Over the centuries, and given the scarcity of drinking water sources, it was necessary to find strategies that would allow access to water for the population. One of these solutions was the construction of tidal wells in coastal areas of the island, where fresh water flows.
Fetching water with clay or wooden pots was considered women’s work and their daily routine. The water taken from these wells was brackish, serving mainly for cooking meals, hygiene, and sometimes drinking.
Along these wells, there were often public wash houses that allowed women to wash their clothes and therefore avoid transporting large amounts of water back home, in pots, usually transported on their heads.
In the old public wash houses, it is possible to see an octagonal tidal well, with the inscription “CM1942”, from which the water was withdrawn and placed in a receptacle that fed a “levada” (a kind of opened pipe) that supplied the 10 sinks that are there.
The trips to the well or to the wash houses were also socializing moments for those who went there to get their water for the day.