Drinking water in Maun

Water is a worthy topic, especially in the desert during a drought. It’s also a worthy topic when you are new in town and wondering if you can drink what comes out of the tap. I’ve heard both. Safari operators I met said yes, of course, it’s fine. The owner of the local filtered water shop says no.

On our second day here, my 9 year-old drank a glass of tap water. We held our breath and waited for the vomiting to start, but he was fine. On our third day here, my 6-year old started vomiting, but not from the tap water. Goodness knows – luckily he was fine soon after.

Nonetheless, we are going with bottled water for now. It’s an interesting experiment. I know exactly how much water my family uses (1.25 L drinking water per day per person, cooking not included) because I have to carry it out of the store and into my house. I brush my teeth with tap water and it tastes fine, but it has a slight milky or tannic color (see photo), depending on the day – and that makes me think twice before drinking it. A good friend of mine always drinks the tap water wherever she goes. She visited us last weekend and naturally drank our tap water as well. Perhaps we are being silly.

The more interesting story is where our water comes from. It is pumped out of the ground by an electric pump (hope the landlord has paid for electricity), through two large filters, and stored in an enormous green plastic tank held high above our complex on a metal platform. This allows a gravity water feed into the houses. We share the water tank with four other homes. The green water tanks are everywhere in Maun. Most well-built houses have one. I don’t know what kind of filtration the filters do. I have noticed there is enough silt coming through the pipes to block the most well maintained showerhead. And the water is still a funny color after all that filtration. I wonder what the pre-filtered water quality is like.

Our water tank.
Our water tank.

We have been here two weeks and already woken up twice to no water. This is one reason to have several canteens of bottled water hanging out in the kitchen. We don’t shower in it, but at least we can brush our teeth and make coffee. The water stopped once because the electricity ran out (more on electricity in a separate post) and another time because the filters had not been backwashed for a week. Both fixed in a day by our awesome maintenance guy. I think it is good to lose water at random times. It teaches us to be prepared and makes us both resourceful and more aware of resources.

Tap versus bottled.
Tap versus bottled (you decide)
The filters
Filters