Water Storage For Emergencies & Long Term Survival

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Yard Dart, Jul 17, 2013.


  1. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    Pipe repair cuts water use for 200K near DC - Yahoo! News

    I heard this story this morning and initially they were reporting an outage for many days to make repairs. 99% of urban city folk, most likely have no water saved for emergencies let alone a means to store water or knowledge on where and how to get this vital resource... to get through a week without services or for SHTF circumstances causing prolonged loss of tap water.

    What are you doing to address water resources in your home if you are on a community water system? Do you have a water catchment system, containers/barrels/jugs stored, bathtub blivets, ect and if so have you figured out how long it will last without resupply? Have you addressed how/where you would resupply your reserves and what methods are you planning for treating new supplies on a larger scale than you would for a canteen full? Movement of 5 gallon cans by hand are heavy... have you thought that thru if vehicles and quads are inoperable?

    If you are rural and have a well, what are you doing for power back up to keep the pump running? Do you have a tank to pump into for long term use once fuel runs out or have you switched to solar/wind or other to keep the water flowing?
    Just the thought of the day....
    YD
     
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  2. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    We have a generator that will run the pump to our well. We also have a hand pump but are having issues with getting the correct parts so we can get water manually if needed. We have a great well that is shallow and according to the tester, we have an abundance of water. I still store water and know where water is running within 2 miles from my home.
     
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  3. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    I am being trained to take over when the current watermaster for our neighborhood water system retires, and today was a class on the Safe Drinking Water Act Update(as it applies to Oregon). I did learn some stuff, mainly about testing/regulations, but also a couple interesting facts, like how viruses can live in surface/ground water sources for up to 2years. And that Chromium 6/Hexavalent Chromium(Erin Brokovich), the EPA had a panel to decide what to do about it(regulate or not), and it was found later that 3 of those panelists had worked for the industry in Hinkley responsible for the contamination. But no conflict of interest of course! And to my fellow Oregonians, apparently there is a task force that is going to research whether or not county public health departments should be replaced by 8 regional ones for the whole state. And it's the EPA who is in charge of the regulations that states 'have' to adopt. Something called primacy I believe. As I understand it, if the state/counties don't comply, EPA takes over directly. But we can trust the government!
     
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  4. KAS

    KAS Monkey+++

    i have a pond dug in front of my house and a large boiling pot .
    some bottled water stored .2 275 water cathment tanks for the garden
    there are tons of ways to save water and live along time with out having alot of it ...
    I have learned from the dutch that you dont have to shower often and personally from being stuck on barges you can shower with about 2 gallons of water ...
    water is definatly very important but people have to be smart with what they have and it shouldnt be a problem
     
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  5. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    Yeah when we didn't have electricity for a while so no hot water heater, we learned to clean ourselves with only 2 or 3 gallons
     
  6. Airtime

    Airtime Monkey+++

    So, my water plan is a bit complex but many options and flexibility. Pure water can be a good barter item but ample water to wash, bathe, cook, etc. does wonders for the soul and reduces infection and disease risk. Seems to me there are three key elements to water:
    1. Sources
    2. Filtration/purification
    3. Storage

    I think it wise to have at least three options for each of these along with large and small scale dimensions. Large scale solutions for your retreat or castle and small portable options for when on the mover, getting home or bugging out if that becomes necessary.

    So in my case I have a pond, a well, a creek 400 yards away, family wells 1 mile away and water collection off the 2400 square feet of steel roof on my shop. That satisfies number one above. Should we bug out, we are in the Midwest and there are ponds and water everywhere, finding water is just not a problem.

    Making it potable is a different story. I like the convience of running water. I like being able to have lots to give away or trade. I desire decent large scale solutions and small scale solutions. I don't like to boil and it is the last resort to me due to the fuel and time required and bad tasting water will still taste bad. I like filtration and UV purification. I have two of these:
    Survival UV Water Filter Off The Grid Model 512E 12 Volt DC Battery Powered | eBay

    I also have several 12 vdc Shurflo 4008 3 gpm RV pumps. These are very reliable and have pressure switches and internal bypass valves to reduce cycling and improve life. Two solar panels, several marine deep discharge batteries, volt/ammeter to confirm UV light is working and I have tons of pure clean water. I can flow it from my shop backwards through the water pipes (close the valve to the county water) and I have running water in the house, can wash, flush and even shower. The system is portable. I can charge batteries multiple ways. It is reliable and not that expensive. $500 gets a filter system, some spares cartridges, spare bulb, pump, some hoses, battery and modest size solar panel and you can filter/purify 3 gal/min for hours. Add some storage and you can have running water in the house.

    Note, I bulk treat 100 gal at a time into the smaller poly tank then use the pump to provide demand feed like in an RV. You don't want to UV or chlorine treat as the water is demanded because you don't want to run the UV all the time and it doesn't power up fast enough for instant demand application and chlorine needs contact time to be effective.

    Oh but what if EMP hits, you're toast, right? Nope. Modest chance since the UV light is pretty old school ballast it may well survive but we always want a spare and store the second system in a steel box. But even if that goes, the cartridge filters can still work with gravity, just won't have the UV purification for the tiny bugs. I can put a tank on the second floor and let it drain down through the filters and then use chlorine to kill the microbes. Can still treat hundreds of gallons.

    Chlorine. We are coming up on the end of summer and Walmart et al clearance their pool supplies. I stock a bit of pool chlorine cheap and the simplest test kit is just a couple bucks; cheap enough to buy a new one every year. The chlorine looses efficacy with time but the test kit let's one actually measure the ppm concentration and always get it exactly right.

    Storage: lots of options. I have a 300 gal tank that goes in the back of the pickup. One can get 275 used food grade tote systems for about 75 bucks (at least around here) that had corn syrup or some similar food. I can fill it from the roof, with a Pacer transfer pump, buckets, or hose. I also have a 100 gal poly tank that I can put upstairs for gravity feed, put in the ATV, pickup, etc. I have some fittings, potable RV style water hose, etc. that connect the pumps, filters, etc. together in about any configuration I want including back feeding to my home's water system through a garden hose connection, washing machine connection or even a sink faucet. And of course a collection of 5.5 gal military water cans for bugging out, camping, whatever. Lastly, keep a box of the big 55 gal heaviest trash bags to line a garbage can, bath tub, dresser drawer, whatever as the situation demands.

    So one of the above systems can easily pack in a suitcase and a battery box. But for even small scale I still have several backpacking water filters. Mine are Firstneed, but MSR, Katadin, etc. are all decent and again some bleach or pool chlorine or the purification tablets make additional backups. These are in our get home bags and we take on vacation, trips etc. For portable storage getting home etc. I have the MSR backpacking bags I can put in the get home backpack.

    So that is some of my thinking.

    AT
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2015
  7. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    Great detail @Airtime- it sounds like you have this very well sorted out with a solid plan in place!!
    That was the kind of response I was hoping to get with this thread. We all can get nuggets of information on how to better prepare with this resource... and sharing of ideas and methods are what it is all about.
     
    Dunerunner likes this.
  8. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    @Airtime .... That Filtration System is very similar to the one we have used for the last two decades. They work very well, for turning Roof collected Rain Water, into Potable Water, for our whole outfit, here in Bush Alaska . We spent considerably more on out unit back in that day, so $200US is dirt cheap, for the surety of Good Water.... ......
     
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  9. -06

    -06 Monkey+++

    Very fortunate in the water area. Two wells w/genset backup, springs, spring fed ponds, whole home filter plus several individual filters. Have plenty of storage capability. 500 gal. tank on standby plus @ a dozen various sized barrels for rain water. During the drought several years ago the spring fed pond stayed full--game had paths all around it because there was no water anywhere else.
     
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  10. padkychas

    padkychas Monkey+++

    I have one of these now, water filter with 1 Million gallon
    rating, Sawyer Point One Squeeze Water Filter, 84704 | Filtration & Purification | Water Filtration | GEAR | items from Campmor.
    I have used these for years for canoe trips, MSR Miniworks EX Water Filter, 87779 | Filtration & Purification | Water Filtration | GEAR | items from Campmor.
    300 gallons or so per filter, but has carbon filter under the ceramic filter.
    in west KY it is not a problem to find water, just to have clean water.
     
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  11. C.T.Horner

    C.T.Horner Monkey

    Cisterns have supplied the world with water for several millennium. They are cheap and easy to build, as for filtration, that is also cheap and easy, diatomaceous earth water filter’s are used throughout the world still today, and the filter materials to fill them are free, and available to anybody with a shovel. Do a little Google search and you will be inundated with different plans.

    CTHorner.
     
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  12. ColtCarbine

    ColtCarbine Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Monkey search:

    Natural Filtration: Sewage, Rainwater and Water

    water usage in off grid living | Page 3

    Lets talk water storage here
     
  13. tomgrace

    tomgrace Monkey

    The best way to avert this type danger is to have proper arrangement of reserve water at your home. In my hometown we faced similar problem for at least 4 days, but at my home I have already made good arrangement for reserve water. There is a one big under ground water tank and I have also got fixed on proper steel structures three big water tanks at the roof of my house and they helped me a lot in such circumstances.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2016
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  14. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    Living on the desert we built a shed above the level of the house.
    Up in the loft put 3 repaired water heater tanks and filled them through the house plumbing .
    I'd fill the tank in the truck in town and when I got home, use a small air compressor (they sell for emergency tire inflation) and pressurize the tank and run a hose to the house plumbing and fill the upper tanks.
    A breather on the upper tanks verified being full.
    Also built solar water heaters that worked great.
    Before that we were bathing with 2-3 gallons heated on the wood stove.
     
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