Water, Food & Shelter are needed to sustain life(and air of course) so let's start with water.
First we need to obtain water. Where I live, I can walk to a spring that puts out many thousands of gallons of potable water a day but most people don't have that. You may have a river, creek or lake nearby but that will probably need to be treated.
Here's a link to a zip file with many pdf and other files all about water collection; https://permasteader.com/Water_Collection.zip. Included are two Rainwater Harvesting Manuals, one put out by Texas and one by Hawaii. They know a thing or two about rainwater harvesting in Hawaii as one cannot drill a water well on an island.
By Countryside Staff
Water is the most crucial element for staying alive. It's more important than food.
Everyone must have enough safe drinking water, which generally means one gallon per person per day. Needs will differ according to age, physical condition, lifestyle and climate.
This doesn't include water for cooking, bathing, washing dishes and clothes, and pets or other animals. Large dogs may need as much as a gallon a day, while cats can do well with just a pint a day. If you have other livestock your water needs obviously soar. But in that case, water taken directly from a river or stream, without purification, will probably be okay.
Untreated water straight from the tap should keep for six months when stored in clean, durable containers. However, it must be changed periodically. Bacteria-free water, which means treatment with bleach or other compounds, will keep up to several years. Heat, light, deterioration of the container and other factors can cut this figure substantially.
Water should be stored as far as possible from paint and petroleum-based products, acids or anything with strong odors such as fertilizer or common household cleaning solutions. Lower-grade containers are permeable to certain gases and should be avoided whenever possible.
You'll need to locate at least one other water source, since even several hundred gallons of stored water won't last long. Assume any water not stored or purchased is contaminated, especially in perilous or unstable times. A mountain stream could look pristine, but still be polluted.
If you can find only marginal water, first strain the debris through a paper towel, clean cloth or coffee filter, then use one of the following methods.
Short of using a very high-quality water filter, this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and keep it simmering for at least several minutes. Add one minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level. Cover the pot to shorten boiling time and conserve fuel.
Use 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite that is free of soap or phosphates. To treat one gallon of water, add eight drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach to clear water and 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) to cloudy water. When purifying five gallons, add 32 drops (1/2 teaspoon) to clear water or 64 drops (one teaspoon) to cloudy water. By purifying a larger quantity of water, you will cut bleach usage 20 percent over the one gallon at a time method. After treating with chlorine, mix well and allow the water to stand for 30 minutes before using. An eye dropper can be used to measure the dosage.
Bleach that is more than a year old loses approximately half its potency. Adjust the dosage accordingly.
Also known as calcium hypochlorite, it is used primarily in swimming pools. Since it is a powder, it has the significant benefit of extended shelf life. Dry chlorine may be stored for up to 10 years with minimal degradation if it is kept dry, cool and in an airtight container.
This is a far better choice for quantity storage than liquid bleach. Dry chlorine is commonly available at swimming pool supply stores as well as many hardware and grocery stores.
For chlorinating water in rain tanks, the recommended dosage is seven grams dry (1/4 ounce by weight) r 40 milliliters (1.35 ounce) per 1000 liters (264 gallons). Let the water stand for 24 hours before drinking. To maintain chlorination, add one gram (.035 ounce) of dry chlorine or 4 ml (.135 ounce) weekly per 1,000 liters.
If no instructions are provided on the bottle, use 12 drops per gallon of water. Increase the dosage if the water is of dubious quality. Mix well and allow the water to stand for 30 minutes before using. Iodine does have an unpleasant aftertaste.
See stor03.html for AZ Granny's water page. https://permasteader.com/AZ_Granny/stor03.html
Great advice/reminders.
We also have a Berkey, for water filtration.
We stocked up on extra filters, months ago.
I much prefer a Berkefeld water purifier. Worth the $. Chlorine is really nasty stuff. Better than getting horrible diseases, many people with asthma react very badly to chlorine in water.
SORAS - a simple arsenic removal process
wilsonweb.physics.harvard.edu/arsenic/remediation/sodis/SORAS_Paper.html
In summary, the application procedure developed by SORAS field tests comprises the following steps:
fill 4/5 of the plastic bottle with pumped groundwater
add approx. 6 drops of fresh lemon juice per litre of water
shake the bottle vigorously for approx. 30 seconds
expose the plastic bottle in horizontal position to sunlight for a full day
turn the bottle in vertical position and leave the solids settle over night
decant the supernatant water carefully the next day or filter it trough a close
Bookmark
Don't store water in the average garage..
Thanks for the ping Pollard. Took some time off from FR yesterday, so I’m just now getting back to this thread.
Air and Water - we can survive about 3 weeks without food. But air and water- 3 minutes and 3 days.
When my dad was on oxygen 24/7/365 and living with me, we had a storm one August day and were without electricity for 2 weeks. We had back up oxygen tanks that would only last for about 2 days. The ER room and health clinics were soon full of people who needed oxygen and tanks ran out.
Fortunately, we had portable generators for hubby’s business that he rigged up to keep the O2 compressor going. Running heavy duty extension cords, we also kept the refrigerator, freezers, tv, and a window air conditioner going for him.
My TV room is in the basement, and I was fine with my battery operated fan. We also have a solar generator, but it actually is pretty good for electronics - wouldn’t last long for a O2 compressor.
And anyone who lives in an area likely to suffer from fires, likely needs some sort of filter to wear to improve the air quality.
My next post, I’ll have some thoughts on water.
The airtight container is important. I had my calcium hypochlorite in the original container, inside a plastic container stored in the basement. Was checking on it every six months.
One day, I went to check on it, and somehow it had absorbed water from the air - it was like damp sand - and even though it was still in the container, some nearby metal was massively rusted.
Also, the pool shock often has other chemicals, so check the label to make sure the only active ingredient is the Calcium hypochlorite. For planning, there’s a base to make-1/8 tsp to 1 pint of water will purify 12.5 gallons of water.
We are on a well, and we always keep between 30-45 gallons of water in the containers similar to the primo water containers you get from Walmart. When electricity goes out, the well pump won’t work.
Hubby assures me that he can quickly wire up the generator to run the well pump. But I can’t do that, so I want something else - preferably a permanent standby generator.
And I’d also like the option to be able to manually pump it. They also make “rocket” buckets that are narrow enough to use along side the existing mechanisms.
In the meantime, we have an above ground pool collecting water from the roof to use on the garden. That is going to be replaced with a commercial Cistern of 1500 gallons.
Filtering is also a good thing to be able to do.
We have a lot of extra coffee filters for the big stuff. And a Big Berkey with filters that also filter out radiation. And we have extra filters to last 4 people for 3 years(or our extended family for 1 year).
We have 2 portable Seychelle Filter bottles with the advanced filter to take care of the nasties and radiation. Extra filters there also to take care of 300 gallons each. In case we aren’t at home or have to evacuate.
In addition to boiling, Glass containers placed in the sun for 6 hrs.(put some foil underneath) will sanitize.
Make sure the water heater is lashed to the wall, and you have a way to turn on the valve and use the water if you need it to drink or cook.
There are Bath Tub bobs that are designed to allow your bath tub to be a holding tank (in case you know beforehand and can fill them up). We would just use 5 gallon buckets with lids.
We also have Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide water purification tablets for our backpack/camping/bug out bags.