I love my cistern, but…
April 11, 2010
… I just discovered yet another reason to wish for running water.
The day has been off to a good start. It’s not yet 8:00am, but I’ve gone walking with some ladies in the neighborhood, made some bread dough from scratch, and while I was waiting for the dough to rise I thought I’d haul a bit of water to my kitchen barrels. Yes, a good start, right?
Unfortunately, I’m done hauling water for today after only two runs. I almost ended at just one run, and I’m still debating if that would have been the wiser decision.
The way it went was this. I took my four buckets down to my cistern, rolled my sleeves up, and chucked my cistern bucket down the hatch. As it filled up for the first time, I grumbled to myself about how there’s been a puddle of water in the courtyard that makes hauling water up and out a bit difficult unless I want to get my feet wet. Nothing big, just the usual mutterings as I settle down to work. Up came the bucket, and I poured a little water into each of my hauling buckets to get them as “clean” as I could. No debris, good. Then I poured the rest of the water into a big bucket.
I think to myself, What’s with the leaf in my water? I know the courtyard floor is kind of messy with a few little basil leaves in this puddle, but why did I have to bring one up in my water? Grumble, grumble. I manage to get the offending organic material out of my bucket.
I fill up all four of my big buckets before I look back to the first, only to notice that either the same leaf fell back into my first bucket, or one identical to it slipped past my eyes. Muttering some more to myself, I work to fish it out. But, as it takes me much longer than it should to wrangle the “leaf”, I realized perhaps I should brace myself in case it’s not a leaf at all. Maybe it’s something else… Telling myself it can’t be a leaf, I should prepare for the worst, I continue my efforts to catch Whatever It Is…
And, yup, not a leaf. In fact, it was… a slug. Kind of a cute little bugger, but he did not belong in my water. As I pondered the possibilities and what I should do next, I placed him on the basil plant in the middle of the courtyard.
My thought was maybe the two slugs I’d found (for the first one was without a doubt a slug as well, even though I couldn’t find it where I’d thrown it on the ground) had curled up in my cistern bucket for the night. I’d given them a rude awakening, but now they should be out of my way. That was the possibility that came first to mind. I decided the big bucket that had suffered two invasions would go to my bit l-ma (toilet) rather than to the kitchen. I hauled my buckets to my house and tried to keep my thoughts calm.
I figured I might as well try to make a second run with my four big buckets, having such a perfect morning and the time to finally fill up my kitchen barrels. I thought I’d brave through my new discovery…
But then, that didn’t seem like such an appealing idea, especially not after my next cistern bucketful of water had an even larger slug–dead this time.
You see that thing floating in my bucket? Yup, dead slug.
Oh, my. Three slugs in 5 big buckets’ worth of water? Is this even a good idea? What do I do? I need to talk to a neighbor–is this normal?! I’d heard stories about mosquito larvae floating in cisterns. Alhamdulillah, I haven’t had that problem (yet?).
As I debated about what to do, I had no hesitation in running upstairs to grab my camera. What a memory to keep, what a story to tell! I enjoyed my little flurry of photography, but then I was still stuck facing the question of whether I should haul more water. Really, how bad are a few isolated slugs? Also, say I wait until they’re all dead, are they really going to end up anywhere other than my cistern? Is this a situation where it’s necessary to pour bleach into the whole cistern to kill the slugs, bacteria, and whatever else is in there?
Quite the dilemma, let me tell you. Anyway, I half-heartedly filled my four buckets and I finished my water hauling for the day. Thankfully it’s not burning hot yet here in the Souss. I have enough water for a few days, no more slugs for me for now. Sadly, this new crack in my loving relationship with my cistern may be around to stay for a while.
My second little invader, enjoying himself thoroughly after I'd set him free on the basil plant.
