Why do some Americans seem to want to pretend to have the same problems as 3rd world countries?

I am a low income person.

The tap water in my home is undrinkable. It makes my dog vomit. It clogs my shower head so I have to soak it in toilet bowl cleaner twice a month, and brush it off with a toothbrush before every shower.

I could likely report the stuff to the county, but that would trigger a code enforcement investigation of my house. If that happened they would learn about the bad wiring that is a fire hazard (we don’t use the installed lights in those rooms) and the bad flooring, and condemn the home.

Since we have a month to month lease, the landlord would be under no obligation to help facilitate our move to a more adequate accommodation.

The prospect of coming across 3 months’ rent in order to move is always looming in the distance.

So, yeah, we buy water by the gallon. I have a stack of stolen milk crates with jugs of water we refill for anywhere from 20 to 40 cents a gallon depending on which machines around town are working.

I might have a problem refilling 12 gallon jugs of water at the 7–11 soda fountain.

I don’t understand. The details don’t support the question, including the link. There isn’t any mention of Americans comparing themselves to third world countries. Is the question really about that or is it about minimum wage demands or is it about water? I apologize in advance if this should be clear.

She’s stating that if people buy bottled water because their water is “undrinkable” they are comparing themselves to people who actually live in places with undrinkable water, unlike most Americans with city water. Americans live to bitch about chlorine and fluoride. I would love some city water. Please give me fluoride.

You know two people here with water problems. Out of how many regulars?

That’s not a scientific study, but it suggests the problem might be more prevalent than you think.

I’m not saying itis (I don’t know), I’m saying it might be.

They represent a particular political agenda. The constituency you describe is the constituency of victimhood, plus the constituency of guilt. Alone, they don’t amount to much but together they represent a decent voting bloc.

I’ve never paid a water bill. Honestly, what does city water generally cost per gallon? I want to know how much the free market is scalping me for the crime of being poor.

Oh, it’s a hell of a lot less than .20 a gallon! Yeah, it’s dang expensive to be poor. I’ve been poor.

We weren’t talking about water “problems” @jaytkay. We were talking about access to water. Both of the people here have access to clean drinking water. It is inconvenient and expensive compared to water most of us have in our homes, but they have access to it.

And that is exactly my point. Some third world countries have people dying from diseases associated with the water they have to drink, but we’re going to compare ourselves to them because some people here have to go through hoops to get what they need. But at least they can get it.

This by our own Auggie.

Like @Pied_Pfeffer mentions, I’m finding it impossible to draw any connection between the question title and the details. Are these two separate questions?

what does city water generally cost per gallon?

I’m looking at a bill for a six-unit apartment building.

$0.0029/gallon

The bill for 44,135 gallons is $126.82.

Okay. I think I now get where you are going with this. Is it about Americans moaning about aspects of their life that, even if considered bad compared to other Americans, it still isn’t that bad when compared to someone living in a 3rd world country?

Ah. So that’s 100 gallons of fresh, clean, healthy water delivered to your faucet for the cost of one gallon I have to drive five miles to acquire. Nice.

I repeat, the guy made the claim ”….access to safe drinking water is real problem in low income areas. ” Bullshit. It’s problem in 3rd world countries, not low income areas. Section 8 housing has the most rigorous rules and regulations regarding EVERYthing.

I know @Uasal. It really sucks. So you can come use my hose for free.

I’m telling you, right now, how much a problem it is in this low income area. Not everyone gets on the section 8 list. Some of us just try to raise a family on $11 an hour because 2008 made our businesses obsolete and who can afford to train for a new career when there are bills to pay now?

Paying 100x the normal amount for water, and having to travel miles to get it is third world conditions. How is it not? Our poverty is prettier than Namibia’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.

I’m not saying it’s not real! I’ve been in poverty. My daughter was in poverty for about 10 years, and is just now pulling herself out. I know how it is. But we have access to clean drinking water! I know that paying 100X the price, and traveling for it is a bitch, but none of our poor people are dying from lack of clean drinking water.

Ignoring much of the unnecessary conversation you’ve outlined between you and your friend, are you making the following assertion?....

if (condition > worst possible condition)
then there is nothing to complain about

? I could be wrong, but I think you’re saying that….

In the US, poor people may have limited access to basic resources, such as fresh safe water. But there are people in Country A that have far less access to water than low income Americans. ?

If so, wouldn’t your logic then apply to those people in Country B? In fact, Country B probably has it much better than a particular group in Country C.

@Dutchess_III: “But we have access to clean drinking water! I know that paying 100X the price, and traveling for it is a bitch, but none of our poor people are dying from lack of clean drinking water.”

If your point is that people in the U.S. are not dying from lack of clean drinking water, what was that whole discussion about with your friend? And what is your point exactly? We can make statements about global poverty and relative lack of resources and suffering precisely because we can compare resources and analyze relative access to resources. If low income people are indeed experiencing what @Uasal is describing – in a country of obscene wealth – then it sounds like this would be enough to at least spark some sympathy with people in your country who have less. It doesn’t take away any of your global concern.

More importantly, checking one’s privilege is a great exercise. But checking privilege on behalf of other less-fortunate members of your country doesn’t appear to be a valuable or good use of time.

I don’t think I’m entirely clear on the point you made @hominid. But just to cover my bases, I know I am privileged. And you know, I don’t think I’d realize that I would know that I am privileged if it weren’t for the years I spent scraping the bottom of the barrel to make ends meet for the kids and me, with almost no help.
I was raised upper middle class, expected that to continue when married a Boeing man who was climbing the ladder…..and it all crashed around my head after my divorce. It’s given me a perspective I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

@Dutchess_III: “I don’t think I’m entirely clear on the point you made @hominid”

Sorry. Let me try it this way…

I’m a white male. I understand that with that comes privilege. It’s a great exercise to make sure that I’m aware of this (and other relative advantages I have, including wealth etc).

Now say a woman in this country describes an aspect of discrimination, harassment, unequal pay, risk of assault, or anything else associated with being a woman in this country. How appropriate would it be for me to say…

But you have it great compared to women in [Country A]!, and I then when on to describe how honor killings were relatively rare in the U.S., and that women are allowed to learn how to read.

I could be wrong, but it seems like this is what you are doing. There may not be anything factually incorrect (other than your dismissal of @Uasal‘s claims), but the project of checking someone else’s privilege is of little practical or ethical value.

Honestly, in your scenario, I would have to agree. Compared to other countries the shit that we, as American women, go through is almost nothing. This from someone who has almost been raped more than once. This from someone who has been grouped, grabbed, followed, terrified out of her mind….compared to being forced to marry some 50 year old guy at the age of 12….and the government says that’s OK….it’s just not comparable. It is just not comparable.

And I didn’t dismiss @Uasal claims. Not at all. I sympathize.

I agree with @Dutchess_III on this one. We have waaay more per capita public drinking fountains, regular fucking fountains, and sinks than any country where folks actually are lacking a true source of clean drinking water.

I off handedly compare us to the third world when I talk about the growing socioeconomic divide. Or, about things like Bush becoming President after the state his brother was governor in screwed up the voting process. Imagine if we as Americans heard a vote in Venezuela was undecided because ballots were terrible and it all was happening in a state that the political leaders were brothers? I mean really, we would chalk that up to third work corruption and dictatorship.

Your point about the water is well taken. The majority of Americans have easy access to potable water that is extremely inexpensive, if not free. My husband grew up in Mexico City and to this day he can’t wrap his head around drinking straight from the tap he is so conditioned. He will drink tap water just filtered with a Brita or fridge filter. He doesn’t regularly drink bottled water here.

My SIL had to buy water to bathe after her surgeries when she lived in the Dominican Republic.

Americans have water fountains in most public buildings.

@Uasal Where so you live?

I failed to mention that a year ago I told my husband that the water was starting to taste like poison and I might call the city. I never did, but a few months later we got a notice saying the water was over the maximums allowed for a certain chemical. It said some bullshit that it shouldn’t hurt you. We did switch to bottled for a while.

If American’s won’t ask the hardest questions of themselves and their government, perhaps the rest of us should for them. I suggest that we start a campaign like they do for famines in Africa. I suggest the theme… ‘Can’t you do better for yourselves, America?’ I mean….. there is money there…. LOADS of it, but they can’t seem to give a shit. I mean, how can a person who takes perfectly good, market driven rent money from a family with a small child sleep at night when they know full well that the dwelling isn’t fit!! Land of the free (to exploit) and home of the brave (who have to put up with health risks no one in an ethical society should have to.)

So… what some people on this thread are saying is that having clean drinking water that comes out of a tap in your own home is too much for an American to ask for. I think that absolutely sucks and makes me wonder why and how they could possibly think that way.

@cazzie I don’t think that’s what people are saying. I think the point was there are countries around the world that you have to walk 5 miles for potable water and even that supply is easily contaminated and not monitored. In MX my husband couldn’t just go to the 7/11 and fill up a cup of water from the soda fountain for free. In Cancún you can from the tap in the hotels along the beach, but not in most of MX.

@JLeslie So… you want to compare your living conditions to that? or do you actually want to have proper living standards. That is my point. And why do you think that is too much to ask?

I don’t think it’s too much to ask. I think it should be an expectation for all Americans. America used to have pride about our availability of drinking water. We also used to have pride about education for all children living here, and pride in a large and prosperous middle class. Unfortunately, all of those things are waning, and there is a portion of Americans who seem to not care, or actually argue it’s better to let the country go in that direction. Drives me crazy.

I’m confused – I read through that stream of hateful blather and checked out the pics, but can’t find the woman with the water bottle. Is she in the pic of the Seattle protesters somewhere?

Also, does your question have anything to do with the content of that piece, or just with the pic? Are you implying that the Fight for $15 protesters are unreasonable for being up in arms over their low pay, and that the protest is a disingenuous reach for sympathy for the poor because they in the US presumably have it better than Third Worlders? Try looking at it another way: that Walsh guy is drawing the wrong lesson from the facts he’s presenting. Maybe fast food workers shouldn’t have the same wages as policemen and EMTs…so shouldn’t the lesson be that we ought to pay policemen and EMTs more than we do now, in addition to paying fast food workers a minimum to live comfortably? God damn, it’s like people actually enjoy having a servant class that lives on the fringes of cities and travels in to do menial labor for them every day. Sorry Dutch, it’s not you I’m mad at, it’s that guy.

Oh yeah, the thing I was going to say before I read that – there are many – most, even – takeaway restaurants and bodegas in NYC that will not give you water in your own container.

Water here in the states is drinkable. I don’t know what the issue is with @Uasal‘s water but it sounds like calcium which won’t hurt you. If there is any question about it, it could be inspected and fixed at no cost to you if it’s undrinkable. If you don’t like that option because you don’t want an inspector to come into you place, you could buy a water filter for about $10 at target. Or you could continue to complain about how difficult and expensive it is to have someone else filter it for you.

I just can’t believe that for a $10 filter we’re going to turn this into another ‘Hate America’ rant.

Jaxk- the issue with my water cannot be solved with a filter. It is a bacteria that thrives in iron rich water. It can be solved by pumping many pounds of bleach directly into the well itself. My landlord has refused to do that.

I don’t know if you’re really interested but here are instructions for doing the chlorine thing yourself for only the cost of the bleach. Your landlord may be more willing to work with you if the cost is low and you do it yourself.

DIY repairs are prohibited by my rental agreement. Believe me, I’m not stupid, I have thought of it, but being charged with vandalism after being evicted is not high on my priority list.

exactly…. what @Jaxk suggests would be fine if you owned the property but there are rules in actual tenancy agreements.

Suit yourself but if I thought the drinking water was poison and I knew how to fix it, I would. The landlord would have a hard time making a case for vandalism if he’s refusing to clean poison water.

Three times I started to answer this question, and three times I stopped and deleted it. It’s the same problem I always have when trying to explain extreme poverty to someone who has never experienced it. If you haven’t experienced it, you won’t believe anyone who tells you that it’s a very, very different world. Things which are so easy and simple as to pass without notice when you’re middle class become huge barriers when you’re poor. Trying being homeless and finding somewhere to take a shit when you’re homeless, for example. Twice when I was homeless I nearly died from dehydration and heat stroke because I couldn’t get water to drink in the summer. In one case I laid on the sidewalk, unable to move, going in and out of consciousness and calling to people walking by for help. It was more than an hour before someone finally called 911, and when help arrived it was the police, not an ambulance.

@Uasal Have you contacted the county to see what papers to file, or the procedure for forcing the landlord to fix it? Most states you are entitled to pay less rest until something basic like water, electricity, or other things that cause unreasonable living conditions are fixed. He shouldn’t be able to evict you if you shirt the rent to pay for water. It sounds like you have proof the water isn’t safe.

Someone is paying for that water.

@cheebdragon Oh? And did they also pay for the rain that filled the oceans? And the meteorites that created the oceans? And did they pay for the supernovae which populated the Universe with water? Did they pay the thousands of generations of humans who struggled and toiled and sacrificed to build the technology to pump and clean the water? Did they pay every single human being who invented, built, and maintains the infrastructure stretching back to ancient Ur which permits our species to collaborate in these magnificent structures we call “cities”?

Or is it possible that billions upon billions of human beings have all had a hand in bringing about the conditions necessary for a person to turn a tap and receive fresh, clean water, and that anyone who doesn’t contribute back some of the benefit they gain thereby is a selfish, obnoxious, sociopathic scumbag who should be impaled on a spike on the sidewalks of Wall Street as a warning to other capitalists?

@cheebdragon The water out of the well on private property? It’s true someone has to pay to pump it out of the ground if it isn’t hand pumped. It’s also true almost all water is paid for in some manner, but in most of America it is incredibly cheap, and we certainly can make sure all people can have water to drink. In some cities you can go right to springs in town and fill up gallon jugs. Yet in other places in America some people still don’t have indoor plumbing or clean water. That’s unacceptable in my opinion. I’m not counting people who are purposely living in a camping type setting. I’m talking about poor people who don’t have access.

I’ve been threatened with eviction if I report it to the county. No, it’s not legal for him to do that, but I can’t afford to pay my rent plus 20% to the county for the administrative costs while I fight him over that.

The only answer is to move out. To do that I need money. After I live somewhere else I can ruin my landlord’s game, but until then I need a roof to sleep under.

But thanks everyone for thinking my problems can be fixed over the internet by people totally unaware of the whole situation when those of us living in it still haven’t solved it. It’s almost as heartwarming as the pastor who tried to solve my clinical depression by telling me I could just remember, when I’m depressed, that he thinks I’m pretty.

@Uasal I have no solutions for only empathy for you. In this country and many others, we should be able to do better than this.

@Uasal I’ll ramble on a little more, on the off chance a piece of information might help. He shouldn’t be able to evict you in that situation. I understand why the situation is difficult though, especially if he rather have the place not rented than fix something. Then you have little to no power. I think it’s worth a call to the county or an organization that can explain your rights if you haven’t done it yet. The paperwork might be very inexpensive if anything.

The law gives tenants an “implied warranty of habitability.” I think wells need to be inspected by the county, I’m not sure, so if it fails inspection the county will be spending the money to notify him possibly.

I just think talk to someone, don’t rely on the internet for information. I’m not talking about Fluther, I mean don’t rely on reading statutes and laws online, talk to someone who can possibly take action for you and maybe keep you anonymous.

@SmashTheState Dramatic much?~....Chill the fuck out, all i said was that someone is paying for that water….THAT being the “free” water @Dutchess_III is getting at 7–11 or wherever the fuck. Not sure why that ignited an entire rant from you because it is true, even though she is getting water for free, the store is ultimately footing the bill.

Of course someone is paying for the water, @SmashTheState, but the cost is so minimal that the convenience stores and gas stations don’t charge people for using the toilet or washing their hands. Or filling up a container with water.

@wildpotato The guy I got into a debate with said, ”..... access to safe drinking water is real problem in low income areas.” That is absolute bullshit.

@Uasal‘s issue is due to a shitty land lord. The poverty comes in because he doesn’t have the option of moving to a place where the land lord takes care of stuff. But he has ACCESS to safe water.

Oh. You’re a “she” @Uasal. A guy would never have to put up with this bullshit, “It’s almost as heartwarming as the pastor who tried to solve my clinical depression by telling me I could just remember, when I’m depressed, that he thinks I’m pretty.”

I’m sick of posting things, getting loads of lurve and then having them deleted. Seems utterly pointless.

People have ‘access’ if they have to walk how far? Carry how much cubic meters of water how far on foot?

It’s about making problems up where there are none. For the most part Americans are pampered, spoiled brats. Even the poorest of us are.

@Dutchess_III Just for you my dear

@Dutchess_III: “It’s about making problems up where there are none. For the most part Americans are pampered, spoiled brats. Even the poorest of us are.”

Again, @Dutchess_III – I’m not sure you’re thinking through what you are saying. Not a single person here – or elsewhere – is going to argue that poor people in the U.S. are experiencing the same thing as some drought-ridden, war torn country ripped apart by genocide and mass rape. Right? But there are some really disgusting realities happening right here in the middle of obscene wealth. You are claiming that it’s not worth discussing unless they’re watching their kid die from starvation on a rock.

The whole “first world problems” thing actually was useful for some period of time. We could laugh at our complaints about slow internet or not having access to a soy latte. But the first world problem meme wasn’t intended to be used as a weapon against the poorest members of the “first world”. It’s a useful exercise for making sure our own (as in @Dutchess_III‘s in your case) “problems” really match up with the suffering of others. It is a way of expanding our own empathy by turning a lens upon our own privilege. This is not what you are doing here.

You are using great suffering in other countries as a way to keep low-income “first world” citizens from expressing their legitimate concerns. What if we tried another approach: In what way does your global concern for the suffering of humans help you empathize with your neighbors? Whatever it is that exercises those compassionate impulses – doesn’t it trigger the same feelings when you realize that there are people who suffer right here?

Because not everyone in the US is made of money. @hominid summed it up very well. GA!

The thing is, comparing it to the third world, we just aren’t. We have pockets of our country that is, but the vast majority live in what we expect for an industrialized prosperous nation. If you compare to some other western, developed countries we fall short in some areas, we need to, have to work on it, but we are not Nigeria or Nicaragua.

It’s two separate things in my mind. One is: are we like a third world country? Two is: are we to the standard expected for first world countries? There is all sorts of in-between and depending on how you interpret the question influences how you answer.

People in many third world nations are still paid pennies an hour. You might think the cost of living is cheaper, but in reality if you want to live in the nice neighborhoods you need to be relatively rich, because you are either rich or poor. Access to reasonably safe and pleasant neighborhoods in most of America is much more accessible than in the third world.

Average education in Mexico is 7 years now I think. America is 12 years. That’s a huge difference. Some countries in Latin America are much better.

I really don’t see the value of trying to objectively assign value to suffering. As if it were some sort of penis measuring contest to see who is the most screwed. It’s demeaning and non-compassionate to everyone.

If A is a woman who lives in a industrialized country and was roofied at a bar and raped, and B was a woman in india walking home from work and gang raped by a group of men; is anyone with any sense of humanity really going to tell A that she shouldn’t complain or feel suffering because she didn’t get raped the way B did?

“I cried because I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet.” – Wally Lamb

Hardships are not all the same.

@Uasal I would like to thank you for your reflections here regarding your situation. There is a reluctance on the part of many of us to accept the fact that third world conditions might persist anywhere in the United States. Another realization usually absent in those who haven’t experienced it is the fact that poverty is EXPENSIVE. I hope beyond my ability to express it that you have no dependents other than your dog, and though there is no way of determining from your narrative where you are here in “the land of the free”, you must find a way to leave. Don’t let the inertia of a “roof” trap you.

@stanleybmanly You raise a good point about poverty being expensive. The people with the least money wind up paying the most for many basic things.

That is so true @stanleybmanly and @JLeslie. Been there, done that. As sad as @Uasal‘s situation is, she does have access to clean drinking water. Before that random internet person commented (as listed in the details,) I had never before heard that there is a problem with low income Americans having access to clean drinking water. Never heard it before. Bet it becomes a new fad, though, pushed by the people who bottle water.

I still say that if you can afford to pay $1.25 for a couple of ounces of water in a plastic container, instead of getting it for free at the same store, you aren’t underpaid at your job.

getting it for free at the same store

Where does this idea come from? You think the local 7–11 will be happy if you fill up buckets and bottles for all your family’s cooking and drinking water? Of course they won’t.

I’m talking specifically about single servings @jatkay, that people buy just because they want something to drink at the moment.

@Uasal‘s situation is different and I feel bad that she has to go through all of that because her land lord is a dick.. But again, she has access to clean water. The guy I was arguing with yesterday was insisting many poor Americans don’t even have access to clean drinking water and that’s absolute bullshit. It’s a phrase that is applied to third world countries that literally don’t have access to clean water and are dying because of it. To act like it applies to Americans as well is just disrespectful as hell.

But again, she has access to clean water

Well, I have access to five dollars.

Does that mean I have adequate access to all things which cost dollars, like housing and medical care?

@jaytkay Now you’re trying to deflect. I’ve been poor as hell in the past, OK? I know where she’d coming from.
Saying Americans don’t have access to clean water (just like some third world nations!) is like comparing someone who is dying of AIDS to someone who has a cold.

I’m not deflecting.

I think you’re trying to say poor people have it easy, and it’s offensive.

Relative poverty is real.

We live in a country where some kids think not having the latest iPhone is a disaster. I know people who are “saving money” by spending less than $400/month on cosmetics and haircuts.

Meanwhile, we have people living hand-to-mouth, and wishing they could visit a dentist.

@jaytkay, That’s a strawman. The question (apparently) is about accessibility to safe, clean drinking water in the US.

@Dutchess_III I can’t speak for all Americans and I doubt that you can either. There are citizens, albeit most likely a minor amount, who don’t have access to water like most of us do. Then there are those who have to live with tainted water that, while acceptable for bathing or cleaning, isn’t safe to drink. Others rely on well and/or cistern water.

Purchasing safe drinking water is a cost that adds up way more quickly than having it come out of a tap. Taking water from another establishment is akin to stealing. It may be easily accessible, but to do it and walk away guilt-free is based upon a rationalization.

I said I have been poor. I know how freaking hard it is. For several years I never bought trash bags. I just used the plastic bags that the groceries came in. I bought foil maybe once a year. I didn’t buy paper towels. I didn’t buy anything that I could live with out. And I sure as fuck was not buying bottled water. But it does not compare to a third world country. This

I know @Pied_Pfeffer. But, as far as I know, Americans are not dying of diseases they get from drinking the only water they have access to.

Interesting- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18020305

And I’m not saying it can’t happen. It’s just rare. Hell, the water in a town not far from here tested positive for E Coli, and they dealt with it immediately.

If you define poverty as absolutely no access to drinking water, all Americans are wealthy.

HUZZAH! POVERTY DOESN’T EXIST!!! WE SOLVED IT!!! WHEE!!!!!!

Come one @jaytkay. That’s a ridiculous leap.

@Dutchess_III We understand that there was a time in your life when you were poor. The choice of not purchasing plastic trash bags, paper towels and tin foil isn’t a sacrifice. It is also a way of life for those who want to keep the environment clean, as well as other factors. All three are first world issues.

If the topic is about the accessibility to safe drinking water in the US, please do some research and keep an open mind.

I agree with your first paragraph, @Pied_Pfeffer.

We hear about the troubles of poor people. We hear about the homeless. We hear about the addictions and the mental illnesses. If clean drinking water was actually an issue, we would have heard about it.

@Dutchess_III It feels like we are getting closer to agreement.

Homelessness, addictions, and mental illnesses all have support groups here in the US. The number of people who have easy access to safe drinking water might possibly be another issue that is currently below the radar.

There comes a point when issues like this may become more predominant. Why not access on where it is now and what might happen based upon the current and predicted status?

Well, like I said, it’s a well regulated industry and the water is tested often. Just a random test of the other towns water caught the Ecoli.
People in the country may have wells, and it’s their job to monitor them.
More and more city water is coming into the country.

@Pied_Pfeffer What a bizarre idea – injecting research and facts into the discussion! ~

I just did a quick search and found this article and this article and there are several others. They all indicate that while there are not the widespread issues of access to clean water that there are in other parts of the world, water access is a real problem for many poorer people in the United States.

So – we could do some reading or we could argue based on personal opinion all day. and, being a librarian, you know what side I fall on.

being a librarian, you know what side I fall on

I think you should remove your glasses, untie your hair, and toss your head seductively at us. That’s what librarians do, right?

In my dreams

@jaytkay So – am I beautiful?

The second link is much more informative than the first. The first one said, “While less than one percent of non-native American households have no access to safe water and/or wastewater disposal, 13 percent of Native Americans lack access” The didn’t say why.
The second link rather explained it: ”They include the urban homeless, migrant workers, residents of colonias along the US–Mexico border, and households living in remote areas of Native American reservations, mountainous regions, and the semiarid plains. ”

It also said, _The vast majority of poor households in the US now have indoor plumbing; and almost all of the urban and rural poor have access to far more than 20 lpcd—but not 100 percent.”

That isn’t meant to dismiss the small percentage of those who really have a problem. Generally speaking, it isn’t a problem in America.

@janbb Would you happen to have a Ben Hur 1863 edition with a duplicated line on page 116?

The focus on water is a diversion.

We choose to withhold food, shelter and healthcare from Americans despite our wealth.

Some of us have better plans. Sorry you wish to drag us down to third-world levels.

@jaytkay Why, I think I do! It’s on the bottoms shelf. I’ll just bend over a bit.

@janbb

Camera cuts to train entering tunnel followed by Old Faithful geyser

Why thank you, ma’am. I appreciate your erudition.

@jaytkay Why sir, you sure have made a splash in our library! Come again soon!

Normally one to get frustrated when a thread gets lost with a complete change of topic, this recent NSFW turn is welcome. It’s also far less silly than the direction this conversation about water went.

@hominid Yeah – I didn’t feel we were disrupting anything terribly productive at this point.

My mom buys bottles of water, and sometimes ill take one with me when I leave. My boyfriends mom always sends us home with a few bottles of water also.
MAYBE…..JUST MAYBE….she didn’t buy the fucking bottle of water that she was drinking.

Either way, she doesn’t need to be paid $15….that’s just insane.

I already covered that @cheebdragon.

Rats. My copy of Ben-Hur is 1901, no duplicate line.

@Uasal But are you Spartacus?

Thanks to the latest posts, I dedicate this video to @jabb.

@Pied_Pfeffer Where’d you get the vid of me at work?