Friday, October 9, 2015

Water.. The Ohio Lesson

What happened to Ohio’s water should be a call to arm yourselves with water. No war, no government takeover, but nature at its worst aided by industry, no doubt. I suggest this is the time to make sure you have water and then more water.
A water problem can come from myriad causes. Without it, you and your family are are in the deep end of the empty pool. I know it is not sexy to store water, not like having weapons of choice and all of those cool things folks who practice the survival arts like to do. Even storing food is more sexy. Water is life.
Without water you can die. Water is so common, even well prepared people overlook it. We are spoiled by being able to turn a tap on and like magic water is there. Well, in Ohio the water is there, but you cannot drink it or cook with it. The only answer is water storage. I wonder how many had any in storage and if was enough. The rule of thumb is a gallon a day per person. I suggest that is way low in real use. Bathing, cooking, drinking, or just a sponge bath will deplete that water very fast, but a gallon is at least a first step. I would start with 3 gallons a day per person, but that is still conservative. It takes work to gather the containers and then fill them. Finding a storage place is a problem for many. If you have a yard and a garage that is a huge boost. Keep the bottles in the dark or at least no direct sun.I stored water under beds, under furniture, and in the garage. Outside I placed them in boxes and covered them over. Buy those cases of bottled water to start with, then work your way to bigger containers.

55 gallon containers are easy to get, but 30 gallon containers are easier to move. Be sure you have a hand pump to get the water out. There is no need to change the water out, because there is nothing to spoil. Water does not go bad, unless the container is contaminated by other factors. So make sure your container is really clean. Bleach is easy to do . I had bottles stored for many years and the water was just fine.
You also can go bigger. I have a container that holds over 600 gallons of water on my property. More will be added. Why? for my own peace of mind. and it is prudent.
Some donts:
  • Do not try and store water in used milk jugs, they have tiny pores that you cannot get clean, no matter how hard you try and the water will be contaminated.
  • Do not buy those water containers that are really thin and have a little push tap on them. Most will fail in 6 months or sooner. Any container that is thin plastic is a NO. The soda bottles are thicker and have to withstand the pressure of the carbonation process. these bottles will not fail over time. If you have doubts about the water, just go ahead and boil the water.
If your water tastes flat, take two containers and pour back and forth a few times. That will aerate your water, so it will taste fresh and not flat.
In the long run any amount of water you have stored will put you ahead of the game. Under stress you will need more water to drink than normal.
In 1971, because of an earthquake all the water lines were broken where I was living. It took the powers that be at least 5 days to bring water to the area and 5 to 6 weeks to repair the water lines. I had water stored in 55 gallon containers, so me and my family were okay with it. Lesson learned? Store way more than you might think is smart. Dont forget your water heater can have as much as 100 gallons and your toilet up to 5 gallons in the tank, however those both failed me in the earthquake. The water heater fell over and the toilet tank broke.
The Ohio situation is a wakeup call to all. At least it should be. Store some water.



By Dude McLean


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