5.28 gallons H2O/day... how do Moroccans do that??

So I'm not sure if many of you know.... but most of Morocco is pretty much desert. Exhibit A:

(I'm dead serious)
 http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSunsDNslj8pDboIfMQq6ICB-vnON31w6QyixZbPCVb8Iib8aIE3Q&t=1

Because of this, Morocco is often in a state of drought, putting a premium on the water supply. The government is currently enforcing some solutions to be able to sustain the entire country's water needs, but they mostly target the urban and wealthy coastlines. The OPEC Fund for International Development donated 15 million to Morocco to help jumpstart its new water supply program to double to country's storage capacity. But what about the people in the rural villages of the Atlas mountains? While 98% of city-dwellers have access to pure water, only 56% of people in rural areas have the same privilege.The large amount of contaminated water is due to common soil erosion, human waste, and oil spills. Now, let me introduce you to someone.

Meet Bader.

He is super cute, super rambunctious, but also really hates getting baths from his mother:

As you can see, the water spurts out a fountain on the side of a building. There were two places you could retrieve water in my village, and they both happened to be at the top of a hill. The women there were extremely tough and hauled water back and forth up and down the hill to transport it back to their homes where they would use it for drinking, cleaning, cooking, and laundry. However, all of the luxuries that we take advantage of here do not exist in Morocco, especially in the villages. While I take a nice shower everyday and change my clothes in the morning and at night, an average rural Moroccan wears the same clothes for over a week (making laundry day every couple weeks, rather than days) and rarely takes showers. 

During my stay in the village, I did not have to drink this water. In fact, it was forbidden as we would most likely fall ill from some parasite. Instead, we were lucky enough to have access to dozens of jugs of water we had brought in from the city. It was a little sad and awkward to not be able to share my water with my family, and to have to drink out of a Nalgene bottle at the dinner table. I don't think they quite understand what would happen to me if I drank their water... it would not be pretty. Luckily in this village, however, the contamination in the water is fairly low. But, there is by no means easy access to it and does not allow the village to be efficient in its use. Imagine if you had to go to a well every time you needed water... yikes. 

Me and my H2O

In case you were wondering, I slammed my alarm three times this morning. The fourth time didn't happen because the third time I broke my clock. These are pains of waking up in the morning, which I am sure you can relate to as well. After rolling out of bed, I follow my typical morning regimen:

• I step into a big white tub, turn a knob, and nice, hot water streams onto my head (with nice nozzle pressure I might add). I shampoo, I lather, but mostly I get my nice fifteen minutes (twenty if I'm lucky) of steamed relaxation. It's nice.
• I brush my teeth for two minutes like Dr. Pilot reminds me twice yearly! The sink stays on while I am brushing. 
• Go get breakfast, which includes one big glass of water. Run to the bathroom before I leave, flush the toilet. 

I'm sure this morning ritual is not much different than the one you follow. Here in Seattle, we are super duper lucky to have such a superb water system. We can drink our tap water, the shower doesn't make our hair feel like calcium, and it runs with absolutely no hint of the color brown-- and lemme tell you, this does not ring true in every state. I'm proud of our water, so I consume it. But in one morning, I use a lot. Let's just see how much.

15 min shower: 5 gallons water/min*15= 75 gallons
2 min tooth brushing: 2.5 gallons water/min*2= 5 gallons
Toilet flushing= 5 gallons
Total Morning Water Consumption= 95 gallons

And this is just for the morning. The average American using a whopping 176 gallons of water per day. This, compared to the 20L or 5.28 gallons of water that the average rural Moroccan consumers in a day. A Moroccan's drinking, cooking, cleaning, hygienic washing, and farming water all in the amount that it takes to flush my toilet. More thoughts on this later.