For washing dishes, I turn the water heater to its highest setting, use antibacterial soap, and use as little tap water as possible for washing and rinsing. Then, I boil some bottled water on the stove, add a little bleach, and use the hot bleach water to rinse everything.

Dealing with laundry is a bit more troublesome.

In one apartment, we were fortunate to have a washing machine. Though using it increased our water and electric bills, the extra expense was worth not having to lug our dirty clothes to the nearest laundromat (more than a mile away) or having to lug the clean clothes back up the mountain.

Everything was going along swimmingly until rainy season hit. No one told me about the problems with the water.

One day, after several days of rain, the morning dawned clear and bright. I decided it was a good time to get in a load of wash since dirty clothes were piling up. The sun was shining, so the weather would be warm enough for the clothes to dry on the clothesline (we didn't have a dryer).

I put the clothes in, started the wash cycle, and went about my business. A while later, I heard the washer complete the final spin cycle. I went out to the patio, opened the washer's lid, and saw a horrifying sight.

All my whites were brown!! Everything was ruined!!

At first, I thought something was wrong with the washing machine. It was several years old and was housed on an open patio, so I assumed the washer malfunctioned. I resigned myself to rinsing each item out in the sink.

I brought a couple of small items inside, plugged the sink, and turned on the water. The water was a nice muddy brown!! The washing machine was not at fault after all.

Now what?