The Adventure of #4Liters

This post is a follow-up to my #4Liters experience last week. Read more about the challenge here.

More than a week later, I return to you a thirsty woman. After only three days of living on only 4 liters of water, I was ready for unlimited coffees, gallons of water, and the longest shower ever. I felt a little bit like Viola Davis, smelling so bad I was convulsing people and singing "I get to take a shower, I get to take a shower!"  

I took up the challenge, as I said in my previous post, because the water crisis is a very real and solvable issue. I'm very eager to see a dent made in our lifetime, and I believe, with the proper awareness, it's 100% possible. However, though I only committed to three days of 4 liters, I definitely was struggling by the end. Because I live with a housemate and because I attend school in a public establishment with real toilets, I elected to always flush toilets and ignore that water used from my daily total, as a courtesy to those around me. People may have complained that I had too many unwashed dishes and that I smelled like a marathon runner, but perhaps they didn't realize the service I was doing for them by flushing the toilet!

I've had to brush my teeth from a water bottle before, but I've never had to think about the water in my unlimited number of coffees or teas every day. I've never had to measure the water in my shower, and I've never even considered the water in my washing machine. In Ireland, we don't even get water bills because water is so abundant. I received eye rolls, dismissive "oh"s, and laughter from most people when I told them why I was bringing an almost empty water bottle into the bathroom to wash my hands. 

But for every few sarcastic jabs, I received one interested "Why?" And almost all of these "Why?"s donated to my campaign. I reached my fundraising goal and then some, and I've never felt so supported. It's one thing to support a friend when she needs it; but it's something entirely different to support a friend when she receives nothing from it. The idea of supporting my fundraising campaign is easily dismissible if one doesn't agree with the cause, doesn't see the point, etc. But to have so many people support me was truly incredible. 

Living on 4 Liters of water for a day is ridiculous. It requires a lot of creativity, patience, and support. You can't really prepare for it; you'll get some funny, some frustrating, some ridiculous stories from it. You'll realize who some of your best friends are, you'll make some enemies at the coffee shop when you ask them to use the remainder of water in your bottle to make your espresso. But it's an experience worth doing. It will change the way you think of water, and it will hopefully inspire others to help make a change.

Water bottle + teethbrushing= super fun

I tried to get a girl to help me with this picture so I could be seen actually washing my hands. She didn't help...

Preserving water: drinking hot chocolate. Poor me ;)