This is just my experience, but that experience includes travelling through some remote areas in less developed countries. Water to wash is usually the first upgrade on the tech tree- It’s unlocked right after you dig a hole in the ground. Grinding xp to get plumbing will make life nicer, but to start with you just need to gather enough resources for a bucket.
That is fair, though in places with unreliable water I doubt that using water to flush or a bidet would be the first priority.
This is just my experience, but that experience includes travelling through some remote areas in less developed countries. Water to wash is usually the first upgrade on the tech tree- It’s unlocked right after you dig a hole in the ground. Grinding xp to get plumbing will make life nicer, but to start with you just need to gather enough resources for a bucket.