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No Water

H

heatondc

Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
42
Hi guys, been lurking here for a while but never started a post. This week the water main to our townhomes burst and the whole complex was without water for a couple of days. I never realized how much we take indoor plumbing for granted. With two young kids and a newborn in the house a couple of days was a major inconveinence, but if it turned into weeks it would be intolerable. I was wondering if any of you have thought about access to water in an emergency, and any tips you might have for long term water storage?
 
I lived for a year on a narrow spit of land between a large bay and the Intercoastal Waterway in N.W. Florida. We were hit dead center by two hurricanes, Opal and Erin (just after Andrew passed). I learned quickly to keep cases of bottled water under the beds, and that thirty gallons of good water resides inside the hot water heater after the water service and power are interrupted. The water we used for washing was recycled into the toilet tank (which we stacked bricks in to reduce the volume needed per flush). Our longest without utilities was about ten days, if I remember correctly.

After that experience, I purchased two five gallon potable water jugs from Wal-Mart and keep those on hand all the time, even though I don't live in "Hurricane Alley" any more. Even here in S.W. Tennessee, there are plenty of times I have been without flowing water due to water line interuptions, either from the utility or my home service line. I still keep at least a couple of cases of bottled water (6-one gallon jugs to a case) in a closet or under a bed.

Likewise I have kept oil lamps, fuel and spare wicks ready in every room. I get bored sitting in the dark listening to the radio! Also, a small propane camp stove makes for a welcome warm meal when the power is out. The same cylinders fit lanterns and radiant heaters too.

Codger
 
Its amazing how many believe that because they are on wells they are immune to city water issues.

Be quick to point out that the pump is electrical and they are in big trouble if the well gets contaminated and or the power goes out, doh...

Skam
 
skammer said:
Its amazing how many believe that because they are on wells they are immune to city water issues.

Be quick to point out that the pump is electrical and they are in big trouble if the well gets contaminated and or the power goes out, doh...

Skam
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Yup. And on that note, even Wal-Mart sells water purifyer tablets in Sporting Goods aisle now.

I did forget to mention that you should toss the breaker on the water heater if you are going to drain it. And that you can drain most of your household plumbing from an outside faucet (usually located lower than most interior plumbing).

Codger
 
At my house in NH I have a driven point well. Which is shallow enough that I can use a pitcher pump to get water if my power goes out. If your water head is less than around 30' you should be able to modify your plumbing to do this.

KR
 
I live about half a mile from Lake St. Claire, so I'm pretty much set if anything goes wrong. In any sort of real emergency I figure that the water in the water heater would be enough until I bug out to Northern Michigan, and all of the family owned land/other family member's places are similarly close to water or have their own well (or both).
 
Codger_64 said:
Yup. And on that note, even Wal-Mart sells water purifyer tablets in Sporting Goods aisle now.

I did forget to mention that you should toss the breaker on the water heater if you are going to drain it. And that you can drain most of your household plumbing from an outside faucet (usually located lower than most interior plumbing).

Codger
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Unless the "pills" are chlorine dioxide, unscented household bleach will likely do as well. Usually, Wal-mart carries Sodium hypochlorite pills = "bleach." So buy unscented bleach JIC.

If you have a basement, the drain tap is usually down there.

Because we are on a well and power outages are a regular feature of life here, we bought two 55 gal trash containers and keep them full of water for flushing and washing. We buy sealed "spring water" for drinking and cooking.
 
I live in earthquake country, haven't had a seriously big one yet, but apparently it's a-coming. The "Miyagi earthquake" comes round every 30 or so years, and it's overdue.
I keep and rotate through cheap bottled water. I then use the empty bottles to store more water for washing and flushing.
Last May there was a big one about 50km north of my city. The epicentre wasn't heavily populated, but hundreds of people were left living in a gym and utilities weren't fixed for weeks.
Either that or I'll have to live on Coke. The Coca-Cola vending machines receive signals in the event of a major earthquake and become free dispensers. Maybe I'll flush my toilet with Coke Zero:barf:
 
There are a lot of info on different websites/forums about this. One thing I did was to buy an Aquatainer from walmart for every person in the house. It's 7 gallons so would give a person about a weeks worth of drinking water. Then you can use the water heater and toilet etc for washing. I too live in earthquake/volcano land. On the other side of the ring of fire as our friend Chinpo.;)
 
heatondc said:
Hi guys, been lurking here for a while but never started a post. This week the water main to our townhomes burst and the whole complex was without water for a couple of days. I never realized how much we take indoor plumbing for granted. With two young kids and a newborn in the house a couple of days was a major inconveinence, but if it turned into weeks it would be intolerable. I was wondering if any of you have thought about access to water in an emergency, and any tips you might have for long term water storage?
Click to expand...

Harvest rain water and treat it with REGULAR, NON SCENTED Chlorine Bleach (I'm too damned lazy to look up the ratios, you do it...;):D ).

Fix you a place and start storing your tapwater away in containers that block out the light, treat it every so often with RNSCB.

As for #1 & #2....outside is a wonderful place to take a poop.
 
I keep between 20 and 30 gallon milk jugs full of water in my shop at all times. My wife made fun of me until Katrina blew through. That water was looking pretty good right after that storm.
 
I have a 60 gallon water barrel handy, as well as water containers in the freezer and fridge. I recently got the GF into saving her 4 liter milk jugs and filling them with water for emergency use.

At the first sign of possible water supply issues, i fill the tub full and fill up a few extra big containers i have in the truck, for manual flushing the of the toilet
 
Good post - I keep a couple of 6 gallon carboys full of water in the garage. Reminds me that it is about time to drop some bleach into them.

Codger64 - welcome back man, good to see you posting here again!
 
for an emergency toilet should all fail, I have a heavy WAX impregnated cardboard box, lined with 2 industrial thick plastic liners and filled with silica cat litter crystals. The crystals soak up the liquids and dehydrate the solid waste and there is almost no odor. Once its full wrap both bags up, tie off and dispose of somewhere other than my own dumpster.
 
During hurricane season we keep several cases of bottled water. We have a large pond on our property and a swimming pool. If it looks like we are going to be out of power for a few days we always get out of town and head to our fish camp. Plenty of food and water up there. After Opal, the town I was living in basically shut down. A couple of buddies and I headed out to a friend's property on a nearby creek. It took a couple of chainsaws and 4X4 pick ups to get down there, but we made it. We took all the food from our freezers, rounded up all the beer and gasoline we could and stayed out there nearly a week, fishing, cooking and having a good time. At night we listened to the radio and how everyone was having a hell of a time finding food, shelter and water.
 
Rain barrels are easy to set up, and economical anyway -- and can be might handy in an emergency. Even simpler, if you have central air, you can set up your AC water discharge to run into a barrel (the cheapest are surplus food grade barrels, often sold by coops or farm supply places). I recently did this, since we're in a severe drought. On my small house, it often generates several gallons a day -- easy to keep full, even if you use it regularly for garden watering.
 
Bushman5 said:
for an emergency toilet should all fail, I have a heavy WAX impregnated cardboard box, lined with 2 industrial thick plastic liners and filled with silica cat litter crystals. The crystals soak up the liquids and dehydrate the solid waste and there is almost no odor. Once its full wrap both bags up, tie off and dispose of somewhere other than my own dumpster.
Click to expand...

Get your hands on a whitewater rafting groover. 20mm ammo cans with a 2x4 board seat work well too. My personal favorite though is break out the e-tool, find a bush, pop a squat.
 
Thanks for all the feedback so far. I was lucky enough in that there was water avaliable at my business so i could fill buckets for flushing, and since it was just our complex that was without, I could still buy bottled water and jugs. This experience made me realize though just how unprepared we are for a real disaster. If the entire public utility shut down it would mean get out of town or battle the crowds for supplies. I guess that means I should spend less time learning about preparedness and more time practicing. I also realized just how much I appreciate a hot shower in the morning.
 
I live on a fresh water canal in SE Florida and I have a pool, water shouldn't be a problem, but I keep the distiller full and at the slightest hint of a problem I fill up 4 2 1/2 gallon collapsable jugs. I also have water filters and treatment tabs handy.
 
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