The Sacredness of Water: My Experience of the Water Outage in Richmond While Los Angeles Burns
I barely made it for only two days. But this present could be a more constant glimpse of our future under climate change and imperialism.
This past Monday, Richmond, Virginia (my lovely city of residence) saw a few inches of snow as a result of Winter Storm Blair throughout the Mid-Atlantic. I believe the final total was around five inches, and it was the first time in years that we’ve had measurable snowfall. The area used to receive snow regularly, but under the effects of climate change over the past several years, that is no longer the case.
My children were delighted, and so was I. Snow around the holiday season is always a little extra magical, and it was our first snow in our “new” house (we’ll have been living there a year next month) and an opportunity to use the firewood we’ve been saving up for our natural wood-burning fireplace. We took off work, delayed school return, ate snow cream (controversial, I know), and drank hot chocolate. My kids built a snowman and a snow drift and threw snowballs at each other while our tall pine trees surrounded us in a silvery glow, covered in frost.
Meanwhile, in the metro area (we live in the suburbs of a surrounding county outside of the city — three major counties surround the actual city of Richmond, but none are more than a 30-minute drive away from each other and I, personally, am only 10 to 15 minutes from downtown) there was a power outage at the city’s water treatment plant. I didn’t even experience a power outage myself, and I don’t think the issue was widespread, but after a series of complicated events, infrastructure failures, noncompliance mistakes, and bad luck — the city started experiencing low water pressure and then no water by Monday night.
We were fine… at first. My county, Henrico, takes some water from Richmond, but not fully. However, on Tuesday morning, a water main break occurred in my neighborhood. We noticed our water pressure going, and due to the news and my growing up in the country, decided to fill our bathtubs with water. Shortly thereafter, we were out of water too.
As of this morning, we have water, though over a million of us in the greater Richmond region are currently under a boil-water advisory. But we didn’t have any water at all throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. Two days, and I was miserable. We all needed showers. My laundry piled up, I became acutely aware of how many dishes we used to eat and cook, and I had several pets to worry about — my chickens’ waterer, for instance, currently needs a refill every morning during these constant freezing temperatures.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles started, and is still, burning. Dozens of celebrities (seemingly, mostly the good ones) have lost their homes, as well as thousands of other regular people like you and me, and they think it’s only going to get worse. What do I blame for both my minor water crisis and the larger, deadlier wildfire crisis throughout SoCal? Of course, capitalism! A decentralized governance! Infrastructure failure! Lack of funding for material needs and communal programs in favor of militarization and policing! But to be true, most of all is climate change… and a country wholly unprepared for it.
I saw a post amid our little ongoing drinkable water outage that 97% of Gaza does not have drinkable water and hasn’t for months. I can’t verify that statistic, but obviously in a war-torn area of a country currently undergoing a targeted genocide, it’s quite likely. It’s hard for me to imagine living like that, and I only did it for two days. Even politically aware Americans like me have no idea how precious and pointed our privileges can be.
And the crises boil down: not just an inability to consume clean water from the taps or clean our bodies and homes, but people and animals who cannot get transportation to get clean water from various resources and can quite literally die. Limited cooking options, limited food options. Long-term possible crop failures. No ability to safely dispose of human waste without alternative plumbing infrastructure, which leads to disease. No water in hospitals which means an inability to safely care for people in great need. And… no water for fires.
I’ve never lived in an area that experienced high levels of drought or dryness, as the South is known for its humidity. To be sure, I’ve taken water for granted in a huge way and it took me two days without it to recognize that. Now, as I said, I grew up in the country and have experienced weather disasters like tornados (destroyed my neighborhood in April 2010) and hurricanes (I lived in Tallahassee for four years in high school) where I recall being without water for a bit, but for some reason this felt different. I was younger then, and I was able to drive somewhere, get away, or stay somewhere else. Or maybe those incidents didn’t last very long. I’ve never been on well water, so if the power went out for a while, we’d still have water access.
Water is sacred. We are using water to power endless tech industries for AI, acting like it’s a “renewable resource” when clearly, it’s not. Los Angeles firefighters — many of whom are enslaved prisoners being forced to do it for almost no income — cannot access water pressure levels needed to contain the fires. That region of the country is drought-prone. These fires are too strong. They’re too big. They’re too widespread. And they dump some seawater when they can, which is effective, but apparently often a complex procedure that doesn’t work in every scenario. Meanwhile, the LA budget increased for the police force and decreased for the fire department.
We are days away from entering a stage where our entire government will be run by people who do not believe in climate change at all and definitely do not believe in the causes behind it being the result of human industry and the relentless pursuit of wealth. Greed will dictate American politics until American politics are no longer relevant and perhaps until there is no longer a United States of America. This is an imperialist country, whether we’re sincerely trying to “buy” Greenland, taking advantage of territories we refuse statehood to, or endlessly profiting from warfare overseas.
I fear that my meager two days of no water are only the beginning, as is the burning of Los Angeles and the destruction of western North Carolina a few months ago. Infrastructure is failing all over America, and none of it is equipped for the climate disasters that are sure to increase and affect us more and more with each passing year.
The ruling class has declared that these disasters, much like school shootings, increased maternal death rates, private healthcare, unaffordable and inaccessible medical care, constant bigotry, and continual labor exploitation, are to be considered normal. Trump and his administration can simply say it’s the Democrats’ fault, despite how Democrat policies mirror GOP policies. That reasoning is good enough for many Americans who voted for him, even when these national policies affect their own red states, too.
We need water for every aspect of human life. Our planet is struggling, and there’s not much we can do about it. I crave escape, a homestead in isolation, and this innate Appalachian desire for self-sufficiency, even though it’s a myth. I run against my instincts by staying put and being part of the community that suffers, in line with ethics.
It will get worse. But I’m no doomer. Now is the time to get involved in communist ideology and liberation theology. Liberal online activism has failed, and many (not all) self-serving political influencers hoping to go viral have little or no impact on bettering the world. Volunteer, donate, and most of all, be radical. Don’t side with Democrats, and obviously don’t side with anyone right of that. Side with the people struggling the most, not a political party. DO SOMETHING. You can continue to vote (I have voted in every election since I was 18 years old) but you can no longer count on “voting” to fundamentally change anything. Our democracy has never really existed, but it will continue to erode under the incoming fascism of right-wing politics globally.
And even if every billionaire was dead and socialist policies were established throughout the land, we would still need to dramatically change our lifestyles to save the planet. Don’t ever forget that.
As I’ve said so many times, deconstructing from conservative Christianity simply isn’t enough. And I’ll even say now that deconstructing from capitalism isn’t enough. “Capitalism sucks!” Yes, you’re right. And yes, there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. And you should be doing something about it beyond complaining.
But you can start deconstructing from consumerism, too. I’m trying to start this myself. How much do I need? Do I need bras from Temu? Do I need the latest iPhone upgrade? Do I need matching rose gold office supplies? Do I need so much plastic?
If we want to treat our world and its many elements as sacred, individual practices still matter. And I’m trying.