Drinking water after hurricane

Hurricane water is off the ocean ,and it's not going to be potable .
Storing water is always the best alternative and count on retreating it as needed .
I have containers out side for collected rain water, for watering plants, and that water can be used after it has filtered through the garden soil to the fish tank and then back through the garden again .Aquaponics
I have roughly 2k gallons of water stored in closed containers now , in the event of an emergency.
I know that when the time comes that water, used for drinking, will need to be run through filtration and aeration and I"m prepared for that too.
BTW if your soda bottles are empty you've got a lot of wasted effort.
Waiting till the event to act , is a gamble I wouldn't take , there are volumes of other things that need to be done in the wake of an emergency, no matter how prepared I think I am . I've been in few.

 

I'm always amazed about how many people lack the ability to do any improvisation. Filling garbage bags with water and stowing them in bathtubs, laundry rooms and garages, drain the water out of your water heater (after turning it off)...those are ready sources, assuming that you aren't a survival monkey and already have water storage figured out, along with your survival rations, et al.

 

Many garbage bags have a coating meant to hold down the odors of rotting food etc. If you doubt it take your average garbage bag and use it for collection of hot clothes just out of the dryer prior to cooling/sorting/folding for transport home from Laundromat. More often than not they will have this disgusting smell that requires more that one rewash to remove.

 

From what I have read you may not want to drink water from a hot water heater.

See:
Water heater configuration for SHTF | Survival Monkey Forums

 

Been a hurricane prepper for decades, as I am a native Floridian. Father was a native Floridian too.
I have several five and seven gallon water jugs, a bunch of smaller bottles, and just before Irma I filled two large cooking pots and several quart-size Mason jars.
After the storm, I dumped some from the pans, and cooked spaghetti and pasta. Still keeping the rest filled until hurricane season is over.
Many years ago when the parents' home was on a well pump (still in place), a big hurricane would contaminate the well water. We'd have to bleach treat it for a week before using it again. At one point we went on city water, and had no problem since. But old habits die hard. I store clean water.

 

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Like I said earlier your going to need to filter stored water any way , no matter what it's stored in . Distilled water in the other hand has nothing in it ,EXCEPT any residue for the container it is stored in. Kept in a dark storage no sunlight , it should be fine as usually it is sunlight UVs and heat that breaks down the plastics .
Not all water is for drinking , so I have old water heater tanks there are glass lined ,2 of which I have city water passing through to my washing machine, so the water gets cycled every time I do laundry. I also have a check valve in the system so that in the event city water line is broken , my system cannot be syphoned out.

 

But once it evaporates into the air and then falls back to earth as rain, the salt part of it isn't there anymore, correct?

Most of the population thinks drinking water has to be bought in bottles at the store.


And when the store runs out of it, then you go thirsty.

 

I did not know that. I buy lemon scented garbage bags but never thought about the regular or industrial ones as being toxic.

 

The issue with Hurricane water is that you will have plenty of contaminants to choose from, leaves, twigs branches, shingles, ocean spray depending on distance and potential water spouts, in fact almost anything that is not secured could contaminate your water. in order to insure that it was potable you would still need a filtration system. prepping prior to a disaster will save you a lot of labor and guess work....


YMMV

 

I don't have a well on my property, but do have a big lake close by, and a river. I need to bite the bullet and get a Big Berky filter system. I do have hiker type filters, but they won't do for home use after SHTFDay.

 

Agreed, being it takes 140 degrees or higher temperature to kill the possibility of Legionella bacteria growing inside the water heater.

I believe once you boil and filter the water, it should be safe to drink

 

Where is the check valve installed?

Is the entire cold water supply a closed loop or just part of it?

If there is as expansion tank at your working water heater, than the above questions are null and void.

Closed loop water supplies need an expansion tank at the working water heater.

 

As long as there is an expansion tank at the working water heater, you would be fine.
Or just make sure the entire cold water supply isn't a closed loop then an expansion tank wouldn't be necessary.

What he said and will add

Backflow preventers are only required in a residential application when there is a hazard. All commercial buildings it is required.

 

The said check valve on my system is strictly to those water heaters and well tank . I have a pressure tank in that system as well so that it is fire hose ready should the system go down .
If you've provided guns for home defense because it takes the PD time to get there.
IMO , If you've provided nothing for fire fighting when you could have, it's all on you .
Just like the PD, It's going to take a while to get there, depending on how busy they are already . especially post SHTF .