Water Conservation in Winter

The whole community has been on water conservation mode for a couple of weeks now. Currently, the city tank is at about 2 feet of water (which is CRAZY! I don’t remember if we have ever been that low before). The city has a handful of workers working to find the leak in our 50+ year-old pipes. I, as well as the whole town, wonder why the pipes have not been changed yet when this is not the first time we have had a leak in them.

It doesn’t help that it has been so cold out. The other day, Wunderground listed our temperature as -20 degrees Fahrenheit. With the wind chill, it was down to -33 degrees Fahrenheit. BRRRR!!!! I have been hibernating like a bear. I am surprised our vehicles start in this chilly weather.

Setting sun in -33 degrees

With the whole town on water conservation we have been piling our laundry and only showering when we stink. No, just kidding. My household has been cheating. We have another house on the hillside with a well that is not connected to city water, so we have been running up to shower. Other people have been coming up to get drinking water. We were thinking to rent out our house, but I’m glad we didn’t especially with this water problem going on.

As of now, the city has planned to pump water from the slough, which is NOT drinkable to keep the pipes from freezing. I don’t know how long we will be advised to conserve water. So far, the City of Unalakleet thinks they have found a big leak and are planning to dig by the school. It would seem that the school would be shut down while there is limited water, but nope!

I don’t know how they did it back in the day. My gram said they used to go upriver and get big ole chunks of ice and haul them back in a sled. They used this as drinking water. I wonder what they did to bathe. That would be a lot of work. Maybe I am just spoiled. I can’t imagine how our community would live without running water for months. I know I would move back up to the house on the hill. Let's hope they fix the leak or leaks in the next couple days. Crossing my fingers!