Water and Sewage Tanks

We had an interesting learning experience today that involved the water and sewage tanks at the house. All the houses in the community have fuel, water and sewage tanks attached to the houses and there are municipal service trucks that come around and fill/vacuum out the tanks.

Water truck delivery

Now, how exactly one knows they are getting close to emptying these tanks, I don't know but I ended up learning the hard way today. I noticed that when I turned the tap on or flushed the toilet there was a strange noise the water was making as it was coming out and I thought to myself, god I hope this doesn't mean we're getting low on water. Sure enough, not 20 minutes later I see the warning light on the water tank turn on- NO!!!! Suddenly all the things I still needed to do with water over the weekend started flashing through my head: this is not good! I saw all the trucks making their rounds in the neighbourhood and I prayed they'd stop at my house, but I think maybe because I am new in town they didn't remember to fill up my tank. Thankfully, though, I called the dispatch number and I was able to get the truck to come back and I tell you I've never been so happy to see a water truck in my life- now I can go and have a shower!

Typical house 

The other interesting thing about water and sewage tanks is that there seems to be some connection that when the sewage truck comes by and takes away your sewage, the house suddenly becomes permeated with the smell of sewage! Not a pleasant odour! The trick I've been told to handle this issue is that as soon as you hear the sewage truck coming through you run to turn on your taps and flush your toilet and this helps to alleviate the smell of sewage in the house.

Oh and then add to this the fact that the water itself at a given time of year smells like fish! Apparently the lake where they draw the water from isn't always aerated, so the water can take on a fishy smell. This happened the other day when having finished a load of laundry I went to put it into the dryer and noticed that all my clothes smelled like fish! You just have to laugh!