Have you really considered your water usage/needs in the event of no mains supply?

a reply to: Ghost147

Many years ago, my father had done some research on toilets that burn the waste. He never got around to installing one.
He built our wood furnace from 55 gallon drums and such. It heated a two story (approx. 3000 square foot) home efficiently.
He thought ductwork was a waste so we just had vent holes in the floor LOL.

He also tried to think (invent) a way for the household toilets to collect waste similar to the holding tank on a camper (RV).
He certainly enjoyed "piddling" and trying to come up with ways to save money and resources as much as possible even though we used wood for our primary heating source at this time.

He was from the depression era times and waste was a four letter word!

We keep around fifteen gallons of water on a rotating pattern on hand. In the winter we have snow and a wood cookstove to turn it into water. In the summer we have a fifty five gallon barrel outside I keep full when watering things. It is plastic and has a spout and stand. We live in the country and have a well. I can get more water from the hot water tank if we run low.

The power goes out occasionally and I have a generator to hook up to the pump if needed if it is out longer than say four days. The water in the barrel and the snow can be used to flush the toilet, a pot of water, half gallon, will flush it if dumped quickly in the bowl.

Without inconvenience, we have enough for three or four days. We have the containers to get more from town. If something major happens, I can take apart the pipe from the well and put on a valve so we can use the wells almost artesian properties to bring the water into the basement. From there we can fill containers in case of a long term power outage.

a reply to: grainofsand

In my house, we have installed low-water toilets in our three bathrooms.
I only wash two loads of laundry a week(hubby retired).We shower every
other day and wash up in the sink in between showers.
We have reduced our water usage in half,went from 4000 gallons a month
down to 2000.

originally posted by: mamabeth
We have reduced our water usage in half,went from 4000 gallons a month
down to 2000.

Wow, it makes me realise how much we use in 'normal' times, 2000 gallons, that's 7570 litres, 244 each day.
I used 3.2% of that yesterday...probably the same today after my first long shower in a week though!

a reply to: grainofsand

I have three 55 gallon tanks of constantly refreshed RO water ( feeds my fish tank ) and about 100 bleach treated 2 liter bottles. If the water ever stopped here in AZ I, my GF, and cats would last longer than most.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Very cool.

I watched a short video on a couple (i believe in Switzerland) whom had built a massive greenhouse around their entire house and it actually kept them warm in the winter. They had also devised this septic system which seperates solids from liquids and converts the waste to gray water for reuse with amazing results. I believe the solid waste was used for fertilization once it had gone through a system of 'cleansing', as well

a reply to: grainofsand

I have a really large washer and that helps to cut down on my laundry loads because
washing machines do use a lot of water.

a reply to: Stngray

Lol, I have to do the conversion every time gallons are stated!
That said, 400 litres of storage is four times mine

...I imagine fresh water sources are much more challenging in Arizona than the rainy SW coast of England.

Could always look into having the things on hand for a sawdust toilet to help cut down on water usage...

I know I have a bladder for the bathtub you can get on the cheap, can hold around 50-100 gallons depending on tub size... but of course you have wait till the last minute to fill it which is a risk.

I know several places in the US you cant use rain barrels, or you run the risk of city issues or possibly even EPA issues as they can and have claimed you are diverting water from the local pond/stream/ they want you dependent on the city infrastructure.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
I know several places in the US you cant use rain barrels, or you run the risk of city issues or possibly even EPA issues as they can and have claimed you are diverting water from the local pond/stream/ they want you dependent on the city infrastructure.

Sounds crazy that collecting rain water could be against the law.
If that happened here I'd just be glad the stream is only 20 minutes or so walk away...wish I didn't live on top of a cliff though, nice view of course, just crap for collecting water from the stream at the bottom lol

I applaud you for actually going about with the experiment and then posting it on here.

a reply to: ArnoldNonymous

Cheers man, I'm a bit strange like that though, have a thought so try it out and see what the result is.
If only one person reading this thread considers their water use/storage and makes amendments to their plans then I'll be happy with that.

a reply to: grainofsand

My wife always gets mad at me if I buy a case of water. I have ten in the basement now. So now when I'm at the store without the wife I buy an extra here and there. Am thinking about a rain barrel like someone else suggested, it is a good idea.

Thankfully I have a well on the property that I use to water the lawn and vegetable garden.

In mid summer I run it 24/7 some weeks and it has never run dry.

I have a hand pump for it also if the power is out.

It is pretty hard water but it is drinkable.

One less thing to worry about if the shtf.

Living by the great lakes I don't put much thought into water conservation.

Also have a wood fired boiler tied into my gas boiler heating system.

Its a 120 yr old farm house that I would not trade for anything.

a reply to: Ghost147

It seems it is up to us, as much as its ever been, to take control of the situation.
We love to think that the government will help the people
but in the end the people help each other.

I have 75 gallons of potable water on hand for emergency use.
That is enough to last for a while if properly rationed.
The problem is that it will not last long enough in the event of some sort of teotwawki catastrophe.

a reply to: butcherguy

Do you have a freshwater source within walking distance?
As I mentioned earlier, the nearest stream to me is a good 25 minutes walk from the bottom of the hill I live on, but even in the hottest Summer I have never seen it run dry so it will be my first option in a sustained loss of mains water.

It's best to store water in a variety of containers.

I believe that even the best bottled water contains chemicals leached from the plastic. Especially the thin-walled disposable single-serving type.

There are a couple of 7-gallon plastic jug types. They are great for loading up on hunting/camping trips. The problem is that after a couple of years the plastic seams can separate; especially if you don't have temperature control. The stackable type seem particularly prone to leaks.

The problem with 30 and 50 gallon barrels is that smaller women and children have trouble manipulating them if they are even partly full.

originally posted by: redempsh
The problem with 30 and 50 gallon barrels is that smaller women and children have trouble manipulating them if they are even partly full.

I'd have trouble 'manipulating' a 30 gallon barrel!
Just did the conversion, so that's 113 litres or 113 Kgs, or in US figures 249 pounds (lbs), nah, I'll stick with my 20 litre/kilo containers if I have to walk down the hill to my nearest stream!

I thought about this before and how to store emergency water but through talking to locals I found out I really don't need to worry, I live a hose pipe distance from the villages original water well and its good water, the local water company checks it periodically as part of an emergency water supply thing
I actually found a mention to it on a page about the doomsday book www.bbc.co.uk...
The old boy who's the key holder for the well house says it just needs a boil up and its good to go

I figure the whole village could be supplied with a decent amount of drinking water using a high lift pump to fill a main tank placed above the height of the houses and connect them all up with hose pipes, there's about 25 houses, a lot are single floor bungalows around here so the tank wouldn't need to be too high off the ground or too big, then its all up to gravity to fill the house tanks, the hose pipes could be strung along the telephone wires which every house has so nice and neat and out of way of damage