Not a Drop to Drink

摘要

When Josie Nieto visits her relatives in Mexicali, Mexico, she luxuriates in long showers. And when she's thirsty, she enjoys a glass of water straight from the kitchen tap. At Nieto's own house, the water pressure is so low it can take her 45 minutes to shower and shampoo. And sometimes there's no water at all, which is why some of her neighbors hoard water in buckets. If s fine for laundry and houseplants, but Nieto isn't keen on drinking the stuff. The main pipe of her community water system runs straight down the middle of an irrigation ditch. "I've seen dead animals in there," Nieto says. The plastic water pipe itself suffers frequent breaks, which can allow contaminants to seep into the system.