NO WATER ( wala tubig)

(this is my water supply) i was recently reading an article about the scarcity of water in third world countries. it was explaining that over 2,000,000,000 people worldwide are dying of water related causes, the most common was the lack of water. and that every 15 seconds a child dies from a water related cause; be it lack of, or dirty disease infested water. my usual response is wow, that sucks -- but wait, aren't i living in a third world country and could this happen to me???? funny i should read that article now, because rainy season is over and the underground water supply is starting to dry up. the water that used to come billowing from my faucet into the bucket in my bathroom has slowed to a trickle. and to turn on two faucets at the same time is impossible. so all of a sudden it's not just an article, it's my life -- i have to keep a full bucket of water in the house, because there may not be more. I can no longer do my own laundry because i don't have enough water and i now have to buy 5 gallons a week from a water company just to have to drink. wow, all of those articles and newsclips that we see and blow off are really happening, and the scarriest part of all is it's happening to me. it's the strangest feeling of being a part of real poverty and having no way to change it. ironically, what makes me the happiest is also what saddens me the most; i can escape it, i can go home any time i want to and not have to deal with it -- but these people are home. where do they go when all the water is gone???? so i really know nothing about how to make water potable, so i was asking questions to my barangay captain (head of the community). i asked him about distilling salt water or using some sort of evaporation method to get fresh drinking water from the ocean. his answer to my questions was, "ms johnson, we have no money -- unlike americans we just have to wait for the rain". that made me feel about 2 inches tall. here i am this ignorant american coming in to solve their problems which i know nothing about. i'm still trying to figure out what in the world i am supposed to do to help these people. if anyone has a clue, please let me know!!!!!! what if you turned on your shower and nothing came out, or pushed the button on the fridge to get a glass of water and nothing came out -- what if there was no culligan man delivering gallons of water to your house every other tuesday. well, that's what i'm trying to figure out now. what do i do???