In a City If There's A Deadly Pandemic How Long Do You Have Till Water Is Shut Off inc Toilet Water

One thing I've always wondered about is if there is a deadly pandemic in a City, how long does one have till the drinking water and bathroom water is shut off? Would it be 3 months or a lot less? If there was a pandemic, I want to know how much water I should have on hand to barricade myself in my apartment for 3 months without leaving. I have enough food for 6 months but water is another story. The issue of Security is another matter. Your opinion is welcome.

 

I don't think they shut it off. It really depends on your point of view but if you are talking Flu Pandemic like the one of 1918 I think they would just keep it on. If you are talking plague in the water supply from dead corpses, correct me if I'm wrong, but they would also keep it on because of the sanitation procedures. For example, Los Angeles, CA has a wall separating sewage water from drinking water. When it rains (occasionally) the water levels will rise and the sewage and drinking water will intermingle.

Why? They don't care if you die or live they just want your money and quiet consent so the only thing required of them is that YOU believe they have your best interests in mind. Then they can keep getting elected year after year and be immune to so many of the 'little people' laws that we all enjoy. The best part is that even if you find out you are being poisoned they can use that as a platform to get re-elected. "Our drinking water is bad. If you elect me I will fix it." Never mind that they allowed it to become bad in the first place.

 

Look at Flint people without water still got billed.
Store as much a reasonably possible but look for alternatives rainwater collection ect and don't forget to rotate the stock of water as well some forget about the water

 

Depends. If the pandemic is due to a water - borne illness, it's going to be a real big problem.

 

In a true SHTF pandemic, the water will probably fail when the grid goes down. Most city water systems require a lot of pumping, and therefore electricity.

The grid will go down shortly after maintenance drops to zero. And when no one is reporting for work at the power stations anymore.

The instant you think the water supply may be in jeopardy, you should fill your bathtub to the brim, plus every pot, pan, cup, bowl, trash can (with new plastic bag installed), or other watertight vessel you can get your hands on.

If you have a little advance notice and can still go out in public, buy several large galvanized trash cans, or even a stack of five gallon buckets at the DIY store. Spring for lids, because you'll want to be able to stack them.

Don't worry about the cost. Pay whatever it takes. Buy whatever you can and as much as you can.

When the day comes that you run out of water and are still trapped, you'll wish you had.

When the day comes that you are not out of water and no longer trapped, you'll be glad you did.

Multiply both cases by infinity if you have a family.

 

Water plant employees may all be sick and can't work, may be no electricity to run the pumps. People need a gallon of water per day, so it becomes a guessing game of how long the plant will be offline. I did a vid about re-using 2 liter soft drink bottles, which is food grade plastic and UV resistant, to build a supply of stored water. Just using regular tap water that already has the chlorine in it will store 6 months, then just change it out. Just ask people you know to save the bottles for you, just wash, rinse, and fill with tap water, screw down the cap, then mark expiration date on the bottle - 6 months ahead, so you will know when to change it out. You could use the expired water on plants, or add to a bath, no need to waste anything.

 

The main problem with storing water in an apartment (other than a ground floor apt) which if memory serves you are not on a ground floor, is weight. Water is HEAVY. Approx. 9 lbs per gal. Store enough to match yer food supply and it may well end up on your neighbors below you...

 

Good reason to own a water bed .
I have lots of stored water from bottles to tanks and cisterns , in an event all water will get filtered due to having been stored for so long. I have a bucket set aside; screen, charcoal at the base, screen, sand , screen, and gravel, and screen, and paper coffee filters .
Even took the spent milk containers from the restaurant my son was working , washed them out and filled with water re boxed and stored.
Every container I buy product in is in storage for dispensing water , even milk jugs , they remain empty till the event becomes a reality.
Most of your food is going to need cooked , figure on dealing with the water in the same manor .

 

One thing you can do is use a bathtub bladder. Holds 100gal, only about $20 + shipping.


Amazon.com: WaterBOB Emergency Drinking Water Storage (100 Gallons): Home Improvement

 

If it gets bad enough that public water supplies get cut off, it really doesn't matter how much of it, or food, you store.....you're simply delaying the inevitable.....that being your death, or the time you seek out new sources.

 

I store tap water, (chlorinated) for a year, with the addition of a dozen drops of chlorine bleach, (unscented)
I taste each container before rinsing it out and refilling. Never had a hint of anything but pure, clear, water!
I've been doing it this way for over 30 years. I switch it out on the week of my birthday so I remember.
I'm so old that it's about the most fun associated with my b-day anyway!

 

Andy has an excellent point here! However, for a certain percentage of us, we live in reach of a natural water source. In my case, we live about 1.5 miles from the Columbia River. It's too far to tote a useable amount of water, so we would have to set up operations on the shore. That would entail, patrolling down at night, setting up camp in a secluded, sheltered position, setting defensive positions, camouflaging everything, sound and sight discipline and a big etc! We possess all of the camping gear (4 seasons) we would need, a pretty large supply of dehydrated and freeze dried foods, all we would need to survive, note, I didn't say LIVE, for an extended stay. We would have to patrol back for food and other supplies periodically! Not at all fun but doable for a while! Maybe! We also have a wide variety of portable water purification items, chemical and manual. I'm thinking that the filter straws will be especially handy.

 

There are so many suckeres who live beyond their means pay check to pay check to cover their credit they will go to work to keeps the lights on the pumps pumping and the water flowing. Risking life, limb or worse.
Given that situation and current technology I don't think a flu pandemic will do it.
Not enough people working today remember the last ones in 1958 and 1968 to scare enough people into not going to work.
This is one of those things I don't think you can put a time table on.
If it were flu I would say I don't think it would stop utitility service at all in the United States. If it was something nasty like ebola, could be 3 weeks or it could take a year. Depends on how long the useful idiot supply lasts.

 

Well.......obviously!!! But are we to wait for a perfectly worded query, about an unanswerable, unsurvivable situation before commenting? Some people may get ideas or answers to other problems from the replies on this or any other thread. Should we withhold our thoughts and ideas?

 

All it would take is one moron to destroy a key part of the water system...and there are plenty of brain-dead folks to go around. If you're planning on hunkering down for 3 months, then have three months worth of water...or more. Don't assume that water, sewage, garbage pickup or any other services are going to remain operational if it is truly a deadly pandemic.
Just my $0.02, ymmv.

 

@ED GEiN if if lived in apartment I would probably store a gallon per person a day for a 1 week period, and my back up plan would be to get out of dodge.

This would mean most of your prepping efforts would be based on your secondary base of operations. This would also mean that you would need to know 2-3 routes to your final destination and how you are going to get there with gear, kids , pets etc.

Also note that most apartment complexes have pools so you could, theoretically get water out of the pool as long as you have a sterilization/filtering back up plan.

Just my 2cents and hope it helps you move in a productive direction for planning for you and your family.

 

One thing I've always wondered about is if there is [an unspecified] deadly pandemic [of unspecified lethality and duration] in a{n} [Unspecified] City, how long does one have till the drinking water and bathroom water is shut off? Would it be 3 months or a lot less? If there was a pandemic, I want to know how much water I should have on hand [to meet unspecified variable needs (cooking, hydration, cleaning, hygiene, manufacturing, horticulture, animal husbandry) for an unspecified number of humans and critters] to barricade myself in my apartment [of unspecified location, construction, size,] for 3 months without leaving. I have enough food for 6 months but water is another story. The issue of Security is another matter. Your opinion is welcome.[/QUOTE] Embolding chello.

In one sense, I kinda agree with ghrit...in terms of posts that have no definitive answer, given the number of variables that are embedded, but unstated in this OP's questions....it's probably more productive to look at the issue from the point of view of what planning factors / strategies to take into consideration in the event that this kind of scenario emerges. There's nothing wrong in posting "theoreticals" to wargame...if it stimulates thoughtful discussion...though there seems to be something of a pattern in the context of these kind of threads.

We could create the same kind of wool gathering speculation if we substitute an 'Alien vs Predator battle field scenario (for a pandemic) where the humans are the prey'. I think the upper floor dweller is likely to be in a somewhat better position if one adds a Dalek invasion as an environmental variable.