WATER

  Hi blade runner.  I plan to get a well drilled also.  If you are seriously thinking about this I would spend the extra $300 to make the water portable.  In the long run I don't think you will be sorry.  Have you thought about getting a hand pumped well so you won't be dependent on any thing working or having enough gas to pump your well.  This is the way we plan to go.  My well will be between 50-80 feet deep labor and material $2195.  I will be paying $80 extra to have a concrete slab poured.  The slab will be 3 by 3feet.

Filling big water jugs easily indoors:

Curious about the water supply, I remembered I knew an employee of my local water system (Escambia County, Fl), so I asked him some questions.

Chloe,

I am in the same boat, so I got a well bucket from Lehman's:

http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/search/searchresultsmain.jsp?fresh=1&searchType=advanced&iMainCat=0&iSubCat=0&attribute14=0&attribute15=0&attribute16=0&RS=1&keyword=well+bucket

It's a long, thin galvanized chamber that you lower into the well casing. It fills, and then you haul it back up.

Red

That's a fantastic idea. Beats bailing up my 100' well.

Rocky wrote: My question still remains. I am not convinced that even the best of the gravity flow ceramic filters works for Virus! Bacteria, sounds like it takes care of that. So I ask again, would chlorinating water, letting it stand, then running it through the ceramic filter to remove other stuff and help the taste be the way to go. Thanks in advance. Rocky bruss01 wrote: Rocky,  I will offer my opinion on your question.  The chlorine needs time to kill infectious organisms and oxidize organic matter.  The rule of thumb is add the proper dose of chlorine, wait 30 minutes.  If you have a good filter, putting chlorine in the water before filtering it would be redundant.  If you are using chlorine, filtering will remove grit, organic matter and particles and make the water more pleasant to drink.  If the smell/taste of the chlorine is all you find objectionable, this can be removed by letting the chlorinated water "stand" and evaporate some chlorine several hours, or aerating the water by pouring it back and forth between two containers for a while to liberate some of the chlorine.  So you do not need to filter the water unless you want to.

Edited by bruss01 - April 26 2006 at 7:01am

MAJDAD!! I think you have a good idea! They have those "quick-set" pools. that would make a great storage area for water. people could put them in their garages or basements!! Just add some chlorine to keep purified!!

 SAM"S CLUB 269.87

16 X 16 X 4 X 5.9 = 6,042.6 GALLONS OF WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!

Easy setup, requires no tools

No ground preparation necessary

Drain plug with garden hose adapter

Heavy grade powder-coated steel tubing supports

Durable three-ply sidewall is super tough

Two outer layers of extra thick PVC

Inner layer of high denier polyester mesh

Heavy-duty snap pins for easy assembly

Recommended to replace filter every few weeks for ideal pool cleanliness

Dimensions: 16' round x 4' deep

Includes:

High-efficiency filter pump

600-lb. capacity ladder

Ground cloth

Pool cover

Maintenance kit

Mounted skimmer system

Three extra filter cartridges

Hope a bird don't poop in the pool.

http://gilmore100.photosite.com/album1/

Chrystle, For me, I've kept store bought one-gallon plastic jugs for about six months in the truck when I was working in the desert. Some will loose their shape and will leak if not kept upright, I found a few had a little taste difference, but when I was thirsty, they were just fine for me. I have also just rinsed and refilled large Gatorade containers; they have threaded lids, were more durable/less flimsy, and seemed to work better for me. I don't know about any dangers from the plastic "leaching" into the water. I'll bet someone here can answer that question.

***

Hello everyone.  I am just starting my preps and I have a few questions about storing water....

Dicpunch,

I assume you have some means of getting the water out of that tank for use. If not, you might want to look into a siphon pump:

http://www.bascousa.com/

As for your questions:

1) All depends on how clean the tank is when you fill it, but eventually things will start to grow in the water, regardless. If you have municipal supply, it has been treated with chlorine, but that wears off fairly quickly, or so I've been told. To make the water safe for drinking again, you will need to treat with bleach or poolshock (a recipe for using poolshock is up higher in this thread). If you have a well, then you are essentially home free, as far as quality goes. Getting the water out of the ground if the electricity goes then becomes the problem. This can be solved with a generator to power the well pump, or a "well bucket" from Lehmans.com.

2) I don't believe the Katadyn filters out particles as small as viruses. Bleaching, boiling, reverse osmosis are the only things that kill viruses, as I understand it. There may be that capability in the Berkey filter described upthread. If you run out of potable water, one of the sterilization choices will be necessary, beginning with filtration for Giardia, etc., followed by bleach. I would increase my storage capacity, if I were you. Figure on one gallon of water per day per adult just for drinking. Add to that toilet flushing, washing clothes and dishes and bodies, and you have a very different picture of water requirements. Collection of pre-filtered rainwater into a separate tank, for purposes other than drinking, is what I have decided on. Drinking water will be sequestered in drums in the basement, next to the well. If common wild birds become carriers of the flu, any rainwater you gather could be contaminated, and will have to be bleached before bringing it into the house.

3) The filter I have bought is this one:

http://www.pwgazette.com/gravity.htm

According to the manufacturer, this will make pond water "safe." It does not address the issue of viral contamination, however. For that I will use the poolshock recipe upthread. The Katadyn is a great filter, but I have my doubts if it can handle long term heavy use. Then again, I've never tried it for more than camping. The water usage we are discussing is a whole order of magnitude greater than a weekend trip to the woods. As for storage, I have gone with 55 gallon closed-head barrels from Bascousa.com, not wanting to put all my water in one container. A number of smaller containers are easier for me to use for a variety of reasons, among them, storage room (can spread the 55 gal barrels around a space as it is available, without the large footprint of a single tank), and ease of portability. Your mileage may vary.

Hope this helps.

Red

Don't know about the MIOX. The picture of the Steripen I have seen shows it being used in a single glass of water - not inspiring for bulk use - but UV does kill viruses.

As for the bleach option, 16 drops of bleach to a gallon of water, left sitting for 30 minutes kills everything left behind by a pre-filter such as I mentioned above. If it's ok for your water utility, it ought to be ok for you. The smell and taste is dispersed by simply pouring the water repeatedly from one vessel to another. Chlorine is a gas, and wants to escape into the air.

Red.    

Please don't feel bothersome about anything you want to ask on this forum. When I joined, I had great bouts of embarassment over everything I asked, but everyone here has been where you are, and they are all very nice and patient with newcomers. There are actual documented stages of freak out associated with the desire to prep. We've all been throught them. Eventually you will start paying attention to only big news, and will settle down to a determined prep mindset - more methodical. At first, I was feeling so way behind that I had to do everything at once, which is impossible, of course. There is time left to think things through, make lists, prioritize your spending. Lists really helped me get to the most important things first. Break it down into basic categories: Heat, Light, Water, Food, Power, Drugs, Protection, etc. Make your choices in each category, and fill out your stocks. Every time you go for your regular shopping, buy more than you need. If there is a sale on bandaids, buy two boxes. A sale on lentils, buy double the amount you would otherwise. It can be done. Everyone here is continually finding holes in their stocks and filling them up. Think of it as an ongoing process, not so much a crash program.

Man, I do go on.

A drop, as I understand it from my college chemistry which was many years and many brain cells ago, is as defined by a drop from a standard medicine dropper like those you would get from the drugstore. I forget how many drops to a milliliter there are (22?). There must be a conversion table somewhere on the web, so you don't have to stand there and count out 16 drops per gallon for 300 gallons. That would take days. Perhaps elsewhere in this thread some kind soul has written it down.

I think it would be perfectly safe to add bleach to water either before or after filtering through the Katadyn. The two are really targeting separate pathogens: the Katadyn for big stuff like cysts, bacteria, algae, suspended dirt, bear droppings, small rocks, squirrels; the bleach for particles less than .5 microns (I think that is what the Katadyn is good down to), like viruses.

One thing you should know about liquid bleach, well two things actually: Buy only the plain bleach without scents added or other things. And the other thing is that bleach loses its effectiveness with age (months). That is why you might consider mixing your own liquid bleach from powdered Pool Shock, which can be had at any pool supply or place that sells hot tubs. In powdered form it is very stable, and will last longer than liquid bleach. There is a recipe upthread for mixing it up. You want to buy plain calcium hypochlorite - no algicides (sp?) or fungicides.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask your most outlandish questions here. I have.

Red

***

Thanks Red,

That kind of sums up what i really wanted to know.  I think for a first purchase the tank and bleach will be fine.  I will buy the filter later.

I also swam in a lake, and a river for that matter, as a kid, and never had one problem. 

 

I am actually looking at 3 levels of water usage.  The lowest level for flushing the toilet, etc. 2nd level for cleaning and bathing and then the 3rd level for drinking. 

 

Just a test to make sure the water is safe for drinking. 

I guess I need a little practice.

I appreciate the help.