Will you have water?

[DHPShooter]

Imagine we had a bad earthquake and you had no electricity or fuel for a while. Would you have water?

I recommend anyone who wants to be prepared collect as much rain water off their roof as they can.

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[1200bruce]

We have 5 creeks that run through town with in walking distance, and yes they run all year around. And I have a BIG filter for the dirty germ ridden stuff.

 

[erudne]

I have one year round creek on Property plus rain water plus 11-55 gallon drums and assorted 5 gallon jugs, water heater and a gravity fed municipal water system so I'm fixed

 

[CoastRange57]

An earthquake will compromise most any water distribution system, sub surfaced or above ground gravity fed system. You can expect most impoundments to be compromised as well. Drawing water from creeks running thorough towns is highly problematic in my opinion. That is every thing from surface water run off, petro chemical contamination, fecal bactiriums, to who knows what else. Even with "big" filters I am still nervous about that option.

I have 1500 gallons rainwater stored in 2 tanks at most times. I have a creek about 1000 feet from the house. I already have the pipe buried in the ground to bring that water up with a portable pump if we had too. I also have enough pipe on hand to hand lay on top of the ground if the in ground sections were compromised.

Rainwater collection is huge in my opinion. It the dry summers of the northwest and the low rainfall areas over east would require a good amount of storage.

Do not underestimate the simplicity of digging a pond, lining it with black plastic or pond liner and holding a lot of water. 10,000 gallons is easily held in a small area.

 

[cookie]

Whiskey is for drinking and water is for washing. #1 rule for survial.

 

[kickstart my heart]

I live in Western Washington. Water everywhere. I have a lake about a block from my house. Just have to boil or treat it.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

We stock several 60 gallon drums here in town but soon will be living on our Oly Peninsula land.. two salmon streams, an aquifer under our hill and a spring running out of the hill, 400 feet from our homesite. That and the endless firewood supply are part of why we bought it

 

[CoastRange57]

I live in Western Washington. Water everywhere. I have a lake about a block from my house. Just have to boil or treat it.

Unless you have complete control of what is in that water, you can boil it all day long, and treat it and if you have chemical contamination you will still have issues. There are some commercial, industrial and agricultural chemicals you simply cannot filter out, and if the ppm is too high the water is poison. I tested stream water and potable water weekly for many years. Some one could potentially control access to the water site and the water itself. I live in Western Oregon. Water every where. But we do a very poor job of impounding and storing this huge amount of water we get. That is why the government wants to take water out of the storm drainage and sewer runoff river called the Willamette and "treat" it and then put it in the pipes. Fing crazy.

I want complete control over where my water comes from, I do not want to have to fight my way to it on the roads and then fight for access to it, and fight my way back. Even a 1 or 2 mile travel will be trouble. The easier you make it to have one of life's huge necessities, the better off you will be.

 

[sheepdip]

we have two wells on our place, one drilled 90 ft. deep and one hand dug about 20 ft deep. water in the hand dug well is never more than about 8 ft below the surface, all we need is a bucket and a rope to get water. I suppose an earthquake could possibly cause the water to go away, most likely not.

 

[Hook686]

Only until I die.

 

[Hook686]

We have 5 creeks that run through town with in walking distance, and yes they run all year around. And I have a BIG filter for the dirty germ ridden stuff.

That might work until the entire town starts using them for their source of water and for their sanitary purposes.

 

[Michael7]

I was just thinking about drinking water and earthquakes this morning. Anymore particularly interested ought to look up the correct additive strength of regular bleach to treat drinking water. No, it doesn't solve all problems, and there are certainly better options, but it is just about everywhere and could prove useful. -regards, mike

 

[Burt Gummer]

I always tell people who cannot afford to do any prepping to at least store water. Water can be traded for other things.

In the Philippines and elsewhere, what are the people in desperate need of --- fresh water.

I really need to get a rain barrel and set that up. Hard to have a renewal source living in the city. I envy people who live in the country. My work makes it difficult.

 

[Stinkerbelle]

I was just thinking about drinking water and earthquakes this morning. Anymore particularly interested ought to look up the correct additive strength of regular bleach to treat drinking water. No, it doesn't solve all problems, and there are certainly better options, but it is just about everywhere and could prove useful. -regards, mike

I found this article a while back about using Calcium Hypochlorite, or swimming pool shock, to disinfect water. I like that idea that it small to store and has a longer shelf life than bleach.

Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water | Ready Nutrition

I also keep a couple of water filters in my water kit, as well as store some bottled water.

<broken link removed>

4x4 Ceramic Water Filter | Survival Water Filters | Emergency Water Supplies - Just Water


All that said, I still worry about having enough clean water in an emergency.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Safest way to purify water after filtering it is an ozone generator. In fact all bottled water by law is ozonated

 

[Michael7]

Thanks! very helpful, I will definitely be buying Calcium Hypochlorite.

 

[stratbastard]

Purchased a large water storage tank when they were on sale ($366 1100 gallons delivered!) which I keep full and clean/changed regularly... these are fitted for plumbing so one can pump right into your kitchen. In addition, a rain barrel system of course... as well as a stainless gravity charcoal filter which produces 60 gallons a day clean potable drinkage.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

You beat me to it Stinkerbelle, I've used it and it works. Shelf life is damn near indefinite and the price when compared to a gallon of bleach is money in the bank,, gallons and gallons for pennies on the dollar. For those that don't know, bleach has a very short life and should NOT be relied upon as a fall back purification method.

 

[billdeserthills]

Imagine we had a bad earthquake and you had no electricity or fuel for a while. Would you have water?

I recommend anyone who wants to be prepared collect as much rain water off their roof as they can.

Why not, I got a 40gal hot water heater that stays full round the clock?

 

[Modeler]

Two year-round creeks, three wells, a generator and filtration systems have us in all the water we'll need. The only thing I'm missing is a manual water pump in the main well.