How does the Alexandria have running water on The Walking Dead?

In The Walking Dead’s latest episode “Sing Me A Song” Negan is surprised that the houses in Alexandria have running water. How does Alexandria have power and running water in the zombie apocalypse?

The people in the Alexandria Safe Zone may have lost their mattresses to the Saviors but they’re still doing fine. They have electrical power, running water, and modern plumbing. In a disaster situation services like electricity are the first to go. So how does the Safe Zone have them?

A sign seen early on when Rick and the group first found the Safe Zone said that Alexandria was built as a self-sustaining community. Deanna also mentioned it when she was telling Rick about the Safe Zone.

Self-sustaining communities don’t rely on municipal water systems, sewage systems, or the electrical grid. So when other places lost access to electrical power, clean running water, and sewage systems Alexandria didn’t.

Self-sustaining communities have been around for a long time. Alexandria is more luxurious than most self-sustaining developments. But it runs on the same principles as other eco-friendly collectives.

The Commune Has Come a Long Way

Back in the 60s the first sustainable communities were communes started mainly by hippies. In those communities people generally shared a common building with power and did all their cooking and eating together. They had smaller dwellings that they used for general living.

But new technology and a general increase in concern about the environment led to a change. New communities were built using their own sustainable systems.

In the 1990s the first self-sustaining communities of single family homes appeared. Since the mid-2000s there has been a building boom for sustainable communities. It’s not unusual that the survivors found a community like that.

Where Are These Communities?

One of the largest ecovillages in the country is in Ithaca, NY. The community was originally built in 1992 with just a few homes. It now has two self-sustaining neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has 30 single family homes that use no municipal services at all.

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Another large sustainable community is very close to where the fictional Alexandria Safe Zone would be. There is a self-sustaining community in Loudoun County, VA. It has large modern homes up to about 3000 square feet with in demand modern features.

The homes are built using the power, plumbing and water systems of the community. They don’t use city or state resources. This community is about an hour from Washington, D.C. and about two hours from where the Safe Zone is located in The Walking Dead.

The fictional Alexandria Safe Zone operates like real modern sustainable communities. It relies on solar power grids to provide electricity. It probably also has wind turbines as back up to provide electricity.

Next: 5 questions we still have after TWD 707 'Sing Me A Song'

Cisterns that catch rain water, wells, and a manmade lake provide water for the homes. Built in water treatment systems recycle and treat water to make it potable. So the homes in the The Walking Dead’s Alexandria Safe Zone have running water, electricity, heat and even air conditioning.