What Is The Best Survival Preparedness Item?
February 4, 2012, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
One answer to the question, “What is the best prep item to have?” is… drum-roll please… BLEACH.
Your reaction may be one of surprise since I didn’t say a firearm, a hoard of rice and beans, gold or silver coins, or any other number of the nearly infinite preparedness supplies that one may choose to acquire first. The fact is however, when examining what it is that we need most to survive, the answer is WATER.
While our body gets much of its water from the foods that we eat, the fact is that we cannot survive without water for much longer than 72 hours. This is a cold hard fact that many or most people take for granted or perhaps don’t even know about.
When determining a priority for what to acquire first for general survival preparedness needs, the logical choice is a method of acquiring clean drinking water. Since in most areas of the country water is not terribly difficult to find (exempt drought areas and deserts), a key element to the water you procure is its cleanliness and disinfection of bacteria and pathogens.
Common non-scented household bleach contains chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite) in a 5 – 6% concentration and has the ability to kill bacteria and germs in water during any questionable situation including a disaster scenario where the existing water may become contaminated.
The main ingredient in public water supplies that is used to keep the water safe, is chlorine. Following a major disaster, the public water supply may become contaminated. Having household bleach on hand will assure you of the ability to disinfect your water.
Bleach will of course NOT remove sediment or harmful chemicals from a water source, however it WILL kill off harmful pathogens in the water. If you do not have a means of boiling water, using a small amount of chlorine bleach will kill pathogens, germs, and bacteria.
How do I use chlorine bleach to disinfect water?
1. Remove suspended particles by filtering or letting particles settle to the bottom. Pour clear water into a clean container.
2. Add 8 drops of Regular-Bleach to one gallon of water (2 drops to 1 quart). For cloudy water, use 16 drops per gallon of water (4 drops to 1 quart).
3. Let treated water to stand for 30 minutes. Water should have a slight bleach odor. If not, repeat and wait another 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers several times.
A perfect companion for Bleach as a preparedness item is a quality drinking water filter. Personally, I prefer the Big Berkey for homestead living, while there are also many additional smaller or portable quality filters available.
How long will Bleach hold its potency? About one year. After a year, the potency will be reduced, not eliminated. Rotate your bleach products as a precaution.
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Nice article.
Not all bleaches are made equal. Came across a store brand that only had 2.5 percent sodium hypochlorite.
Thanks for pointing that out! In that situation then, it would require doubling the recipe…
Agreed. This article is certainly spot on.This can be and should be examined further by all. I include information such as this in my blog as well. Many people forget about about the simple things that will increase survival. Prevention is the cure. Bleach for water and sanitizer for hands. If we are having to fully clean our food (meats), scavenge, filter water and fortify our homesteads; we will need to keep the food we touch safe. Thanks
Thought about this for awhile, and for the short term bleach is #1. For the longer term though because bleach has an expired date on it in which it is no good, I would say a butt load of water filters would be number #1.
While I prefer 35% H2O2 for disinfection, it too has a shelf life. I try to base my preps on items with years of duty. A means to always boil water has one of those forever shelf life’s.
I could use a refresher on items to have on hand in case of a dirty bomb.Thanks for the outstanding site!
Off the top of my head… a bug-out plan (if you live within the zone), food and water for the road (72-hour kit in the vehicle), food and water at your destination, food and water in the event of being stuck where you are (along with plastic sheeting and duck-tape to seal off windows and doors)… A dirty bomb will likely not cause an extreme amount of radioactive damage like a real nuke would, however the psychological damage and panic will be the main problem. People will freak out. The streets and exits out of the zone will quickly be clogged with traffic and people on foot. Know multiple ‘back roads’ out of the zone. Do Not attempt to exit by the main roads out. The entire topic is worthy of many posts by itself! Stay tuned…
@ radiogirl. It all depnds on what type of radioactive material a terrorist would use and how much of it. If a terrorist were for example to ever use Plutonium in a powder form, God help anyone for miles, it is over for them. Even a small amount, a few ounces of this powder could kill anyone or give them cancer as it only takes less than a speck of this inhaled to destroy the body. People think that if terrorist had Plutonium why not build a bomb. You need, I believe 4-6 pounds to get critical mass for a bomb, might not have that much. This is worst case scenario for a dirty bomb.
The next issue is that the media will give examples of how a terrorist will take some medical waste or other lower radioactive source in small amounts, say the size of a 1 inch diameter pipe and explode some conventional bomb with this. It would contaminate a small area and scare the hell out of everyone, but not infect anyone with much more than a few chest X-rays. Here’s the problem. A terrorist at a port of other important site could explode a whole lot, a large barrel full, of low level radioactive waste and contaminate a huge area on a windy day with extreme high levels of radiation.
The best course of action is exactly what someone does after a nuclear war. Put as much mass between you and the outside as possible, as much DENSE mass as possible also. Don’t think it is safe to go outside unless you can get some sort of accurate report it is safe to do so or if you can afford it get one of those radiation alert key chains that beeps for how much radiation in around. Camping Survival sells these, as is one of Ken’s sponsor just a little bit up to the right on the screen.
Yes, dirty bombs by some really nasty terrorists such as Hezbollah could be made into a terrible nightmare weapon, the news media will not paint a picture of this because it is horrifying. Think about it though, logic is simple here. If a small amount of radioactive source can infect a small area, then a whole lot in a big barrel or several barrels could infect a huge area with lethal doses after some explosion. What is even more frightening is much of this waste is not difficult to obtain by some terrorist with a lot of money. Only very few cities either have radiation detectors either to alert us.
Additionally, it’s all about the three D’s. Distance, distance, distance. A key aspect of survival from radiation is to put distance between you and the source. There is something called the ‘inverse square law’, which was discovered by Newton back in the day… Basically it’s like this… If you double the distance between you and the source of radiation, you will theoretically be exposed to just one-fourth the amount, etc. There are variables of course, like the wind carrying concentrated amounts of radioactive particles in a particular direction, but the concept is such that the effects are drastically reduced as you head further away. The short answer to a dirty bomb situation is to get out. Plan ahead of time for the area in question – know at least 3 ways out that are NOT the main freeways, etc.
I’m drifting way off topic of the original post…
Ken is absolutely right, if you could get 20 miles out you probably would not have much to worry about with a dirty bomb because it would not get very high up into the atmosphere like a nuclear explosion. IF you can’t get away, then mass, lots of it between you and the outside. I though would evacuate as quickly as possible. To tell the truth, I would get as far away as possible, even 100 miles if I could. Something definitely to plan for, a safe very quick way out and a few back-up routes to boot. Oh, also N-100, or at least N-95 masks, because in a dirty bomb explosion, God forbid if it should ever happen, the main concern is not to breathe in the particles.
Getting back to the topic of bleach, I have always wondered what is the best temperature to store bleach to keep it lasting the longest? After SHTF there will not be too many bleach manufacturing places, and what is the best way of keeping your bleach workable the longest before it becomes no good for use anymore?
From Clorox:
We add extra bleach during manufacturing to take into account expected temperature changes and to maintain our stated label 6% sodium hypochlorite level for Clorox Regular-Bleach.
Under most typical home storage conditions this 6% active level will be maintained at least 6 months. Excellent performance should be expected for around a year under these conditions.
Extreme exposure may reduce the active level below 6%, but excellent performance will be maintained for laundry and home cleaning for at least 9 months.
Opening the bottle does NOT have an effect on hypochlorite stability nor make the product ineffective.
http://www.clorox.com/blogs/dr-laundry/2007/08/07/bleach-shelf-life/
Ken, Can bleach be made from swimming pool chlorine? That would be easy to store and very cheap.
Yes, and in fact, it will last longer. Just be careful that you are getting the right ingredient.
From Wikipedia: Calcium hypochlorite is used for the disinfection of drinking water or swimming pool water. Calcium hypochlorite is a chemical compound with formula Ca(ClO)2. It is widely used for water treatment and as a bleaching agent (bleaching powder). This chemical is considered to be relatively stable and has greater available chlorine than sodium hypochlorite (liquid bleach).
If using this method, you must use a swimming pool type test kit to measure the chlorine level in the water you are treating. To be safe you must keep the resulting chlorine level below 4 ppm (parts-per-million).
Radiataion… Time, distance, and shielding are the keys. Old school surv stuff. Have a chart packed away somewhere that outlines the likely dose received based on the symptoms and time following exposure, but basically, if symptoms of radiation sickness develop within 24 hours or less after exposure then you ain’t going to make it. Even within 2-3 days things wouldn’t look good. Time for the tough decisions then.
Bleach… Calcium Hypochlorate stores longer, and treats more water. Not sure I’d agree it’s “the best item”, unless maybe in a biological/pandemic event. But then again, access to potable water isn’t as great a concern here as we have multiple sources, so YMMV. Guess I’d have to say, without knowing the nature/cause of the SHTF-event, that the single best item to have would be a store of knowledge in obtaining/securing food and water, clothing, and shelter in your area.
The ‘best’ is definitely going to be different for varying situations and locations (and opinions), so the title of the post isn’t really fair – but it’s generating some conversation, which is a good thing. I like your answer of ‘knowledge in obtaining food and water, clothing, and shelter in your area’. I was thinking more in line of material things, but if I were not, then knowledge is right up there for sure.
When I read the title my first thoughts were to an outdoors and stranded/lost situation. Thinking knife, fire making tool, firearm, etc. OT, but one item I wouldn’t want to be without in my area is monofilament line. Fishing, snares/traps, lashing for shelter, and clothing repair come to mind. Wouldn’t be first on the list, just a good multipurpose item for providing food/clothing/shelter. Take care.
While not number #1 it sure should be included in the top 3. Dawn with anti-bacterial in it liquid soap. Have found so many uses for Dawn, from keeping the drains clearer from soap build up to cleaning off grease and oil from everything. With the anti-bacterial agent in it, you can keep your hands clean at all times and wash dishes and know they will be safe to eat on afterwards. After SHTF people are going to need to fix all sorts of items themselves and grease and oil will need to be removed. You can also use this to wash your clothes with, as it is much more difficult to remove the soap residue with detergent without a washing machine. I imagine if you had to ever remove hazardous material off your body it would work a lot better than just a bar of soap.
I am a chemical operator at a large chemical plant. We do alot of distillation. To help purify your water, I would add a decanter to your purification which could be part of the tank that allow stuff to settle. This does not involve any energy added to the system such as boiling. Majority of petroleum products will seperate from the water and float. Other chemicals are heavier and form a bottem layer. You could have multiple layers depending on chemicals. Some chemicals like methanol will not seperate from water and must be boiled out but it has a much lower boiling point than water. On the flip side, depending on the chemicals involved, this may not always be the case. Hope this helps.
Hi there!
Great blog posts!
I would like to ask you on drinking chlorinated water!
One would have to let it stay for a while, in order for the chlorine to evaporate?
Thanks
Costas
It takes about 30 minutes for the chlorine to ‘kill’ the organic pathogens.
One other thought.
If you have any picky eaters, you should get something to flavor the treated water. Some people will refuse to eat or drink anything they don’t like.
By flavoring I mean Kool Aid, Tang, or whatever in a powdered form. Be really sure to keep it dry until you need it.
There was massive food problem in Germany for a few years after WWII. Even then, some folks refused to eat corn that the US provided. It was ‘pig food’.
Be well.