Are preppers responsible for the unprepared?

I think everyone missed my point: I'm not concerned with grasshoppers or them getting my stuff in this thread. Given the trend of several things (e.g., the .gov actively trying to enroll people on welfare) AND that this government official has blatantly stated that prepping is "selfish," I can see a not-too-distant future of laws that will not be kind to the prepper. Self-sufficiency is being sacrificed in favor of the dependent. One you can control, the other you cannot.

Perhaps

• no bulk food sales (anti-hording law)
• no bulk ammo sales
• high tax on canning supplies/equipment (F.D.A bs about food safety)
• no farmer's markets (we've already seen this)

 

Tikka, you provided a map without scale, and the mention of a brook with good water, that is about all the data you gave. Of course assumptions have to be made to evaluate an idea.
I'll take your word for the drive pipe info, I would have to look up the details myself before buying any parts, and there is no conflict of ideas there.
The lower high pressure generator IS a Pelton Wheel generator, and the greater the drop the higher that pressure can be.
And the only comment I made about your brook is this one: "As for your brook, does it have 10' of drop? That is enough for one of these pumps, or a solar panel charging a deep cycle battery and a battery back-up sump pump will give you enough head to run the pump from a raised holding tank to about a hundred feet up rise. I would set it up with a self-siphon to start when the holding tank was full, then it would run until the tank was drained, then refilled by the solar (or wind if you have it) pump."
The solar charged battery driven sump pump to a standing raised holding tank would work with a still pond. Flow there is not needed at all. if the pump has a head of no more than 10' that is enough to run a ram pump up to about a hundred feet up (according to what has already been stated by those using them.)
Unless your brook is where I positioned the dam, I made no other comments about your brook.
I picked the video I did only because it shows them working in parallel with the outputs joined. My design change was to run them in series, with the outputs joined. None of this has squat to do with your brook, that I know of, I can't even see for sure where it is.
Amazon.com: 12 Volt DC Marine Utility Pump, #4830: Sports & Outdoors These 12vt pumps cost less than $40. each, and have 23' of head. (21) of these, matching 5 gallons buckets to act as cisterns, and garden hoses, run a 12 volt paralleled circuit, with a cut off at the top, run from a bank of 12volt batteries and charged by a running car alternator. You could be pumping water to your door in a weekend if you really needed to. Might be able to do it without the buckets, with the pumps working in concert, but I added them the break the pressure into stages. For that matter, a dozen lawnmower motors turning PTO drive trash pumps would do it.
I'm no engineer, and I'm quite sure you could improve the design, but it could be done. I could build this. This is what I call a "quick and nasty". (and no, it would not work when it freezes.
I thought this site was about finding a way to make it work, adapt, prepare, plan ahead. What I'm hearing is that looks like work, someone might object, and I'm just guessing about details not supplied (true enough).
Green energy of any sort seems to come in three categories: Expensive, if you have the money, buy your wind/solar/geothermal system and be done with it, fine. Labor Intensive, like the idea I presented. Or very clever. that is mostly the lab guys, wringing every little bit out of a design. If Green was cheap and easy, everyone would have it.
We Revere the "Greatest Generation" why? Because they were good looking? No, because they had a problem, they found a way to fix it, They didn't argue it's too hard, they just did it. They found a way to make it work, and that was one of the things that set them apart.
Well, I'm pushing 50, grew up in construction, and mechanical machinery is part of what I do for a living. I'm a scrounger, and a gadgeteer. If TSHTF for real, guys like me will be making it work. It may not be pretty. It may not be as efficient as it could be. It may not meet code. But it will work. I intended to walk away from this thread, it was no longer a fun build idea.
But, I get the impression, someone believes I'm a "know it all". Hardly, there is not enough time in the world for that. But I will find a way around a problem. The only real question that matters, is "Do I really need it?" YMMV
Sorry for the long post, but the pole question, and the lack of clarity, annoyed me.

 

Not knowing the terrain was my point.

I'm right good at wringing the design for all its worth myself, I've done it for 43 years. However, I do not live in an ivory "better than you" engineering tower. Listening to the person having the problem is better than wading in and fixing what isn't broke.

Here it isn't man labor, it would take heavy machinery. We hired a guy with a 150K Komatsu track hoe to grade the road and it bounced off. What is under the dirt is sort of similar to if the bedrock fractured when the mountain pushed up. Under that, according to the well driller, he went through 260' of rock before there was a chance of hitting water. The depth of the "top soil" (red clay) varies in places from deep enough to drive an 8' ground rod to needing a digging iron and sledge hammer to plant a bush. Anyone who has driven through western NC, eastern Tennessee, Ga on an interstate has seen it.

No, I do not believe you are a know it all. If I did; I wouldn't have answered you in the first place or offered a polite "cool idea" placebo. I work in design engineering. I am creative, I cultivate creativity in my staff. Creativity isn't an option in today's world.

I can see why it annoyed you; however, a topo map isn't something I plan on posting.

 

I get your meaning, Tikka, and I think I know the terrain. We traveled by car a lot before gas spiked. I wouldn't post locational info, either. I saw potential, and it bloomed in my mind, using the best info provided. (next to none). It was never offered as more than a possibility. Something that could be done, if wanted. There are always more than one way to solve a problem, some better than others for one reason or another.
The comment was not your's but Visutrac's (I think) in the shoutbox. The timing was unmistakable, and the gist was enough to divine the type of question, if not the specifics.
I was annoyed. i thought this place was about sharing ideas, not pissing on 'em. I shared openly, to that effect. I guess I will cut it back. I wasn't aware I was quoting a job for a bid, just brain storming.
BTW, that looks like beautiful country.

 

"Did you know that to the govt. way of thinking, you are being selfish to prepare for uncertainty in the future (despite the CDC urging people to do so)? The way of thinking that now occupies this White House is a threat to your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Be vigilent........
Are Preppers responsible for the unprepared?"

That may be the government's way of thinking, but I'm not sure the government thinks at all.
To my way of thinking the people who don't prep are being selfish in expecting me to sacrifice the preps to keep my family alive in a crisis to help their lazy apathetic butts out of a jam they got themselves into.

 

I just got an e-mail this morning with the subject "Have a go bag, have a plan" and "Build a kit," and a few clicks later, I wind up at the FEMA site:

Build A Kit | Ready.gov

Not bad advice if you look at the list. If you'll notice, the next tab in line is "Get Involved." That's where you can "Pledge to Prepare" by just providing your name and address. That will be FEMA's database on where to get stockpiles of food and water after they stick you in a camp.

 

They also offer Wireless Emergency Alerts via your cell phone:

Warning Systems & Signals | Ready.gov

So look on the bright side - at least they'll send you a text to warn you, before they head out to stick you in said camp.

 

That's better than the Gestapo usually did.

Edit: Though, truth to tell, being forced to wear a big yellow Star of David was a pretty fair indication that things weren't going to be very friendly in the near future!

 

I'll stick with The Weather Channel and the local news channel aps.

 

The proposed national gun registration is meant to be our big yellow Star of David.

 

Yes....and the Quisling collaborators are busy mapping the licensed owners.

 

Actually I get more reliable up to the minute local news by listening to the local public utilities and county road dept. on the scanner. they're easier to listen to and don't use cell phones as much as the sheriff's and police dept. do. Local fire dept. and EMS are informative, too, but they're not on the air much, unless on a call.