Hard water

That is an excellent point and it is something that we do on a small scale right now. It doesn't help during these long stretches when there is no rain water to collect. I have plans to do something on a larger scale for collecting rain water but it is a project that hasn't yet floated to the top of my list. It is part of a project that I have in mind for creating a small scale pumped hydro system on our property to compliment our solar and should further help us reduce our use of the dirty electricity that we get from CFE.

Besides being regular Pun Artist, you have some great ideas.

I've heard a lot of people discuss the hard water problem over the years, and I've seen some crazy filters, but I'm unaware of any practical solution that doesn't use tech or substances not easily acquired here. The rainwater idea seems like a natural solution (oh ho ojo) that would be practical here. Frankly, I've always been surprised that regionally we don't collect our rainwater for home use as folks have done throughout the Caribbean for generations. That was something that struck me when I first came here in '74 and discovered we only had a long plastic black hose to receive water in La Ropa, one that we all had to fix whenever we saw a leak, though the water supply was not regular or reliable by any means, but at least the local government of our then very small town was making an honest effort.