Water use in the village of Epau

The village of Epau has a multiple water sources, each of which is important and used differently.

Rainwater is collected by rooftop water runoff configurations that drain into rain barrels. Not every house has a rain barrel, so neighbors freely use one another's rain barrel water. There are two rainwater barrels at the town aid station, and at least one at the school. Collected, untreated rainwater is suitable for drinking and cooking.
 

Rain doesn't interfere with play in the village.  It gives the kids an excuse to play with their umbrellas.

Salt water (solwata) from the ocean isn't consumed or collected. An abundance of fresh water from rain means no desalination plants are needed in Vanuatu.  However a healthy ocean fish population is an important source of food and income of the ni-Vanuatu.

 

Anthony demonstrates the homemade speargun with flashlight that his older brother made. (Spear not shown)

  

Two of the 20-or-so fish speared in one outing with the speargun.
The fish on the left is a pigo.  Because its barbs give a painful sting, this fish shares its name with a thorny plant in the bush which does the same thing.

A Peace Corps Trainee surveys a naturally occurring salt water pool (solwata pul) near the village.  The pool is large enough for lap swimming and is a decent place to cool off.  But because of how the pool is formed, the water in it is extremely salty and grows more so every day.  A dip in the fresh water river is always needed after a trip to the solwata pul.

The Peace Corps Trainee plunges into the solwata pul.

Coconut water (coconas wota) is the mild water that naturally occurs in coconuts. It is not salty, and a safe and suitable form of drinking water. Coconut water is consumed frequently, but on an individual basis. While delicious, it is difficult to get at en masse.

 

A Peace Corps Trainee negotiating his way into a coconut.

The river is essential to the village.  People go to the river with or without (me) a bar of soap to bathe, to cool off, or with some laundry detergent and a brush to wash clothes. (Though I think most laundry is done in a large tub at home.) 

 

Washing clothes by hand in a large tub.  Items are individually placed on the board and scrubbed with a brush.

Jumping in the river is the best way to cool off on a hot day (kol kol riva wenem plas i hot), and it counts as a bath too. The little kids (pikinini) joyously and fearlessly dive into the river from heights I wouldn't consider, and climb out on the rocks like quick little crabs. After a rain the river is higher and flows more rapidly, and it may be cloudy from stirred up mud or debris washed into the river.
 

Tri pikinini go swim long riva. (Three children swim in the river.)

But the system which brings river water to taps throughout the village is most interesting. The water direct from the river is suitable for washing, or drinking after it has been sufficiently boiled. I think people almost always use rainwater for cooking, but I have limited data on that. Here's how the river to tap system works:

1. Far up high on the river, river water is diverted into two separate large tubes. The tubes are some kind of plastic or polymer. In the photos, other metal pipes are visible. Those are from a previous iteration and no longer in use.
2. The tubes follow the river partway downhill, then leave the river and empty into the top of two large tanks.
3. Other tubes from lower on the tanks go downhill into the town, and branch out into a network of outdoor taps throughout the village. I don't know that every house has a tap, but every house I saw did. There are also taps in public areas, such as near the nakamal (multi purpose word that roughly means meeting area) and at the school. All of this is underground.

The end result is a public water system that delivers tap water throughout the village, is fairly reliable, requires no pumps or power, and has no moving parts.  Sometimes I'd turn on a tap and nothing would flow. This was when demand was too high, and the tanks had been emptied. You could only wait for the tanks to be refilled.  

I realize some of the water system looks, well, rustic or even haphazard in these photos.  I was really impressed by the extraordinary amount of work that has gone into it and how well it works.  Increasing capacity would be a challenge, and repairing anything out in the rough terrain of the bush and literally in the river will be difficult.

I asked my host brother Graham to show me the water system, and off we went into the bush (joined by 3 kids and 3 dogs). Here are the photos.

Off we go into the bush.  Coconut trees abound.

The taro plant has large leaves, but the root is the edible part.

A manioc plant - again, the root is edible.

Island cabbage (aelan cabis).  It is a bush, not like cabbage in the U.S.  The leaves cook up like spinach.  Aelan cabis and manioc are propagated by taking a cutting and planting it in the ground.

A grapefruit tree.  We threw sticks at the grapefruit to knock them down.  We ate a few and brought some home.

A naos (rhymes with mouse).  Tasted like an apple. Graham was able to peel and carve this up into slices in just a few seconds using only his bush knife.

First glimpse of the water system, looking downstream.  The two plastic tubes are in use, while the metal pipe is obsolete.

We continued upstream to the source.

Parts of the path were slick and more difficult.  Going barefoot through much of the bush was easier than flip flops.

The water source for the village.  Concrete has been formed, and rocks and metal plates placed to ensure some river water is always diverted into the tubes.  In the foreground the first pipe is connected to the concrete trough.  The second pipe, visible underwater in the background, leads to its source just a few feet away.  This picture makes clear the minuscule amount of river water that is diverted to the village water system.

We follow the river downstream over more difficult terrain.

The river and the water tubes go through a cave.  The boys didn't want to swim into the cave -- the only time I saw them hesitate at any outdoor activity.

First look at a water tank.  They were about 10-12 feet across, and maybe 8 feet high.

One tube is diverted from the river and connects directly to the tank, near the top.  The old metal pipe is used to support the tube.

The second tank location.  The tank on the left is old and unused.  The new tank is made of a polymer of some kind.

The tube for the second tank is not connected and simply ends at a point over a hole in the top of the tank.  Again, the old metal pipe pictured here is supporting the tube.  The system from the tanks to the village is underground - no more photos.

Done for the day.  I'd like to thank Graham (this isn't Graham) for generously sharing his time and knowledge of the bush.