No water on tap

I don’t have running water in the Rolling Steel Tent. I never planned on having it. It’s not necessary for the way I’m living.

From my point of view, plumbing complicates things. I'd need some type of container, some type of pump, some pipes or hoses, a faucet, a sink, a drain, a gray water container, some way to drain the gray water. And if I want hot running water, I'm in for more complications. And more ways for things to go wrong.

If I had really needed running water, I would’ve bought an RV.

I keep it simple with cheap gallon jugs and a bowl. I pour the water in the bowl and toss the water when I’m finished. It’s essentially what people have done through most of human history. It’s what millions still do. And when the bowl isn’t a wash basin, it’s a mixing bowl, a salad bowl, a cereal bowl, a noise maker, a helmet to shield me from brain control rays. Try that with a sink.

Gallon jugs are easy to handle. Five one-gallon jugs are easier to store in various places around the van than one five-gallon container. A one-gallon jug is a buck, including water. A five-gallon jug is seven, twelve, twenty-five dollars or more, empty. A ten- or twenty-gallon under-floor water tank is way more than that. Plus the structure to hold it in place. And bumming a refill for a gallon jug is less of a deal than asking if I could refill a seven-gallon Aqua-Tainer.

I think plumbing makes it easy to waste water—the same way we waste water when we live in buildings. I can do the dishes or wash my body with about a quarter cup of water. Often there’s no dirty water to toss, just a sponge or wash cloth to squeeze dry.

Water is life, but I don't want to dedicate a lot of my life to it.