Water!!!

[jsquared]

Just thinking out loud here...

So, water. It is a biatch. You need it of course, and if none is coming from the tap you had better have a source close by. Its cheap and easy to get, and can be rotated easily.

So whats the problem?

Its heavy. It has to be treated and stored carefully. If you have to bug out you had better be strong, or have lots of small containers. You need to store it using a lot of different container sizes and methods. You need a LOT of it if you don't have a natural source. You use a lot of it every day. Without it, you will die.

So, what does that mean for prepping? The general rule of thumb is a gallon per day per person. So, this would last one person six months or so:

or this for three months for just you:

[Broken External Image]:

Thats a lot to buy, store, rotate, replenish, and move, no doubt. Any tips?

 

[mm30004]

I'm drilling a new well at my rv park which will have a standard pump along with a Bison hand pump...one way or another, I'm going to have water!

 

[oldmetlfan]

Find a water source nearby, and use a filter.

 

[Moonpie]

Find a water source nearby, and use a filter.

if ground water becomes contaminated your screwed.

 

[GaMudd]

Depends on the filter. I made one using the Berkey Black filters and five gallon buckets. Slow process, but will make any water drinkable. Katadyn makes a Base Camp filter that will work in smaller volume. Purification tablets are another option. It will be impossible to store enough water for an extended crisis. You are going to have to find a way to filter.

 

[jsquared]

I have a few different filtering options ready to go, some using store-bought filters, others using activated charcoal/sand, and others using a bio layer but I havent tried that out yet. All should work well for filtering water, but I would have to have water available first. I live within about 2 miles of the Chatt and have a fairly large pond about 1/4 mile away, neither of which will do me any good if I can't leave my house or immediate area for whatever reason, or if all surface water gets contaminated in some way. So, back to storing water....

 

[Boxer101]

http://www.paceproject.net/UserFiles/File/Water/Making water safe.pdf

something to learn.

 

[hawk-eye]

Sanitization and filtration.

Sanitize by Boiling, and UV irradiation and minute ammounts of Bleach(use with care)
Filtration by Sand, Filter fabric, and Activated Charcoal.

Underground sisterns are very usefull, but requires lots of upfront costs.

Natural biological controls like guppies and those little tank cleaners at wal-mart work well at controling algae and other small critters. The only draw back is these little fish won't survive in an above ground environment without temperature control.

It will always rain. you will always have a source of water. Capture, store, and purify.

my nickle on the subject

 

[talkstosquirrels]

I'm drilling a new well at my rv park which will have a standard pump along with a Bison hand pump...one way or another, I'm going to have water!

What is your address?

j/k but you get my point.

 

[talkstosquirrels]

http://www.paceproject.net/UserFiles/File/Water/Making water safe.pdf

something to learn.

Good action sheet. This is the sort of thing that is nice to print out, put in a zip lock and stash in the side of your bag, well, your bug out/in bag.