Muriel Vasconcellos Nov 16, 2010:

Communal water pipe? Water trucks I don't think we haven't yet hit on the term that's most common. 'Communal water pipe' yields some legitimate references - but a lot for a meaning that's not intended here! (i.e. a bong).
Water trucks are something else. They are another solution that's used for communities that do not have piped water connections to their homes.

María Eugenia Wachtendorff Nov 16, 2010:

As I understand the text, the houses in this little village were not connected to the potable water network, so people had to go and get it from one of the communal faucets.
I don't know what they mean by "tanque" and that should be asked separately, but the RAE says "Depósito montado sobre ruedas para su transporte."

philgoddard Nov 16, 2010:

I may be wrong, but I think "standpipe" is more British English, and "faucet" more American. I'm a Brit living in the US, and I'd call it a standpipe, but people over here call it a faucet.

Muriel Vasconcellos Nov 16, 2010:

I missed all the excitement ...but to me, the main idea is that it's a piped water source available to the community as opposed to a house connection. Whether it's a standpipe or a faucet/tap (the first is the pipe itself and the others relate to how it's accessed) is pretty much beside the point.

María Eugenia Wachtendorff Nov 16, 2010:

Pasó que borré lo que leíste :) Todo eso lo escribí antes de aprender algo nuevo ;)

Y. Peraza Nov 16, 2010:

O_o Qué ha pasado aquí? Tengo un montón de emails relacionados con esta pregunta, pero ahora entro y veo que no hay nada de lo que pone en los emails... Hum?
Saludos!

María Eugenia Wachtendorff Nov 16, 2010:

Thank you, sweetie :)

Bubo Coroman (X) Nov 16, 2010:

mew, thanks for being so professiona, I deleted my discussion entry to leave the question "pretty" :-)