Why?

This blog is to help you in preparing for an emergency. It also contains other information that you might find spiritually up-lifting. This is not an official website of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". This site is maintained by Barry McCann (barry@mail.com)

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Water

You can survive: 
Three minutes without air
Three days without water
Three weeks without food

Just one recent example of the cost of clean water is the ordeal of the public in Flint Michigan. They had to fight with the State Government over lead found in the water, after being switched from Lake Huron to Flint river with known toxic water.  After much complaining of brown water, a pediatrician started checking lead levels in patients and found them to be extremely high.  After much posturing from the political leaders it was finally admitted that it was a problem.  The pipes to their homes are now damaged and the State Government is now suppling them with bottled water.  Inconvenient and costly! 

When water is limited or tainted chaos erupts in an ugly scene.
When water is extremely limited, don’t eat as water is needed for digestion.

You will need more water than you think!  When you are under stress or cold you need more water. 
1 gallon of water  per person per day for drinking and 1 gallon for sanitation
1 gallon for your pet if it weighs above 50 lb. 

More people die after a disaster from contaminated water which causes diseases such as e.coli, dysentery/shigellosis, hepatitis A, viral gastroenteritis, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria.

Just one person handling sanitation improperly can affect  hundreds or thousands downstream from them!

Fresh water is your most vital prep!

Unexpected predicaments can affect us:  terrible storms, chemical spills, car troubles, earthquakes, water being shut off from your home, droughts, wells running dry. 

Being prepared is not pessimism it is the act of optimism!


Storing water

Containers
Unsafe
Milk or juice jugs that can cause bacterial growth. 
Containers that are not food grade.  Food grade must have Pet or Pete on the bottle.


Safe
Two liter pop bottles and gallon water bottle for short term storage. After 6 months water starts to taste bad.  Be sure to clean and sanitize with 2-3 drops of clorox with water, Then fill with municipal water.  If it is chlorinated by the city,  it is not necessary to add clorox drops.

For longer storage it is better to store water in the 5 gallon water containers. Polycarbonate bottle are the most sturdy of the plastics but they do contain BPA which has proven to be an endocrine disrupter and is a suspected carcinogen.  If it is exposed to high or freezing temperatures it is a bigger problem.  After 2 weeks it is better to find a better source of water.  Be sure to get a pump or siphon hose if you are storing in a 55 gallon water barrel!

If you are filling up with tap water you should throughly clean the bottles with dishwashing detergent and rinse.  If you have chlorinated tap water you don't need to put in bleach. 

Water is heavy- one gallon of water weighs approximately 8.5 lb. so you wouldn’t want to store anything heavier than a 5 gallon jug if you must lift it. 

If you have a warning alert, fill up you bathtub with water that can be used as cleaning water. A product called a waterBob can be used to fill in your bathtub with more protection.

if you are using a river, lake, pond, or stream for water, you must assume that it is not safe to drink.
You must use the following methods to pre-treat the water. 
Settling - letting the sediment settle to the bottom of the bucket
Pre-filtration by using filters such as cotton cloth, or terry cloth towel

Purifying water

Boiling water will kill most pathogens, but will not remove chemicals in water.  If your water is contaminated by sewage it will intensify the nitrates. It will taste better if it is re-oxygenated by passing the water back and forth.

Chemical treatments

Iodine- can be harmful to children, pregnant women, people with thyroid conditions.  Do not use more than 14 days.

Chlorine treatment-use only unscented  bleach, never use non-chlorine bleach to purify water. Use 10 drops per quart if water has not been chlorinated.  Let it sit for 30 minutes.  The water should have a slight chorine odor, if not repeat dosage and then let it sit another 15 minutes.  If too strong let it stand for a few hours. 

Filtration and purifiers- simple water filters, mechanical filters, activated carbon filters
Purchase an activated carbon filter system that can remove most chemicals and gases
Be sure to trade out the filter when recommended.

Reverse osmosis is a good companion to the activated carbon filter because of a special membrane that only lets the water molecules through trapping the harmful elements

Distillation is when the water is heated up to boiling point and collects the water vapor as it condenses.  This kills the microbes and takes 4-5 hours to produce 1 gallon.

Heat to a boil for 10 minutes or use a Pressure cooker up to 15 psi for 5 minutes and then let it cool down normally.

Ultraviolet light does not use chemicals and requires little energy like a 60 watt bulb.  It doesn’t eliminate chemicals or heavy metals.  It can be used with a reverse osmosis system.
A Steri pen is an ultraviolet light that can sterilize water. 

UV radiation from sun can be used with crystal clear water.  Clear quart-sized mason jars left in the sun for at least 6 hours will also work.

Gravity filters -such as a Berkey can filter and purify water.  It uses a ionic adsorption process that combined with  micro filtration which creates a pore structure so minute that contaminates cannot pass through the chargers filter.  There are small ones like a Sawer mini  that  can fit into a backpack and should be in your 72 hour kit. 

Do not store distilled water or reverse osmosis water in plastic. Store it in glass or stainless steel containers for long term use.  Distilled water is a solvent.

If you store water outside don’t let it get sun exposure, put inside a shed out of the wind.  Don’t fill it up all the way, leave a 4 to 6 inch space.  Remember water freezes from the outside to inside and will go up.

Emergency sources of water
freezer - ice cube trays
water heater tank- 30-60 gallons of water
pipes in house
water in toilet tank if desperate- but not bowl!
swimming pool
streams, rivers, creeks or moving water.
rainwater Rainsaucers can be purchased and put over a barrel
ponds, lakes, spring


Master supply list
1.    5 gallon water jugs and dispensers
2.    baby wipes and refills
3.    chlorine tablets like Portable Aqua
4.    Cistern or large tank
5.    Gatorade and/or Pedialyte
6.    gravity filtration system like Berkey, Platypus, Sawyer, MSR
7.    Hand sanitizer ( 60% alcohol)
8.    Hydrogen peroxide iodine tablets or polar pure (iodine tablets)
9.    Portable water cooler with spigot
10. RainSaucers
11. Rain water harvesting supplies; storage barrels or urn, downspouts and leaf screens
12. Reverse osmosis or distillation system or both
13. ultraviolet light water purifier
14. waterBOB for filling up in bathtub
15. water testing kits
16. Cipro antibiotics
17. Cases of bottled water

Resources
The Prepper’s water survival guide- Daisy Luther
Jim Phillips-Safe Harbor Alliance

Family Preparedness Handbook-James Talmage Stevens

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