water all day today. Horrible. Usually there are at least a few hours of running water, today there’s none. E. went out and asked if there was perhaps a pipe broken? The neighbors have no idea. Everyone is annoyed beyond reason.

A word of advice: never take water for granted. Every time you wash your hands in cold, clean, clear water- say a prayer of thanks to whatever deity you revere. Every time you drink fresh, odorless water- say the same prayer. Never throw out the clean water remaining in your glass- water a plant, give it to the cat, throw it out into the garden…whatever. Never take it for granted.

Luckily, yesterday I filled all the water bottles. We have dozens of water bottles, both glass and plastic. Every time there’s even a semblance of running water, we put something under the faucet to catch the precious drops. We fill bottles, pots, thermoses, buckets—anything that will hold water. Some days are better than others.

The problem is this: when the electricity is off, the municipal water pumps don’t work—the water pressure is so low, the water won’t go up the faucet. When there is electricity, everyone starts up their own, personal, water pumps to fill the water tanks on the roof and the water pressure drops again.