The ruling on tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) when there is only enough water for drinking

Question:
May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. He says: The time for the midday prayer and the time for the afternoon prayer pass me by while I am on the mountain tending the sheep. I have with me water that suffices me, and sometimes a little extra, but I am too tired to perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) for the prayer; rather, it suffices me for drinking. So is what I am doing valid, especially if the place of the meal is far from me? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
If you need this water for drinking and cooking, then you perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth); because the presence of this water is considered to be for a pressing need. So as long as it does not suffice for your need and your wudu' (the ablution for prayer), you perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth). However, if the water is abundant enough to cover the need for drinking, cooking, and wudu' (the ablution for prayer), then it is obligatory for you to use the water, because in that case you are one who possesses water that you do not need for your essential needs, so it is obligatory for you to perform wudu' (the ablution for prayer). The outcome is that this depends on the state you are in. If this water does not suffice for your need, or is only equal to your need, then you perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth). But if there is an excess beyond your need, then you perform wudu' (the ablution for prayer). And if you are worried about the future and the water is far away, and you fear that if you performed wudu' (the ablution for prayer) from this water it would run out, and the water is far from you, and you want to preserve it for the future as well, then you perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth); because this is a pressing need. Yes.