Since the water well was damaged in July 2015 and analysis revealed elevated levels of sulfate, iron and manganese beside traces of uranium, in Keno City drinking water has to be trucked up from Mayo. All year long, winter included, Roger drives the 60 km rough road twice a week and fills tanks and the blue jars that people place outside the front door.
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Every house has a big water tank that feeds pipes throughout the system, but it works only in Summer, till mid October. In Winter things work differently. In Winter Roger fills the blue jars placed outside on Monday and on Friday: that's the water used for cooking, for washing up, that's the drinking water and the water to be used for personal hygiene. A bucket under the sink collects the dirty water that has to be disposed outside manually. And disposing personal "poop and pee", if you don't like and don't want to go freezing outside or reach the community toilet, works like once upon a time: grandma's chamber pot and a lot of bags in and out. |