You can find them sometimes on Craigslist.
Posted on 08/27/2012 3:53:01 PM PDT by Kartographer
Preppers’ PING!!
Water is still my primary worry.
Either I put in a generator that will operate my well (noisy... needs gas), a hideously expensive off the grid solar set up that will be a nice gift to someone if worse comes to worse, or a small diameter solar well/pump, which is prohibitively expensive to drill, and is also stationary.
Just a question. What is the usable shelf life of commercial bottled water? I could store/cache a bunch of that, it’s handy if bugging out (’cause I ain’t carrying a 30 gallon drum).
Also, even out here in the East Mountains, the limited waterholes will be traps, as they are easy to identify. Look up at the East side of the Sandias and if you see bright green (non coniferious) foliage, that is where the springs/acequias are. A regular neon sign, although some being a couple miles uphill make them a bit more remote.
Water has an unlimited shelf life it might go flat and need to be aerated, but it’s still good.
A solar set-up would be your best bet, but as you say it’s expensive.
Forever. Stash it near gila monsters to keep the mice down.
Expensive and stationary. One of the things I’m counting on if the SHTF in the spring or summer are fires, purposely or accidentally set with no means of fighting them.
I’m in no shape to hike the wilderness so I’m staying put with my water well and river full of fish.
My garage alone will supply more than enough runoff in my area to fill the 7500 gallons of storage I plan to have in place this winter. Initially the storage is for watering my vegetable garden, as I live off a well and the cost of pumping becomes prohibitive in the summer. However, having that amount of water handy does provide me with multiple options, should the need arise.
The setup is not going to be cheap, but that is a result of my wanting/needing such a large amount. On the plus side - one time cost, long lasting, potable, and renewable.
We have a 65 gallon rain barrel for starters, and sufficient chemicals and filters to purify over a thousand gallons. Additionally we have 2 55 gallon garbage cans with lids.
In those cans are:
2 cases of water
1 roll duct tape
2 50 square foot heavy duty tarps
2 Aim and Flame lighters
50 feet of 250 pound test rope
10 chemical lights, assorted colors.
1 carton heavy duty contractor type garbage bags
2 5 gallon buckets with rubber seal type lids.
These take up very little space in our garage and cost less than $100.00. We will fill the cans and buckets with potable water in the event of an emergency. Add that to the amount of water we can put in our oversize double tub and we can have fresh water for over 90 days.
If you’re planning on disinfecting your water with bleach,,,,,, I’ve been in the water biz for almost 30 years. Public water supply. We use Sodium HyperChlorite to disinfect the water. SHCL is bleach. The stuff we use is the same as pool shock, 12.5%. Household bleach is 6,25%. It’s important to know that SHCL/bleach starts to deteriorate the instant it’s created. It must be stored in a cool, dark place, and that still won’t stop it’s degradation, only slow it down! Studies have shown that, by the time a home consumer buys bleach at the store, it may have dropped to 3%. So,,,, don’t store bleach for too long, and count on it’s effectiveness. Buy a color wheel chlorine tester. Cheap! It will tell you when the water has been safely disinfected. Me? I keep the “pool shock” strength stuff around. The crystalized product might be even better, as you could make you own fresh SHCL whenever you needed it. I’m not sure about that, as I’m a potable water guy, not a pool boy!
I’m in New Mexico... this year we’ve had less than 3” of rain.
Are you familiar with an item known as a "well bucket"?
If not, just check it out here:
Water doesn’t go bad but the containers its stored in do. Depending on the container they can break down and contaminate the water. Likewise stored water is heavy and space intensive.
The basic act of using the water can introduce bacteria and other contaminates which will make it unsafe to drink.
I live in Tampa, we had 3” of rain this afternoon.
I’ve look at those but have other priorities. I do have two 55 gal rain barrels for now. I’ve focused on being able to purify and sanitize water since its so plentiful around here.
There is an old Mexican trick to make potable water from reasonably clean, but not potable water.
All you need is a big piece of limestone. You hone one side into a cone, then dig a well into the other side. When you put the impure water into the well, it takes a while, but reasonably clean, potable water drips down the cone into a container below. Here is a video of one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvwtpbMF3v0
The best part is that there is a lot of limestone in the world.
I have 30 gallons of Ozarka water in heavy duty food grade Ozarka jugs that stack on top of each other. Have a WaterBob to put in bathtub that holds 100 gallons. Have 55 gallon food grade barrel hooked to downspout diverter, have two kiddie pools to sit out when it rains. Have 15,000 gallon swimming pool. Have Big Berkey water purifier to run water through.
A 550 gallon food grade, poly tank is about $350. Pretty much lasts forever. Do a search on rain collection systems on youtube. There are a lot of people with a lot of different ideas you can learn from.
500 sq feet of roof, and 2 inches of rain, will easily give you 550 gallons of water you do not have now.
If clean, forever. Just air it out to add oxygen and reduce plastic flavor. I have several different levels of filters and i plan to run prior filtered water through a lesser set of filters to remove odors and improve taste.
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