97 Micronesia Report #013
97 Micronesia Report #013
October 9
I said to them, "Well, how do you get water here on Woleai?" All of the members were shy and hesitated in the beginning as usual. Someone dared whisper "Rain." There are reserving tanks, or Water Catchment, to keep rainwater fallen over houses. Some of them are made of concrete and big with the height of three meters. Others are just drums placed under the eaves of houses.
Jonathan told that his family had their own catchment. Ben told that his family shared catchment with others. It seems that some families got water from a well. When I asked if they drank rainwater as it was, everybody nodded. As of water from a well, some showed yes by nodding and others denied. Dahlia said, "We drink boiled water."
When I asked them how much water they spent a day, all of them were at a loss because water was used in cooking by others in their families. They tried discussing to get average water consumption everyday. Ben in his group said, "Four gallons for shower, one to drink and two to four in cooking." It is thirty-six litres in total.
Dahlia's group showed the least consumption of two to four gallons, or about eight to sixteen litres, including water for cleaning dishes and washing.
A message from Musashino 6th Junior High School in Tokyo tells us that 248 litres, sixty-two gallons, of water is spent daily perperson in the metropolis. Water consumption in Woleaiis counted from one eighth to one thirtieth only.We have observed that Woleaians don't drink water much as they drink coconut juice, and that they don't use much water for their cooking.
I think that a Woleai family spends about fifty litres of water a day. Water is so valuable here in Woleai that they may take good care of it. Water at everywhere in Micronesia is supposed to be more scarce in the near future. What shall we do? Their ideas to this question are to cut down water consumption much more, and to restrict opening time of the catchment. I am afraid that water is not a great concern to the students in this island. I told them that increasing trash on the ground would go and stay underground with water and make it contaminated. They may understand that they must take very good care of water and water mustbe kept clean.
El Nino, the natural phenomena that seawater temperatures rise several degreesabove average, is quite conspicuous this year in tropical zone in the eastern Pacific. This El Nino will supposedly make rainfall very low in the western Pacific, on Micronesian islands. I wish that Woleaians wouldn't be short of their water.
Woleaian men told that it was ten years since they started using catchment andmaking use of rainwater. Before that they collected underground water, and so they say that it'll probably be all rightwithout rainfall. Louis said that rainwater was more tasty but he could manage without rain. Another boy said that coconut might be less juicy in case of rain shortage, and that it had to be picked beforehand.
Jun Ohmae
(Translated by SUGIYAMA Sigeru)
Copyright World School Japan Committee & ECO-CLUB, 1996. No reproduction or republication without written permission.