Water Storage Availability

Water Storage & Availability d- Next Level Prepping & Preparedness

Water storage and/or nearby availability. Enough for at least 1 month survival.

Level 2 prepping will be a bit more challenging in a few areas. One aspect of more in-depth preparedness that could present some difficulty is the water category.

Water Availability For (at least) 1 Month

I titled this subheading using the word ‘availability’ rather than ‘water storage’. The reason I did this is because it becomes challenging to store enough water for a longer period of time beyond just several days or enough for a week on your own.

The disaster or disruptive scenario under which you enter Level 2 will dictate to an extent your water options. A Level 2 disruption may be a ‘Katrina’ type event or similar whereby a large region is affected. On the other hand it could also be a local event whereby just you or your neighborhood is affected. The former scenario presents much greater challenges than the latter!

The way I see it, here are your water options:

– Faucet tap still running, so you’re okay.
– Drive out of the region to get it.
– Store LOTS of it.
– Find a source nearby.
– Rainwater collection.

Not all disaster or disruption scenarios will result in the stoppage of water flowing from your faucet. In fact lots of scenarios will leave water untouched. However it is prudent to plan for water disruption because it is one of the most crucial (and overlooked) aspects of prepping and survival.

3 days (if you’re lucky, maybe a few more days than that) without any liquids whatsoever, and you’ll likely end up horizontal.

First,

Get a good water filter! This will enable you to safely drink from water sources other than your faucet (as long as the source is not chemically contaminated).

As a bare minimum recommendation in Level 1, please buy yourself (or save up for) a good quality water filter. I recommend any of the Berkey Countertop water filter models. It will last a lifetime.

Big Berkey
(amzn)

[ Read: 5 Berkey Accessories For Your Countertop Filter ]

Drive Out of the Region to get water

When you run out of water storage, you could simply (maybe not so simply) drive out of the affected region to get more. There are problems with this however. Do you realize how much water you might need to last one month in your household? It could be staggering.

[ Read: The Average Gallons Of Water People Consume Each Day ]

After you read the article above, you will see how water consumption adds up fast in a typical household. Now granted that during a major disruption event your consumption will be curtailed to an extent.

Probably won’t be running the dishwasher or washing machine for clothes like you used to. Similarly you won’t be showering/bathing like before. Conserving toilet flushes will help lots. Your typical consumption will drop quite a lot. That said, you will still need quite a lot…

[ Read: How To Flush A Toilet Without Running Water ]

Bare minimum quantities of water storage will be 1 gallon per person per day for basic survival. Realistically double that, and even that will be exceedingly challenging!

Other additional uses for water will include toilet flushes and general washing (yourself, utensils, etc..). A modern toilet still requires about 2 gallons to flush.

So if you need to drive out of the region to get it, you will be loading up your vehicle for sure. And you will be returning again when you run out (again).

Note: How many others do you think will be emptying the store shelves of water? That’s right, lots of others! So plan on having to travel out a ways to find it.

Store Lots of Water

Yes you could store it. Lets figure it out for one month.

1 gallon/day/person plus 2 toilet flushes/day/person:

5 gallons/day
150 gallons/month
Wow! That’s three 55 gallon drums!

As you can see, it’s the toilet flushes that’s consuming most of the water. What I would recommend that you do is find a pond, river, stream, or lake nearby your home for a water source. Have a means to gather up enough water to take back home for flushing (buckets, water jugs, etc..). You may have to return every day to collect more. But you do what you have to do…

Regarding the toilet situation. It’s a no-brainer for us guys to #1 outside somewhere. It’s the gals, and that #2 issue for all of us…

For a Level 2 event, it is possible, although unlikely, that your municipal sewer system might back up. This will negate flushing in your home as it will be backing up. Chances are though that the system will still accept wastewater via gravity water flow, and generators will be running to keep treatment plants operational. But what if they’re not?

Well, you will be adapting and overcoming the situation. Say hello to the great outdoors. Hopefully it’s not winter and you have some woods around you… Dig a hole for multiple ‘uses’. A makeshift latrine or trench. Do your duty, cover it up with some dirt. Repeat.

Without having to store toilet flush water, you could get by with one 55 gallon drum of stored water per person per month.

A Nearby Water Source as your Water Storage

Ideally you will have a source of water near your home. The closer the better because water is heavy at about 8 pounds per gallon.

This was something on my prerequisite list when I was looking for our latest home and property. We did end up with a natural year round spring producing about 7 gallons per minute…

I suggest (if you don’t already know) that you look around your area for water sources. Look at a topographical map. There might be a stream you don’t know about. Look at Google Earth satellite view. You might discover a number of swimming pools around the neighborhood. While you might not use it for drinking it will be great for flushing and other such uses.

You will need a way to transport the water. Do you have water jugs? If your vehicle is not able to get directly to the source you will need something to help you transport it. A wagon of sorts?

The following water containers are manageable and stackable at 3.5 gallons each (about 28 pounds filled), Water Brick

I have a number of 55 gallon ‘food safe’ drums that I use for water storage. Augason Farms sells this kit:

Augason Farms Emergency Water Supply Kit, 55 gallons
(view on amzn)

Rainwater Collection

It is remarkable how much water will come off your roof during a rain event. Or even a tarp! Here’s an article that discusses this concept:

Calculate Gallons Of Rainwater Collection From A Tarp

Examples:

A 0.25″ rain event will yield 17 gallons from a 9 x 12 tarp.
A 0.25″ rain event will yield 174 gallons from a 28 x 40 roof footprint!

Apparently the most popular on AMZ,
Rain Wizard Rain Barrel 50 Gallon

 
There are lots of articles here on MSB having to do with water preparedness. Use the ‘Search MSB’ function at the top to find more.

When it comes to ANY level of prepping, you should shore up your water plan first. We take it for granted. But we can’t live long without it.

[ Read: Prepping Level 1–4 Series Overview ]

74 Comments

  1. We have 6 55 gallon water barrels and a TANK water heater. When we replaced the water heater a few years ago Mom had them put the old heater in line with the new rather than discarding it–unheated, but it’s an extra 70 gallons.

    Tankless water heaters seem to be all the rage, along with “genius” houses controlled from your cell phone…

  2. Ken, great topic on water storage preps…I got a good laugh when I read this:

    “As you can see, it’s the toilet flushes that’s consuming most of the water. What I would recommend that you do is find a pond”…
    For a split second I thought that was what you were suggesting, LOL…
    Please forgive me Ken! :)
    Remember also to stock your bug-in/bug-out location with lots of water too.
    Water in your car, water at work in case you are stuck there, water with your kids a large water bottle for their packs, we keep out extra water for our animals too
    Yes, stored water is really a #1 priority! And the tips and info you posted in this article are very helpful, thanks…

    1. Rwt
      From everything that I have read it does. If you are referring to other contaminates there is a filtering system over at Ready Made Resources for removing isotopes from the water, but it only processes about 25 gallons per filter so check out their site. Do your homework before you decide what you would like. Berkey from what I have read sells two different filters for their system. The black filters are more expensive but are a higher grade filter, something to consider when shop.

      We have two food grade buckets, filter for our water purification system at this time. Also purchased the (sp)Schelle water filter-isotopes. The Berkey is on the wish list until I have enough pennies saved up for the system. Hope this helps.

  3. Ken,
    Might be good to add that 6-12″ of snow equals about 1″ of water when melted. I know in the NE you get heavy wet snows, here in the Rockies our “powder” is very dry, and we average 10-12″of snow per inch of water. Takes a lot of energy to melt it, but I have put snow in black poly barrels and set it in the sun, coming back at sunset to drain off what had melted during the day and adding more snow for the next day.

  4. I consider ourselves lucky. We have two ponds and a flowing creek on our property and a river just less than a quarter mile away.
    I want to do a rain catch barrel at the cabin also
    Although we have various filters, my main concern is filtering ALL contaminates properly for good, safe drinking water.

  5. A couple of folks have expressed concerns of whether filtered water removes enough of pathogens. Don’t confuse premium filters such as Berkey and the filters such as Brita that are so popular for removing odors or chlorine taste from tap water. Berkey filters render even the nastiest water safe. The Brita, or similar filters, do not remove nearly enough, or any, of the bacteria to be safe. Treat questionable water with chlorine, etc. first, then run it through the Brita to remove the chlorine taste.

    1. I may be mistaken but I believe there are some kinds of algae that produce toxins that can not be filtered. If I had to drink water that was contaminated with algae I would figure out some way to distill it first. I do have rain-barrels which were contaminated with bat poop and they had an algae bloom. Those barrels are now relegated to toilet flushing. We do have other barrels that are not contaminated and I would consider them as appropriate for filtering or treating for drinking water. We also have a pitcher pump that we can use if our submersible well pump can’t be used due to a long term grid down thing. We also have a spring fed pond on our neighbors property. As I’ve recently mentioned my one of my Christmas gifts to myself this year will be a MSR SE200 chlorine generator. For those not familiar with it it puts a 12 volt current through a brine solution to make a chlorine solution for disinfecting water. Ready Made Resources carries it. Look under their heading for water filters.

  6. For me, using precious water to flush a toilet, especially if easy access to replacement water is not available, is a pure waste of this precious commodity for anyone other than apartment dwellers, during trying times. A dug hole, 5 gal pail with the bottom cut out but slightly larger than the hole’s diameter, and a privacy curtain, would save beau coup water for more important needs. My grandparents didn’t have an indoor flush toilet until the mid-1950’s, and raised my mother and her 5 siblings with their only source of water being a shallow hand dug well that produced sometimes less than ten gallons of water a day during dry periods. All water was drawn with a bucket and rope. A mindset accepting a new normal will be necessary if things go south, including the frequency of washing outer garments, bathing, etc.

    1. Indeed! Water for drinking comes first. Can’t live much beyond 3 days without it. If you’re fortunate to have plenty extra then flushing is no problem. Everyone will have their own unique circumstances to make that decision.

    2. Dennis, Is your house on city sewer system or do you have a septic tank? If you have septic, find the pump out opening and build you an outhouse over it. No need to dig a hole to do your dodo.

      1. blackjack22,- septic with easy access to cover, but too close to house to leave it open to accommodate a permanent toilet above it (smell) unless I jerry rig a sealing lid to be easily raised and lowered by women and children with out touching it.

        Your suggestion does bring up another thought for consideration on water use. All drains inside a home employ a J-trap that depends on water to act as a barrier against sewer gasses migrating into the house. That water, if not replenished regularly, will evaporate and allow these gasses into the house. Just guessing, I would think that about a pint of water per drain, twice a month, would suffice. Otherwise, long term solution would require removing the traps and covering the down pipe with plastic and duct tape.

        1. Dennis,
          You are so right about sewer gasses coming back up through the drains!

          Years ago we had a house for sale. It sat empty for months. I went regularly to check on it and walked in one day to a stench that was indescribable. I made sure to fill the j-traps regularly after that. Beach’n

    3. Dennis,
      Your folks must have lived in the city, or much closer than we did…… we had an outhouse until 1970.. (store extra lime to sweeten the outhouse). a hand dug well until then, but ours produced enough ,The bucket, chain and well- pulley were some of my first tools. and also..and well safety the reason,… for a good punishing I will never forget.Bubba and I were dancing on top of the well at about age 3 and a half…For the record, the multifloral rose bush that was 15 feet in diameter did NOT protect us…LOL
      I remember drawing water when I was about 7..after having a very good ” inservice”. on the protection and safety of the well. The end of the chain was secured and could not fall in., and we were taught to carefully open the bung that covered the well curb, some of the neighbors had problems with their well. electricity came to my Mom’s home when she was in her late teens..mid-late 50’s.

      1. Anonamo Also,- No, they lived in a rural community of about 10 families surrounded by the family farms. This was a common set up dating back to early North East Texas frontier days where farmers built their homes close together for mutual protection from Comanche raiding parties and “commuted” to and from their farmland each day (my grandparents still had 80 acres of the original homestead located about a mile and a half from their tiny 3 room home).

        Rethinking (re-remembering?) my first post, it was probably mid 1960’s before they got indoor plumbing. That came about when my parents teamed with my mother’s grown siblings to build on a bathroom and put a pump on the well, bringing water into the house. City water didn’t make it to the community until the 1990’s. Their septic system for the new indoor plumbing consisted of a hand dug pit covered with a wooden top with dirt on top, with no leach lines, but with just my grandparents using it, it never overflowed.

        The old place is gone now. Believe it or not, it was less than 20 miles from downtown Dallas, Texas, and of course, now is covered with expensive homes and “estates” for more well to do commuters.

  7. I have 4, 86 gal pressure tanks plumbed in my water system so when my well runs I have close to 200 gal of water stored. It is refreshed every time the well runs. In a grid down situation I can run the generator for 6 minutes and the tanks are full again.

      1. Ken
        The additional water storage is a side benefit, I set my well up this way to save money and wear and tear on my pump. It takes more than twice the electricity to start the pump than to run it so with the additional storage I can cut down on pump starts. When you set up watering systems, lawn or garden, you should use close to the capacity of your pump so you can cut down on well starts.

  8. My water usage runs from about 4 to 26 according to my water bills. I have no idea 4 or 26 what! Is that hundreds of gallons or thousands of gallons? Either way, I couldn’t carry that much water from the river half a mile away or the other river 3/4 of a mile away. I have two rain barrels to help with the garden (that wouldn’t be enough) but I have to hope that the Town is telling me the truth when they tell me that the Town’s artesian well would keep working whether or not we have electricity and we would always have water, though we might have to filter or boil it.

    1. DaisyK…river is half mile away…is that about six city blocks? If you and a few neighbors got together, you could string garden hose that far….

  9. Anon,

    You are up early.

    Yes, about 6 city blocks. But there aren’t that many neighbors between here and the river and not enough garden hoses. Lots of empty houses and vacant lots and a wide un-built area between first street and the river — a buffer for when the river overflows. Plus, how would we get the water into the hoses and then get it to flow uphill to our houses? Hopefully the pure water from the well would have a better chance of getting here. It comes up from deep in the ground under pressure. That’s why they don’t need electricity to pump it.

    1. Concur, I intend to pitch an old tent over the pumpout hole. Solids only and please put the box on the sludge side and not the liquid side. Although commonly frowned this system is going to be a great source of fertilizer and that ain’t no BS.

      1. Daisy. Does your river flow or just meander sluggishly? Ready Made Resources has a pump for flowing rivers that uses water pressure from the flow to lift water up to 86 feet Go to the site and look up Rife River Pump.

        Most garden hoses aren’t rated for drinking water but in a survival situation I’d risk it. Heck we all drank from garden hoses as kids and none of us grew extra ears. Might have dropped our IQs a couple of points though.

        Portable swimming pools can be an economical way of storing water. This time of the year they can be found cheaply. Walmart has numerous ones on clearance and Craigslist would be another place to check.

        1. We all used to do a lot of things in years gone by that they now say is bad for us, were still here!

        2. To Me

          The river flows, but not real fast. It drops about 500 feet over a distance of about 100 miles. I would say the river flows about 1/2 to one mile per hour in spring, summer and fall, and freezes in winter.

          I think my house is about 150 feet above the river. But there are not enough garden hoses around to reach from the river to my house.

          Any water in a swimming pool would freeze. It can get to 35 below zero here. It sometimes stays below zero for a week at a time, even at midday. I use 2 liter pop bottles for some of my water storage. And I have some 5 gallon jugs. However, I can’t lift them when they are full. I have to put them where I want them and then use a gallon jug to fill them one gallon at a time.

        3. Hubby and I bought 2 gallon storage containers on Amazon. I can lift them, we store them in the family bathroom so they stay liquid in the winter. I bought 10 of the so have about 200 gallons. I have other water in cranberry jugs or vinigar jugs but the 2 gallon containers are easy enough for me to handle I don’t worry so much about how much I have because I know we have at least 200 gallons.

        4. preparednana

          Ahhhh don’t yell at me, but 10 2 gallon containers is 20 gallons…..

    2. Daisy K
      I can answer the question on why the water would still flow since your town is on an artisan well.

      The term that dowsers use is water domes, these domes are a pressurized system which keeps the water flowing under the ground. Artisan wells are where the water breaks surface which man or animal can drink from all year round. Somewhere they found that stream, and tapped into the underground portion without disturbing the one the main domes that keeps the system working.

      “”IF”” they had drilled into the main dome itself, they could have collapsed the entire water system that flows through that section of the underground stream. This is something I try to convey to all the clients I have worked with over the years, so they are aware. IF they have a driller put a well into one of these domes & they collapse the system it will cause their neighbors wells to fail-no water.

      1. Daisy K
        should have read
        without disturbing the one main dome that keeps the system working.

        Sorry had written it and was correcting when the Siamese decided to dump his water bowl…

    3. I have seen water flow up hill through a hose when started with suction (sucking on the hose..grin)….Of course, likely depends on how much up hill…Or, if one had a hand operated crank pump, etc…

      1. Siphon hose will in fact make water flow up hill inside the hose………., but only if the outlet is below the inlet

  10. I’ll repeat this regarding water supply:
    GOOGLE EARTH your area–list every water source within walking distance.
    I plan on having gas for the mower to pull the wagon and when the 30 gallon drums are empty, refilling them. I hope to barter for the water/pond/mini-lake across the road at the nursery.
    Coffee filters will be valuable then.

  11. I have seen the semi-panic when the EPA turned the Animas River Orange. I talked of this before but worth repeating.

    People go absolutely NUTS when they see the slightest concern about anything, all alone water. I witnessed many Pickup Trucks fully loading bottled water to well over the bed of the truck. And these people were literally guarding their stash with force.

    Additionally there was a meeting at the local Water District whereas some were yelling at the Board Members “YOU MUSH PROVIDE US WITH WATER!!!” totally out of hand, and foolish. BUT not surprising at all.

    Having a secondary and third/fourth source of life giving water is a total MUST! And a way to clean even mud-puddle water is not a bad idea also.

    Here in my neck of the cactus we get an average of 9” of rain a year, yes a year not a week like Ken, so Rain Collection is a minimal, so storage is a total must. 250 gallon Tote Boxes are cheap as are 55 gallon drums. But remember that 8 pounds per gallon, a 250 gallon Tote is right around a ton of water, you’re probably not going to move it around much when it’s full, same with a drum, 440 pounds each. Heck even a 5 gallon bucket is around 40 pounds each, some of us old farts will have a tough time carrying 2 of them from the Lake.

    BTW, ever take a bath in a 5 gallon bucket? If so, save that wash water to flush the toilet with, don’t just dump it. same with the water used to wash clothes and dishes with. One might also remember when you cook/boil food, keep the water to drink later, it may taste like Pasta or Potatoes, but it’s still drinkable water.

    1. NRP
      We have the totes along with the drums, but for our area, the totes run about $135 to $150 and the 55 gallon drums run around $80 to $100 dollars. The best investment we have found is the tank system but once it is set up they do not move. Better yet if you have a hill side where you can gravity feed the water to the home. The old solid satellite dish receivers make a great catch basin for diverting water into storage tanks, finding them for such a system is not always easy.

    2. That Big Berkey is going to get a workout, but it can filter all kinds of water, to be drinkable. The filters i have are pretty much going to be my go to for drinking water, between the gravity flow purifyers and the hand pump ones im sure we will make do, and luckily we have been wet, but in years past we have had months on end of hot dry weather, that will be my biggest concern, and was when we put in our reservoir, if everything goes to hell im going to do some digging and add another pond, method ive seen used before on the cheap is to dig your pond, then put down geotex fabric covered with a couple layers cheap 6 mil plastic then a layer of dirt, let the grass grow back, this actually works surprisingly well in our soils here, other method is to dig the pond fence it then put a dozen head o cows in there and water it down a few times a day, even better if it rains, feed em hay and stuff all over in the fenced area and they compact the hell out of the ground, also works surprisingly well, but we lack the cows so first method is what i have materials for, is basicly on my long azz to do list anyway but been a bit behind

    3. NRP, a five gallon bucket, why waste that much water? try a 4 qt bowl, including washing hair. When grid goes down need will be for all water, used at least twice and usually 3times. ..rinse dishes tonight, wash them next time, and use for flushing or plants next time.. This will require more containers… empty buckets, and larger, shallow containers to wash dishes in.. ..you know those things called…”dish pans”.
      cooking water from one set of vegs can be used to add to a meat dish to steam the meat and assist with tenderization… When boiling vegetables in grid down everyone will need to reduce the amount of water that foods are cooked in, especially if the recipe calls for a drained product being used to make a “dish”. pasta comes to mind. Instead of starting with 6 cups of water, start with 3. turn heat down..ie move to a cooler area of stove, soak rice overnight- before it is cooked… Same with Beans allow it to heat, the beans ot swell, then degas and replace water with hot water and restart..cook time will be greatly reduced. I will use pressure cooker..if needed.

  12. Good timing for this one, Ken. The local water dept mistakenly shut off our water for a day recently and it was a real eye opener. I think the wife finally gets why I grumble so much when she would get into my bottled water stores. I definitely have plans to up my storage levels going forward.

  13. Yes NRP we must think how to reuse water if it become a tight commodity. I have been there. Some examples. Like NRP said reuse all cooking water for drinking, soup, or bread making etc. Just think of the vitamins & minerals that we usually pour down the drain that will be captured that way. Stand in a tote or other container to bath, then use that water to wash some clothes, then use same water to wash floors & then take that water out to water the garden. The same with dish washing water…hand washing, floor washing & garden. It is amazing how far a little water can go. if we multi task it.

    1. I remember my grandma washing clothes in the old wringer washer. One tub of water, whites first then lightly soiled clothes and finally the really dirty work clothes. After wringing and dumping the dirty water, rinsing was done in the same order. The gray water was dumped on the garden.

  14. In my opinion the toughest part of the water issue is going to be changing habits. Definitely will need to learn quickly though, in my perfect world i would have storage tanks with a small solar setup and a low voltage pressure pump to feed the houses and shop, but like many other things in this life it just aint happening, we do have a pretty big reservoir so thats a plus drainage from the various roofs can all fill it, the hard part is moving the water back up hill though. Guess i better get good at carrying buckets cause thats all i got right now.

  15. This past summer was hot and dry for about three months. It was a chore to water the garden twice a day. If all power was lost, the greatest loss would not be for the toilet tank but for our food production. There is no way I could use the generators for garden watering but only for household use. So, my plan as previously stated, freeze dry food for several years. Storage in all temperatures and most conditions is not a problem – one worry dealt with.
    The issue of human waste disposal around here if the SHTF, would be as the bears do – in the bush.

    1. Grey water will be useful for so many things, one thing i plan on doing is to build an outhouse, just makes sense, our cesspool has an access cover, hole is deep, real deep, am going to build the outhouse on skids and plop it on top of the cesspool, not the best location as its down in front of the house but if were to that point the view and occasional whiff from the outhouse will be the least of our worries.
      Lucky for me i can water my garden gravity feed from my pond, have been really amping up the mulching and growing stuff for organic matter so havent had to water the open part of the garden in about two months,

  16. Keep a gallon of Mineral Oil on hand for the P-Traps that will dry if/when.

    1. NRP
      Says on ZH, Raccoon takes out power to almost ten thousand in NM. Better pump as much water as you can into sinks and tubs – there is no telling how much of the US power grid can be taken down by the vicious attack of the beasts. And I was thinking I should worry about human terrorists. :)

      1. Hermit us,
        He must of been radicalized! First kocking over our trash cans now the water supply!
        What’s next? Our electric grid?
        These Terror coons must be stopped!!
        We must think of the children…

        1. Bill J’s Horse

          Ahhhh hell dude, you think Coons are bad, try messing with a Den full of Badgers… NASTY little suckers for sure

        2. NRP,
          Badgers! We don’t need no stinking badgers!!Lol!
          ( wonder how many of the kiddos here will get it… :) )

        3. BJH and NRP,
          Hahaha! A much needed guffaw on a crazy day at the office!

        4. Bill
          alright, I looked it up 1927, and 1948 or so in a movie – I guess I’m just too young.

        5. hermit us,
          I’m remembering Blazing Saddles – Mel Brooks movie.

        6. Hermit us
          It’s a play on words from the movie
          “Treasure of the Sierra Madre “with Humphrey Bogart.
          I am a huge fan of Bogart and his wife who starred with him in his movies. (Lauren Bacall)
          Now those are movies. Not the crap coming out these days IMO.
          And Bacall was sexy in those movies.
          Geez, had a crush on her when I was a kid.LOL!

      2. hermit us

        Was not but a few years ago that a brush fire took out a ‘wooden’ electrical transmission pole from a power plant here and downed about 1/4 of Albuquerque for a few days.

        Welcome to the Wild Wild West… HAHAHA

        Raccoons and an Orange River….. what could ever go wrong?

        1. I’m sure Ken (not in the wild west) has some concerns about griz, wolverines, beavers, – and of course the coons as well. But not as much concern about predators in his water source like the deep south.

  17. I wrote a paper in college back in the 70’s about the water supply.
    At the end I wrote that I believe that countries would go to war over potable water.
    Possibly in my life time.
    My professor who was in his sixties gave me a lower grade because the assignment was not for a Science Fiction story.
    I often wonder what he would think about people paying a $1.50 for a small bottle of water.
    Water and its procurement should be high on everyone’s list.
    The reuse of grey water (as many have already posted) is an important step in water conservation.
    The problem as always is the regulations in effect about grey water in many communities.
    These folks have to save us from ourselves don’t ya know. ..

    1. BJH
      You just will not conform will you. :) You still get an “F” Some can not handle the truth.

      1. hermit us
        The truth is extremely easy to find, just believe the direct opposite of what the politicians tells you and poof, there ya go easy to handle

    2. Bill J’s Horse

      Interesting you mention the “war” on water, that’s already a HUGE issue here, water rights are always the fight. and when places like CA (not picking CA, so don’t get all fluffy) wanting more and more and demand that farmers here give up their water so they can water their grass and build HUGE fountains, than there is a problem, heck, look at Las Vegas and the water they waste.

      1. NRP
        I can only imagine the amount of valuable water going to fight the fires in CA. Probably much more value that the cost of proper fuel management in that State (not that I am picking on the Golden State)

        1. NRP, hermit us, BJH and all,
          Water in CA is a HUGE deal. One of the things that really frosts my behind is that our moonbeam gov wants to pour massive amounts of money into a train that few will use rather than using it for something really constructive that would actually be helpful to millions of people, like water.

          As water moves through CA huge amounts are lost to evaporation, and water levels in aquifers is way, way down. I don’t even know how much water is wasted as it runs into the ocean throughout the state. With proper investment, this could be turned around – but still we keep hearing all about a train and about households conserving, but little or nothing about meaningful investment of tax dollars in capturing and protecting water.

          ps: NRP, not getting “fluffy” (is that a nice word for huffy or a typo)? ;)

        2. SCG
          How is construction of that rail system and how far will it run. High speed and earth quakes may make for an interesting ride.

        3. Darn, my English is getting worse. Missed some words and the question mark.

        4. hermit us,
          I knew what you meant. In general, the train is meant to run from LA to SF. But, it has it is supposed to have stops in places like Bakersfield, Modesto, etc… that are not exactly areas expected to have huge ridership, along with an added leg to Sacramento. To be honest, it seems more like a boondoggle than anything else – maybe it’s a gimme for unions.

      2. NRP,
        In the West, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over. People laugh at me, but I can recall gun fights over ditch rights in the last ten years,people killed fighting over water. Wonder when we will have to draw a line in the sand to fight the idiots who built huge cites in the desert downstream of us when they come looking for our agricultural water for their damned golf courses?

        1. MinerJim

          I come from Colorado and water rights are a huge issue there, especially in the eastern counties. A few years ago several northern and eastern counties wanted to split off from Colorado and form a new state, or join Wyoming and become a part of Wyoming.

          But the effort fizzled and one big reason is that those counties rely on water flowing to them from the mountain counties. They can’t get by without the mountain counties unless the mountain counties agree to let them have water.

          Although they have to fight tooth and nail to get some water now, if they split off from the rest of the state, they would get none.

      3. NRP
        It has been a few years dh & I were in Vegas visiting his old commander. We happen to catch a channel on water for Vegas, the casino’s were after the water from the ranchers by setting up new “water districts” stating that they no longer had rights to the water, which the ranchers held water rights deeds going back over a 100 years. One family going to court for years which destroyed the parents, & it broke them. The son became an attorney and took on the gov & NEW water districts. Kicking them back to the curb…..but it is not going to stop when one builds in the desert. They have to steal water from other states, ranchers, an robbing the aquifer to keep their casino’s full with gamblers. Which means there is no cost to high to keep growing their casinos, even if it bankrupts family ranchers & smaller water districts.

  18. We keep 7 cases of bottled water, 2 dozen 2-litter jugs, 3 30 gal. drums and one 55 gal. drum of water. We also have barrels to catch rain water (2 30 gal barrels). and the river is 3/4 of mile away. 2 neighbors on our block have pools and there is a small pond one block over from us. I hope it never comes to it but we do have some options for water. I do need to get us a better filter so boiling would not be necessary.

  19. I keep multiple bottles of drinking water around the house for use in drinking cooking and making ice. The bottled water tastes pretty good if the tap water is of variable quality. I now live in a state where it is illegal to “catch and divert water for personal use” I am told these laws had their start back in the area of Eastern Oregon where water is scarce for 1/2 of the year. ( rain barrels are not available for sale at most farm and ranch stores in this state.)

    Anybody that raises cattle or crops will tell you that water is power and those who have control over the water are the most powerful. I observed the same thing while living and working in California for much of my adult life. This was the first thing told to me when I began working at the US Forest Service in the Los Padres Unit. Fire control was simply an effort to maintain the land as a big sponge that would soak up the winter rains to recharge the aquifer beneath the land.

    The rich land owners are able to purchase larger tracts and drill deeper wells. this is what drives smaller operators out of business over time. Lastly, if you pore over maps, just because the squiggly line on the map indicates it is a river or stream, does not mean that the water is clean and usable. Many streams in Rocky Mountain NP have a lot of sulphur in the water making it almost undrinkable and it will clog up your filter after a few quarts.

    NRP’s stories of his favorite stretch of river turning orange brought great sadness to me knowing how it affected the fish and wildlife downstream. In California, in anticipation of a wildfire headed your way, the best prep I saw was to cut and remove all burnable vegetation from around the house, house built of non-burnable material and a swimming pool with a mark 4 pump and attached firehose to put out spot fires. Water from the tap will not be there because all of your neighbors are hosing down their homes. ( water pressure is gone ).

    My house had all of the above features except for no swimming pool or mark 4 pump to move the water. I did have a USFS “piss-pump”. which came in handy because I could wear it as a backpack and spray water after climbing a ladder. I refilled from 5 gallon buckets and kiddy pools from Big Box stores.

    Laundry? I would go to town and hit the laundromat with a big bag of dirty stuff, container of soap and a bunch of quarters. My home currently has a good modern washer and drier so I am not prepared with a backup manual wringer and washboard and tub. Going to town 1x/week was a treat for me as a young firefighter. ( eat at a diner and try to flirt with the waitress back then too.).

    Wildland fire fighters do crap in the woods.

  20. I now use Sawyer water filters and I have more than 1 in event they freeze, get clogged or otherwise go kaput. I do not have a Berkley for my kitchen at the present time. Much of the water I drink this time of year is pre-boiled (coffee and tea. ). I have a healthy supply of funnels and coffee filters to pre filter water.

    When in doubt, I filter then boil my drinking water.

  21. We have a great deal of potable water stored. One thing we also do is fill water in the empty laundry soap bottles. We store it to save the last remnants of laundry soap and have a good store of water for laundry.

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