A Permanent Water Crisis

Because of El-Nino related shifts in precipitation, Haiti is currently suffering from a multi-year drought.  This reservoir should be 150 feet higher now.

Wells can be dug in the valleys of Haiti where there are many natural springs and the water table is nearer to the surface.  However, in Haiti's high deforested mountains, it can be very difficult to find water despite drilling deeply in the substrata. 

The water crisis situation in Flint, MI, that has garnered national attention is certainly one of the most lamentable human-made disasters to affect the US in the last several years.  The worst part, of course, is that the damage wrought by high concentrations of lead in Flint's water supply cannot be undone.  As discouraging as this situation is, it draws attention to another permanent water crisis which continues to go completely unpublicized--the water crisis in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Port-au-Prince, a city of 2.5 million residents (as opposed to Flint which has less than 100,000), has NO municipal water supply.  Note that I did not write no potable water supply.  The majority of Port-au-Prince residents actually have no access to a municipal water supply at all.  There are no water treatment plants, no pumping stations, no desalination plants, no sewers, etc.   How then do its people live?  The vast majority of water consumed comes from wells that are used to fill water trucks (holding about 5000 gallons each), which in turn empty their cargoes into the underground reservoirs of resident-clients.  Such reservoirs are also supplemented by rainwater collection from roofs and other exposed surfaces, which was probably one of the ways Jesus got his water 2,000 years ago.  However, rainwater collection means that filth, dust, and cockroaches find a home in reservoirs as well.   Since reservoir water cannot be drank, those who have resources purchase commercially-available purified drinking water at a substantial cost (a few dollars per five gallons).  Others, such as ourselves, pump reservoir water through sediment and UV water filters at a substantial savings since the $400-$500 USD purification systems more than pay for themselves in the long-run.  But what about the average Haitian?  Every year untold millions of Haitians are infected by water-borne parasitic and bacterial illnesses (giardia, dysentery, worms, flukes, schistosomiasis, and every other manner of parasite and bateria).  Many of these, especially children, never receive anti-parasitical treatments because their parents cannot afford them or are unaware of the need.  Many Haitians contract cholera which in some cases can lead to death in 48 hours or less.    Since no one tests drinking water, the existence of chemical pollutants like lead is assumed but unknown.  Perhaps what is more scary is that because of its dependency on water trucks, Port-au-Prince's water supply also depends on the availability of diesel fuel, which is often in short supply.