Practical Preps: 3 Water

[Bob]

Water

• Critical Information
• If it’s already too late: Fill’er up!
• Immediately: Stored bottles
• Next Steps: Additional stored water
• Long Term: Ability to gather/purify , large storage capability, wells, catch basins
• General notes about Water

CRITICAL INFORMATION:

You will only last about three days without water. You need to drink 3 Liters (1 gallon) a day minimum, without excessive heat or physical activity. This is usually the most important item you need to stock period. Many water systems will stop if the power grid goes down for any length of time, which means no running water in your home. It takes twice that amount if you intend to wash, cook, or do anything else with water.

IF IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE:

1. Do not use any hot water. The hot water heater contains water and there should be a faucet on the bottom that can be used to empty it .
2. Turn the bathtubs all on using cold water – fill them with water and make sure the stoppers are not leaking. Check them often to make sure they are not leaking.
3. Fill all of the sinks
4. Turn on the washer and leave the lid open
5. Fill any plastic or other containers you can find – milk jugs, empty soda bottles, etc…
6. After you finish all your water collection, go back and figure out how much water you have and how long it will last.

You have that long to figure out where you are going to get more water. Don’t forget that it doesn’t have to be just water. Drink anything that will spoil in the refrigerator such as milk or fruit juice first. Soda isn’t healthy, but it will keep you alive.

IMMEDIATELY:

1. Count the number people in your home.
2. Go out and get two times that many cases of 24 - .5L bottles of water.
3. Place these in the storage spot of choice.

[pic of the water]

You now have 8 days of drinking water per person. Everyone gets six bottles per day. Wasn’t that easy? Don’t you feel safer already? It’s easy to track consumption, easy to ration, and portable too.

You need 3 liters of water per day to survive. For a family of 4, that means 8 cases of water. At Walmart, these are about $3.50 per case. That’s $28 for to have a week of water on hand. Not a bad investment. If that’s too expensive, get one case per person. Just remember to get another case next month.

This is DRINKING WATER. It is KEEP YOU ALIVE WATER. It is not cooking water, bathing water, wash your hands water, or for anything else water. You’ll need more water than that if you want to do those things. We aren’t trying to be comfortable here; we are trying to stay alive. Drinking water is all you really need.

NEXT STEPS:

Here is a very simple and easy approach to storing water, that has a few benefits. Get 2L soda plastic soda bottles and fill them with water. You don’t have to drink the soda, or you can get plain carbonated water of some sort. You should have no problem finding someone who will save his or her soda bottles for you. All you need to do is wash them out with soap and hot water, rinse them well, and let the bottle dry. Then, just fill the bottle up with water from the tap. It does not need any preservatives or purifiers and it will last indefinitely. It really is that simple, and it is free.

If you are worried about contaminants you can do one of two things. The first is to use purified water from the refrigerator door, a Brita water filter pitcher, or whatever you use to purify water. The other approach is to simply put one drop of bleach into the water before you close it up. None of that is necessary. The water you drink from whatever source is not contaminated with anything and needs to preparation for storage.

The bottles are excellent because they are extremely sturdy, unlike milk jugs or the gallon jugs that contain purchased water. Also, they make it easy to calculate the amount of water you have on hand. They are also easy to throw in a car if you need to leave. You can also throw them in the freezer if you want. Be sure to fill them slightly less than full. If you keep them in the freezer it will also reduce the amount of energy your freezer uses as a bonus. Finally, most stores will give you soda bottle racks that can be stacked and hold six or eight of them for free.

Another thing to remember is that water is not the only beverage you can survive on, or might want. Make a list of the beverages that your family usually drinks. Consider the following, based on how you or your family live.

1. Go out and get and get 12 Liters of this per family member.
2. Place these in a spot where they are easy to access and so you can easily place them in the pantry, refrigerator or wherever you would usually use them.

You can survive just fine without actually drinking plain water. Other beverages can even have some advantages over water. Gator/PowerAde is an obvious example, particularly in warm climates. But what about soda? Well, it is generally full of sugar and caffeine. A jolt of sugar and caffeine to keep you alert, energized, and ready is not a bad thing in a disaster situation. And also, do not discount the benefits of some comfort food and beverages, along with the variety factor. Two weeks of rice and water is going to put people on edge. Being able to look forward to a meal that will have a soda or some lime aid is big morale booster. The downside of these is that you generally can’t use them to cook with or wash in, or at least you wouldn’t want to.

For example, if your family generally consumes soda or fruit juice, go out and get a basic supply of this and keep it on hand. My family consumes thirst drinks like Gatorade and Power Aid. We play soccer, baseball, ride bike, horse, and other activities in Florida where it gets quite warm. A bottle of this is about 20oz or .6 Liters. They come in an 8 pack, or 4.8 liters per package, so it will take 2.5 packages per person. That means 10 packages for a family of four. These cost about $5 per package. That’s $50. A little more expensive than the water, but again it has some nutritional benefits over water, and is a nice change of pace. And if I need to do any strenuous work or cleanup in the heat, it’s actually better than water.

This will provide you with an additional four days per person. That means that you would now have 12 days of beverages (water and thirst drink) per person. Also, there are some advantages to the thirst quencher in that it has additional benefits for hydration, and they also contain essential vitamins and minerals, and it is flavored for a nice change of pace. Both of these are good things when you may be exerting yourself dealing with a disaster. Get a few flavors.

If you like soda, fine, then get soda. It’s not what I would recommend, but here is how the math for that works. At 12oz per can, times 24 cans per case, that’s 288 oz or 8.5 liters per case. Let’s just call it 9 liters to make it simple. That means 1.3 cases per person for a 3 day supply. So for our family of four, that’s about 4 cases to get through three days.

This next part is very important. It is one of the critical things that separates sensible prepared and forward looking people from those with paranoid delusions of the Nuclear Contaminated Zombies. I’m going to hammer this point home in this area in every section. You need to make a small change to how you shop. Instead of buying things and placing them directly in the cabinet or refrigerator, you replace what you use from your supply, and you replace your supply from the store. You may say that this requires an extra step, and you are right. My response to that is if you can’t do that you are weak and lazy and going to die anyway, so stop reading this book. The benefits, however, are this: You don’t ever have to make a trip to the store to replace your basics because you will always have them on hand, and you will also have eight to twelve days of drinks on hand for when the worst happens. One small personal habit change, for a huge benefit in personal readiness, as well as great convenience.

So now you have as many days of water as you choose to, or have space to store, and it’s something you will use anyway. Just replace what you are using! No root cellars stocked to the gills will industrial canned containers, no wacky water collection systems etc..

I will also highly recommend one other tool: The Water Bob. This is a large plastic bag that sits in your bathtub. You fill it up from the faucet and there is often a small pump to remove water. Great idea. Everyone should have at least one. A bathtub holds a lot of water. This will make it easy to keep clean, fresh, and easy to use. Wouldn’t that be handy if you get into the “it’s already too late” situation *price of a water bob.

[Water Bob pic]

THE LONG TERM

The thing to never forget about water is that “long term” is not very long! I will actually take a moment in this section on water to be a little more serious. I’m doing this here because when it comes to water, the time you can go without it is really three days. This is pretty much a constant and ongoing need and the number one survival issue in most situations, and if not number one, it’s a close second. Having water for the long haul means not running out every three days – forever! Never thought of it like that, did you? If you find it a bit scary good, because most of the world’s water supply is dependent upon electricity. And those of you with a well, it runs off an electric pump. If the electric goes out, so will your water sooner or later.

Water Barrels
The next step in upping your capacity for water is to start investing in large container storage systems. The classic way is a 55 Gallon blue plastic drum designed to hold water. These cost ***get cost info and availability. Obviously, they hold 55 Gallons, but what that translates to is nearly two months for an individual or almost 4 days for a family of four. The obvious downside is that you need to have the space to do this. A not so obvious thing is you need to be able to get the water out of the barrel. A nice long siphon is key here, so be sure to get one and keep it nearby.

Gather and/or Purify
Another key to water in the rather short “long haul” is going to be the ability to gather and purify it. At the end of the day it’s going to be tough to store enough of it without engaging in some ‘out there’ activities. I have one exception to that that I will mention that is also a super stealth way to store a ridiculous amount of water and still lead a normal life, because that is what this book is all about.

First, you need to be able to gather your water. You can’t purify it if you don’t have it. The key to gathering water is to first find a source of it, then to be able to purify it, so let’s take each of those.

Gather - the first step to having water is to be able to get it.

To gather water, you simply need to be able to place it into a container wherever you find it. There are a number of ways you can store water; 1L plastic containers, gallon jugs, plastic bags, Dedicated water containers such as a collapsible water jug. Any hydration back pack is great for this. Anything you can get the water into will work. A bucket is a great tool for this too. You probably have a couple already. I’m not going to go any deeper into this.

Purify – the second step is being able to make it drinkable. This is the important part.

Method number 1 - The easiest way to purify water is by boiling it. It’s that simple. Run the temperature up until you see the bubbles, and leave it there for five minutes or so. When it cools, the water is perfectly safe to drink. The key to this method is that you need to have a source of heat. I’ll discuss this under the Fuel section. The main point is that you’ll need a large pot or some other suitable container to hold the water. It would be good if it held more than a gallon at a time. You’ll also need a source of heat. That could be an electric stove, a gas grill or camp stove, a functional fireplace, or fire pit in the back yard. You will also need fuel to create this heat; Electricity or the means to generate it, propane, or wood to burn. So while boiling water is pretty easy, it has a couple of additional requirements that are actually addressed in another category. Stay tuned for more on that later. I personally have a gas grill, and a gas turkey cooker, with cans of propane, and a camp stove, as well as a fireplace and some stored wood. I can boil water all kinds of ways and the turkey pot can handle about 10 gallons at a time. Anything seem “Doomsday Prepper” about those things?

Method number 2 - The next easiest way to purify water is water purification tablets. These are available in camping shops, outdoor stores, and of course all over the internet. Fast, simple and effective. Just go get some. ** Info on Aquamira etc…

Method number 3 – Another one of those “stealth” methods. Just use chlorine bleach from the laundry room or use pool shock. A gallon of bleach will remain potent for maybe six months, or possibly up to a year. And, it’s great for getting out pesky stains! And of course, if you have a pool, you’ll have pool shock. But you can get pool shock even if you don’t have a pool. This method may not be for the timid, but it absolutely works. ** create clear instructions for hypochlorite.

One last Item I’ll mention here is the filter straw. If you want to call this Method number 4, go ahead. These are simple little tubes that filter out all of the nasties from whatever water you may be drinking. They are usually very small, cheap, and will last forever. Think about getting a couple.

[Insert filter straw picture here]

In keeping with our general philosophy, notice how two of those methods require absolutely no extra effort? Basically if you have a pool and a gas grill, you are about as prepared as you need to be for quite some time. Well beyond the FEMA three days rule, more like three weeks or even months. And of course, they are great for parties and cook outs any old time! As long as we are waiting for the end of the world, might as well enjoy ourselves.

Swimming Pools

How do I store enough water to last for three months? Easy; I have a swimming pool! It’s a medium sized swimming pool behind my house. It holds approximately 15,000 gallons of water. That’s 56,781 liters. At 3 liters per day that breaks down as follows:

15,000 Gallons = 56,781 Liters
56,781 Liters at 3 Liters per day = 19,000 days
19,000 Days = 52 Years (for one person)
For four people that’s 4,700 days, or about 13 years

Even being extravagant and using twice as much water as you need, at 6 liters a day, a family of four will still have over 7 years worth of water available in their swimming pool. Obviously, that isn’t taking into consideration everything like droughts, contamination, rain replacement, and other factors. Still, if you have a pool, I think you are in good shape. I’m not going to get technical about evaporation and other factors involved. Let’s just go with having a pool is one of the greatest water supplies you can have! And here is the really neat part about it: It’s a totally stealth disaster approach. It looks attractive, it’s great for hanging out, barbeques, and parties. If it is hot out you can even go swimming in it! Swimming is great exercise. No one will expect you are actually one of those crazy survivalist types. You also have chlorine / hypochlorite on hand for purifying. If you have a pool, you win when it comes to water. If not, think about getting one for all kinds of good reasons to do this, plus the 10-20k gallons of water for disasters.

There are people who are going to immediately raise alarms about the chemicals in the pool. First, if you own a pool, you know that with a few days to a week that the chemicals go away. Second, you don’t have to drink this water. Remember, you have stored other water that should last you a week. Also, if you have kids, you know they probably swallow half as much as they splash out of it. Finally, you should have a way to purify it, whether it is boiling, tablets, or a filter of some sort.

Catchment Systems
One very handy tool is a catch basin of some sort. There are a variety of these, but some sort of drum and a gutter system to collect rain water is a great approach. When we move to this, the containers start getting larger. 250 to 500 gallons is not uncommon. The key to this is you need enough rain. Water catchment systems are super efficient. Basically, they take all the free water from the sky and turn it into usable drinkable water. It just falls out of the sky that way, really. All you have to do is collect it. And if you live in a dry climate, it preserves and does not waste what little water you get. By the way – these will significantly reduce your utility bills. Just a consideration.

Wells
Yet another approach is a well. If you have a well, that is awesome. Before you get too excited though, I’ll just ask you how exactly the water gets from underground into your sinks, toilets, and tubs? Does it perhaps involve electricity? If so, you may want to consider a hand pump system or option.

Additional Notes about Water

We have became a society that is used to simply going to the store and buying cases of plastic bottled water, or getting it from the refrigerator door. When the world is operating as it should, this is fine. But when it goes wrong, we have a lot of trouble dealing with it. Our attachment to those little bottles of whatever you drink is actually a benefit for being prepared. We just have to learn how to work with it, instead of letting it work against us. It really is just a slight change in attitude, and small change in dedicating space to it. But most of us have grown up in a world of running water from multiple faucets, hot and cold. Just remember what I said: Three liters, every day, forever.

Remember, if you want to wash, cook, etc. you'll need about twice that much. The classic long term survival food of rice and beans doesn't cook up well over an open flame. It takes a fair amount of water to make that. Sure, some of that counts for water intake, but we are not going to get into the math of figuring that out. Water you wash with, or use to flush a toilet (more on that in hygiene) doesn't have to be as spotlesslessy clean as what we drink. Still, you'll want it fairly drinkable anyway.