LET’S TALK WATER

Everyone who loves the topic of survival and prepping addresses water needs. We all know the drill: 3 days without water and you’re dead. You can be dead even quicker if you drink contaminated water. Who would want a rip roaring case of diphtheria, cholera, or dysentery? I sure don’t want giardia, protozoa, viruses, bacteria, intestinal parasites or any other the possibilities. Count me out. I am of the opinion that you really can’t cover this preparation too thoroughly in a variety of methods.

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty for hours on end and there was nothing to drink? Once I boarded a train in Paris to cross the Pyrenees into Spain on an overnight train. I had been on European trains before and at every little depot stop there were men or women selling food and drink from pushcarts on the platform. Being a trusting young American, I never considered that I should plan better. There was no dining car, the bathroom had severe warnings about not drinking the lavatory water, there were no vendors on platforms, and besides we didn’t stop. As the hours wore on, I become thirsty, then more thirsty, then unbearably thirsty. It was a misery I never want to experience again and it only lasted a few hours.

Finally, early the next morning we pulled into a Spanish station and I was able to buy 2 orange Fantas from machines. I drank them down, one right after another. Being desperately thirsty at age 26 was a life-changing experience for me. I was Scarlett O’Hara and I vowed to never be thirsty again. I drilled this into my children. All my car trips, no matter how short, are made with liquids in hand or purse. I just won’t ever go anywhere without something to drink. I never want to be thirsty again.

So, what do I think? The following is a list, a ”water list” of a variety of purifiers, filters, and different means of water storage. Here goes:

• Katadyn MicroPur Water Purification tablets
• Katadyn Vario Purification Portable System
• Royal Berkey Filtration System with additional black filters
• Berkey filtration sports bottles
• “missionary” ceramic filter system with additonal filters
• 55 gallon rain barrels connected to roof gutter system
• 1 liter and 0.5 liter commercial water bottles
• water stored in glass sangria jugs and wine bottles with bleach drops
• in-ground swimming pool or above ground
• gallons of plain bleach

At my house we have firewood for boiling water, if need be. However, that would be an inefficient method of pasteurizing water. A better way is to well filter dirty water several times, then pasteurize it with UV rays from sunlight. The method I have read about is to filter the water, then fill clear water bottles, place in direct sunlight lying on corrogated metal such as is used for roofing outbuildings.  In my opinion, this is a last ditch effort to stay healthy. A better idea is to prepare with adequate water, filters, and tablets.

Another item that has my attention is the LIFESAVER BOTTLE 4000, a water filtration system that will filter down to 0.015 microns.

On Google Earth you can check your neighborhood for backyard swimming pools for possible use if the owners bug out of town and leave them. Learn where creeks, streams, tributaries, rivers, canals, bar ditches, whatever, flow in your area even on an intermitent basis, especially if you live in dry or drought areas. Do this now because in the event of an EMP or grid down episode your computer will not show you Google Earth.

– The Aging Prepper

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