In the van, one of his colleagues, a silent frizzy-haired woman, filled dog bowls with dirty water.

NEWYORKER: A Box of Puppies

With streets sloshing with dirty water during the day, the 44-year-old, who works on a commercial fishing boat, admitted hers was a futile task.

WSJ: Winter Seems Eternal in Anchorage, Alaska

He had a bottle to urinate in and was allotted one five- to ten-minute trip each day to a rotting bathroom to empty his bowels and wash with water at a dirty sink.

NEWYORKER: Hellhole

The pressurized-water design was a quick-and-dirty solution that we have been stuck with ever since.

WSJ: After Japan's Earthquake and Fukushima Disaster, Matt Ridley on Gas-Fired Generation and Thorium | Mind & Matter

Um Ahmed's daughters and their friends fill the tent with their stories -- of children's dirty clothes, of not showering in more than four weeks, of water too muddy to even make tea.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS