Being one of the dryest islands in the Caribbean, water is an important issue.
Water is life giving, cleansing, and cool. It is also relatively expensive here.
Aruba doesn't have any rivers or lakes. Most of our wells have dried up generations ago. The only thing that we have is a big sea surrounding us.
So we decided to use the sea as our source for water. That's why we have a desalinization plant, which doubles also as our electricity provider. I am grateful that we can drink our tapwater without fear or doubt, because of the good quality product that we have. However, the cost of water is a fairly big part of the monthly expenses, and what's worse, it also fluctuates with the price of oil, because of the energy it takes to desalinate our water.
What I find lacking is that there are still no measures taken by the government to help those who have a hard time being the utility bills. Last summer, when the gas prices were only going up, up and up, a record number of custumers were apparantly unable to pay their bills.
Some things should be provided by all of us to all of us. I think water is one of those things.
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