Drinking Water. SHTF Options.

[Bear44]

For long term survival you have to be able to filter and purify water using nothing other than what you can find in nature.

Charcoal, sand and gravel filters followed by boiling.

 

[GunTech]

Here is great option to have filtered water right from your kitchen sink and easy to hook up. https://www.survivorfilter.com/collections/home-filters

Another option if you couldn't run your sink is utilitze the Sawyer water filter and hook up for a gravity system. It is a small filter and last for 100,000 gallons. You can get a 5 gallon bucket for your unpurified container, drill hole in bottom of bucket, visit local hardware store for some adapters and hose, obtain another bucket for your clean water. Have your unpurified container sit higher than the clean water bucket and allow gravity to pull filtered water thru. I am able to filter 5 gallons of water in about 20 minutes. Not the fastest system, but if planned accordingly will have ample amount of purified water.

If you have a well already drilled, that is an awesome source to filter from. Small generator would do the trick or even have a hand pump hooked up. I am on well water but I have a generator so the well can still function if electricity is lost.

 

[Sowega86]

I honestly do not know. Not even sure how to tell the difference.

Contact your county health dept and ask for a copy of the Well Data Sheet (required by the Georgia Ground Water Use Act), the Name of the Driller, and any other information they have on file. And, most importantly, make sure your wellhead on the surface of the ground is properly constructed. Surface water runoff can easily contaminate a well that's not watertight and properly sealed, and seals do wear out.

Chlorine bleach- it comes in several grades- you want the one that is labeled for "potable water" or for drinking water disinfection. If it doesn't mention that, steer clear of it as it likely contains trace metals. Most swimming pool suppliers do sell drinking water grade bleach which is packaged in square yellow jugs. Store it away from sunlight and heat. The health dept has guidance docs on proper disinfection techniques of the disconnected well which you cannot reconnect to your house unless you disconnect from county water. Connection to both sources creates an illegal cross-connection with an unapproved source and will create legal problems with the Georgia EPD and the county attorney if discovered. Where I live, most folks have disconnected wells and are on city/county water and they use those wells for irrigation or a stand-alone drinking water source. The well will need to be disinfected per county guidance and a coliform test collected, hopefully negative, before it could be used for drinking.

 

[moosensquirrel]

If you connect your well water to the city water system, most Public utilities will require a back-flow preventer be installed to insure that your pump does not feed well-water back into the city water system.

A three way valve at the connection point will accomplish the same thing, but will not be approved by the Utilities. Just make sure it is downstream from your meter.

A transfer switch for your generator feed will be helpful as well.

 

[spencer60]

Get an AlexaPure or a Berkey. Gravity fed water filter systems that require no electricity.

Any water. The cleaner the water when it goes into the filter, the less you clean the filter. We clean ours about once every 3 months. It is like have bottled water in every sip.
With a Berky, you can dip water out of a mud puddle and drink water that tastes like bottled.

I use a Berkey every day for my drinking water. City water goes in and good clean water comes out. I only use Cobb water to do wash, water plants, and shower with.

I have a pond nearby so if push came to shove I could run that water through some coarse filtration or just put it directly into the Berkey and it would be good to go.

If you just run tap water through it like I do, you really never have to clean the filters. I swapped my first set after 5 years or so, but they were working fine, and I still have them as additional spares. Well water probably has more particulates in it, so you may have to clean them more often though.

These units are expensive, especially the larger ones, and the filters are pricey as well, but they are well worth the cost just in day to day use, never mind as a survival item.

 

[jeep78]

If you connect your well water to the city water system, most Public utilities will require a back-flow preventer be installed to insure that your pump does not feed well-water back into the city water system.

A three way valve at the connection point will accomplish the same thing, but will not be approved by the Utilities. Just make sure it is downstream from your meter.

A transfer switch for your generator feed will be helpful as well.

All connections to municipal water systems in Ga have required a double check valve/backflow device for more than 20 years.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I've used a teaspoon of bleach to treat 5 -gallon Homer buckets of water in storage for 1 to 2 years between dumping, rinsing, and refilling them. When it comes time to dump them, I taste some, and it's doesn't have any smell and tastes OK. But when freshly mixed, it does have a "pool water" smell, but not as strong as your normal public swimming pool.

 

[UptaCamp]

I’ll look into those.
For the lake water right?

Lake water or any water source.

 

[Barbwire]

I use a Berkey every day for my drinking water. City water goes in and good clean water comes out. I only use Cobb water to do wash, water plants, and shower with.

I have a pond nearby so if push came to shove I could run that water through some coarse filtration or just put it directly into the Berkey and it would be good to go.

If you just run tap water through it like I do, you really never have to clean the filters. I swapped my first set after 5 years or so, but they were working fine, and I still have them as additional spares. Well water probably has more particulates in it, so you may have to clean them more often though.

These units are expensive, especially the larger ones, and the filters are pricey as well, but they are well worth the cost just in day to day use, never mind as a survival item.

We use ours for well water as we turned off county water and only use it once every two years or so. Our well has a little bit of iron taste and the Berkey removes every trace of it. Our two filters have been in ours for about 10 years and look and perform as new because the water that goes in is so clean. We do keep extra filters for future use. We use ours for all of our drinking and cooking.

I could not imagine not having one and would purchase another if ever needed.

 

[GaMudd]

When my son was in Scouts, we built this Berkey replica. Bought the elements from Berkey. We're on a well now, but we keep it just in case.