The story of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah during the God-ordained drought reminded me of the water quality project we did during this last trip. We sampled sources of drinking water from more than 10 locations in various villages. I will report of the results later on when I have received them. What was a horrific eye opener was discovering where some of their unreported sources were. We would like to think they source their water from rivers/streams, open wells and the tube wells we provide. If tube wells easily accessible, they will certainly use them. Do they boil the water before drinking? Often no. We asked if they would carry clean boiled water with them when they go to the fields to work. Their answer? No. Where would they drink from, then? Apparently they just drank directly from the rivulets/irrigation run offs by the padi fields.
We wanted to view some of these streams by padi fields so that we can sample the water for analyses, but this being the dry season, few such streams were evident. Instead a ditch like this with stagnant foul water was often used as well for drinking. Drinking techniques include a cursory separation of surface debris before scooping out water with the cupped palm to drink. Sometimes they would lay their krama on the surface, and using it as a crude filter, drink through the krama fabric.
We were horrified.
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