Being prepared (water)

[tx river rat]

I am talking a 30 day period , I buy water by the case,it has three one gallon jugs for a couple bucks a case, that gives me a gallon a day for 30 days. I rotate them out as we use them. For longer term usage ,I have several rain barrels to draw from . A decant filter , hydrogen peroxide ,bleach and iodine I keep on hand for purification. this is also pretty neat way to purify water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

I think having water available without having to travel is neccasary.
List your water filters or plan for 30 days.
Thanks
Ron

 

[Kayak Jack]

Mother Nature purifies water with air and sunlight. Kills off nasty living stuff; doesn't remove poisons.

 

[bcwetcoast]

I have 4 rivers/creeks that flow from the local mountains year round, within a 5 mile walk (bike ride). Two of them are dammed for use as the water supply for Vancouver. Use a filter to get out most of the contaminants and bleach for purification. Let the water stand for a day after adding the bleach to allow the chlorine to vapourize out of the water.

Oh yeah and it rains about 180 days a year.

 

[oldsparkey]

I have a shallow well and a pump on it to get water if it is needed. Plus we have several gallon jugs of water here all the time for my tea since I use the commercial ( spring ) water for it.

If a hurricane is going to hit then I set out a couple of 55 gallon trash cans with new garbage bag liners in them filled with tap water for home use. Washing and flushing the toilet.

If it is needed then I can use the 1st need water purifier to purify the rain water for drinking since a storm always makes a lot of small lakes in the yards and ditches around here.

 

[Kayak Jack]

My understanding is, the black trash bags sometimes have bug repellant right in the plastic. That could affect drinking water. White ones - I understand - don't. Probably want to check the labels for more info.

 

[Wannabe]

All this got me to thinking about water storage again. At one time I was going to get a filtration system then I blinked and forgot all about it. I am going to get a two bucket rig. Used with gravity feed it will produce about 14 gal per day. They have another one with a sealable top and a hand pump to pressure up the top bucket and that will increase production five times. I am going to get the pressure system so i can provide drinking water to the whole neighborhood if we get another hurricane through here. It's a lot of money but I would like to drill a well in my backyard and put a solar powered pump on it (for watering my garden only of course :wink: ). Ya gotta watch some of the sites. They are pretty expensive. A pair of Berkley filters was eighty something dollars. A filter from this place is about twenty two dollars. Heres the link.
Bob

http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-pra ... ter-filter

 

[dawallace45]

I got 5x 4500 gallon tanks , that's proper gallons , not US gallons , I can go for a couple of years with out rain , got a generator to run the freezer and water pump , hot water is solar

David

 

[tx river rat]

BC
A five mile ride could be dangerous on a bike .
Jack
There is a solar still that will take out poisons and heavy metal but it waste about a third of the water running through it.
In a really bad disaster that would last at least 30 days with no power ,that would mean no pumps working ,no fuel,no water,and probably after a few days no sewer or groceries.
Bob
a friend of mine has one of the gravity filters it seems to work well.
With the rain storage I have and the stored water I feel like I could last 60 days even if I could never leave the house .
I feel pretty good about this portion of disaster planning.
Ron

 

[Kayak Jack]

Ron, after tasting the city water where you live, I'd start saving crankcase drainings to drink. :wink:

Seriously, I have some 3 gallons, plastic gerry cans. I prefer a smaller size for ease of carrying (gals can carry 3 gallons easier than 5 - I'm not just a pretty face, you know), and if a can leaks or is lost, it is less of a loss. Fill these up, run a calendar, and recycle the water every few months. Cheap and simple.

 

[tx river rat]

Jack
Thats the reason I use the 1 gallon jugs. I can reuse them after they are emptied ,easy to handle .store well.
I also feel that at the minimum I want 30 gallons and then a back up source. You cant depend on the weather for rain and if it is a disaster I want to be able to not leave my house for several reasons and one is the looting that sometimes takes place in empty house .
Ron
I should have started this post with the ideal you couldn't go outside your immediate area

 

[tx river rat]

I had a little test run on a water outage this week. Iighting hit the water pump station so this whole area was with out water for a little over two day. With my preparations it wasnt a problem at all for us.
Had plenty drinking and cooking water , rain water storage to flush commodes and for showers. I rigged a solar shower inside our regular house shower that worked well.
The local stores were all out of drinking water within 24 hours,.
It just proves that be ready makes something an inconvenience instead of a crisis
Ron.

 

[Wannabe]

I received my waterfilter and part of the order was missing. I e-mailed the Company and told them what happened and they wrote ba that they were sorry for the istake and would complete the order immeadiately.
Bob