Unlike in many European countries where it is illegal, US households have the water connection turned off for non-payment of bills. That has left many Americans without water at a time when they are being told that one of the most important things they can do is wash their hands.

“I have been without water for about six months now,” says Akiva Durr. A mother of two girls, she lives in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods not just of Detroit, but of the entire country. “This time has been very stressful, but I did make my own sanitiser,” says Akiva, adding that she has been using aloe vera gel and alcohol as a makeshift way to try to protect her children from the virus. Before the pandemic, Akiva was collecting water from neighbours and friends to bathe her children. “I’d give them a bath every other day, or do a sponge bath to save water,” she tells me. “It’s depressing.”

Now even visiting neighbours has become difficult, and that is not the only way life has been made much more difficult during this time for those without water. “Most people whose water is turned off look just like you and I,” says Reverend Roslyn Bouier. “They (usually) go to work every day and their kids go to school,” she says. “That means they could use toilets away from home, find ways to drink water, or be able to wash their hands.”(BBC)…[+]