Hauling water was one of the major daily tasks in the life of a Hopi family. Women carried water in large, globular pottery canteens that they transported in cloth burdens slung over their backs. Hopi women preferred this method to balancing pottery jars on their heads as the women at Acoma and Zuni did. When metal buckets became available, the Hopi were quick to appreciate their light weight and durability.

Hopi people were ever prepared to utilize the rains that came in July and August. Women collected water from hollowed-out cisterns an the mesa top or from springs at the base of the mesa. They stored the water in canteens or poured it into larger pottery jars at home. Today many of the mesa top villages are still without running water.