Question on water during SHTF

[Dragunov]

Originally Posted by Sloth9669

Someone with access to pond water what is the best filter to buy and keep for emergencies ?

Sand, Charcoal and a five gallon bucket.

[Jibaraverde]

In a lot of Latin countries were the water goes away after a storm. The government send trucks with water and people have to make a line with buckets to get some or you just get water few times a week and the rest is gathering from rain water. In Puerto Rico when it doesn't rain for a while you only get water few times a week. They never say when is going and when is coming. Water service are expensive too.

[Concrete]

What is everyone's pricepoint for adding more bottled water to your stash? Per liter, per gallon, etc? Or do you just add more regularly regardless of price?

[ChrisInGa]

Originally Posted by Concrete

What is everyone's pricepoint for adding more bottled water to your stash? Per liter, per gallon, etc? Or do you just add more regularly regardless of price?

Price is a huge factor. I keep 4 cases of bottled water and no more. Beyond that I begin to stock cheaper water. For example I have 4 x 275 gallon IBC totes filled with tap water. Pennies in comparison to bottled water.

Bottled water is important but its woefully inadequate. 4 cases would last my family about 3 days. And its just too expensive to stock hundreds of gallons worth.

Its worthwhile to have a variety of storage options. Bottled water is good for day trips. 5 or 7 gallon containers are good if your on the move via vehicle. But if you have any desire to stay for even just a short period like a week you'll want water measured in the hundreds of gallons. Eventually you're going to have to clean things including yourself.

[stephpd]

Originally Posted by Dragunov

Sand, Charcoal and a five gallon bucket.

Originally Posted by goliath4407

A friend of mine recommened using pvc pipe and charcoal sandwiched between clean sand straining water first would this work?

Two prime examples of thinking it would work but doesn't hold up to scientific facts. I'm also guessing that neither of these folks have actually tried this and had their water tested by a lab.

Chances are you'd get some cleaner water for a short period of time. But my experience, and I work in a water treatment plant, is that a sand, charcoal, or sand and charcoal filter will pass far to much stuff in a short time. Where I work, if we loose our coagulant feeders, we see dramatic increases in finished water turbidity when that untreated water gets to the filters. Even with relatively clear raw water our sand and charcoal filters exceed federal standards soon after the untreated water hit the filters. This necessitates dumping that water, getting all of the system back up, and operating within parameters, before going back online.

If you think for a minute that you can do better without any monitoring or measuring devices and make good water then you can expect to get ill from the water you drink.


And it's people like these, giving out really bad advice, that gets me.
They just don't know what they are talking about.

Get a Sawyer or ceramic candles, use a proper disinfectant, and you'll be far better off and less likely to get ill.

The use of chlorine, as a disinfectant in potable water, is one of the 'miracle drugs' of the last century. Without it and ever increasing more stringent regulations on municipal drinking water is one of the major differences between 1st world and 3rd world standards of living. Where 3rd world countries have millions of people dying from contaminated water we seldom have this problem.

[Synical1]

The first thing you need to identify is the source of the water.

Many cities rely on gravity fed systems from vast reservoirs - NYC being a perfect example. Once the water flows in from upstate, it is often pumped into a building's water storage tank...

http://www.google.com/search?q=city%...og&sa=N&tab=wi

How much do these tanks hold and how long will the supply last? I haven't a clue. However, there are reserves.


In our community and many others, the municipal water is pumped from a local river and, if the utility was to lose power for an extended period of time, there would be no water.

Fortunately, there is another water utility that gets its water from a gravity fed reservoir and it (fortunately) runs very close to the neighborhood. In a SHTF situation, it could easily be tapped and this water would likely be much less contaminated than collecting it from a local stream or pond.

We have fair amount of water on hand and add to it on a regular basis. It includes a combination of both bottled water and tap water and we currently have enough to survive for about 40 days.

[bigguyprepper]

The CHEAPEST way to colect water in the city is to have a water bob set up,and have plastic totes set up uner the downspout on a gutter

[libertyforall]

Originally Posted by ChrisInGa

Price is a huge factor. I keep 4 cases of bottled water and no more. Beyond that I begin to stock cheaper water. For example I have 4 x 275 gallon IBC totes filled with tap water. Pennies in comparison to bottled water.

Bottled water is important but its woefully inadequate. 4 cases would last my family about 3 days. And its just too expensive to stock hundreds of gallons worth.

Its worthwhile to have a variety of storage options. Bottled water is good for day trips. 5 or 7 gallon containers are good if your on the move via vehicle. But if you have any desire to stay for even just a short period like a week you'll want water measured in the hundreds of gallons. Eventually you're going to have to clean things including yourself.

The IBC totes work if you live in a region that doesn't freeze, but for a northerner, a giant block of ice isn't easy to work with.

[nimda]

if your in a city that has water at a reachable depth, buy a sand point and the materials need to hook it up.

I don't have mine yet.... it is part of my yearly goal....

that way, city looses power but your stuck there.... in my case that would be Late announcement of pandemic or something nuclear. I could run out, pound in my well, and then sit back with my own water supply powered on or off the grid.

[Gankom]

I work at the water plant in my town so I'm pretty lucky to know how it works and such. All our water comes out of the ground, has only the smallest amount of chlorine in to make sure nothing in the pipes cause a problem, and 90% of the town is gravity fed from these pumping stations. The pumping station for my section is an artesian well so it generally dosnt require much pumping, plus with a large cistern, we can have at least a small scale or temperary problem before running out of water.

Working in the water industry is pretty neat. You can travel just about anywhere and its got pretty good pay. Every city has a water section. Problem is sewers. Half my town has old, crumbling sewers and the rest is on septic. Some even run into the lake. Bla