Survival: Water

Hey guys, I wanted to post a thread dedicated to water.How to store it,how long can I store it before needing to change it, Having to make water when storage runs out, I was thinking of buying a 55 gallon can, whats the proper storage for that, I know this post wont get too big, theres only so much to know about water, but I just thought it would be a good idea, havent seen any threads dedicated to water. Thanks.

Given certain precautions you can store water for a very considerable time - and even longer when you consider your options for treating it when you actually go to use it.

For storing large amounts for long periods the material that the container used is very important - silly example, would you drink water after its been sealed in Lead for a year? An obvious choice is plastics - but it is still not that simple. Not all plastics are impervious to chemicals from other plastic containers 'leaching' through. see here

Two other considerations for the container would be the condition of the water that you put in in the first place - and how much the container would facilitate the micro life that would be present. Really that would boil down to what temperature you could maintain the water (the cooler the better - frozen solid would be perfect, but imposable in Florida with no constant electricity!) and the amount of sunlight (or other light) that can reach the water. Another point on light would be to consider the effect it could have on the long term durability of your container - UV is epically bad for certain plastics.

And finally you should remember that every time you interfere with your water store you would take away from the cleanliness of it - you introduce light or heat that will assist micro life, possibly introduce other contaminates. You may want to consider storing more than one supply - but in smaller quantities, like not putting all your eggs in one basket. A near perfect solution could be 3-4 litres canned and treated to the same UHT as super long life milk - then you only open each can as need be. I imagine with the right tinning material that would last decades - but could not be frozen due to expansion.

It's always a good idea to know what natural sources of water are around though and use those where necessary, you will kill any life present in the water if you can raise the temp above 75-80 deg C and hold it there for a while - but that will do very little for other types of chemical contaminates.

The 55 gallon drum is great. Keep it in a cool, dark area and add about 3 drops of bleach for every 10 gallons when you first store it. That will keep unwanted guests out of it.

As far as surviving, it greatly depends on geography. I suppose we could address those on an "as needed" basis.

Just a couple pointers... Snow can provide sufficient hydration by allowing body heat to melt it. Place a container between the first and second layers of clothing, replace snow as needed. However, ice yields much more water.

You can also melt snow by building a tripod next to a fire. Attach a piece of fabric filled with snow and watch it melt into a container.

On a beach, you can dig a hole after the first major sand dune and there should be fresher water in the ground to drink.

A clear plastic bag can be placed over a plant and used to catch evaporation.

Water should always be filtered, boiled, or otherwise treated if possible. Giardia is nasty...

to clean water, i suggest boiling it and collecting it in a clean rag, then ringing it and reboiling. it tastes flat when boiled, so swill it between 2 glasses or something to give it some oxygen, at least it will taste good

store it in the dark, in sealed containers. as was said before: only keep it in smaller containers if possible, it will make it less maintenance dependent.

also, DONT MICROWAVE! even if there is no other way in which to heat it, dont do this, you might as well, actually you would be better off not drinking any water at all. besides, it might explode

fast flowing rivers or streams are a good source. filter the water through some clean pebbles or something and then store. dont drink from still water sources, or snow from the surface. dont eat snow also.

I working on a dehydrated water scheme that will save on both space, and weight.

Originally posted by RobertRogers
I working on a dehydrated water scheme that will save on both space, and weight.

dehydrated water hmmmm..

that would be an oxymoron

unless you plan on storing the hydrogen and oxygen seperately as a gas

Hello. Storing water is a great idea. But it is bulky and you need a lot of it over time. Even storing activated charcoal for filtering will opnly last so long.

How about making your own activated charcoal. You can get rid of most anything in your water with a combination of chlorination and charcoal filtering, and most things with distillation and charcoal filtering.

Making activated charcoal is not simple but it is possible. You just need the right tools and the right knoweldge. While you make not make the highest grade activated charcoal at home, you can make it. If you need to use twice as much, so what? The cost to make it is a lot less than buying it. Plus in a long term survival situation, buying it is not an option.


Has anyone made activated charcoal at home? I have started reading some how to web sites and it does not seem any more complicated than some of the other projects I have undertaken.

Who wants to give it a try?

reply to post by predictionsarchive

Making activated charcoal is not simple but it is possible. You just need the right tools and the right knoweldge.

I'm not real crazy about the sulfuric (battery) acid part of the process I found doing a Google search. Haven't had much luck trying to research it. Do you have any good links you can share? I'd love to be able to do it but no way am I going to ingest battery acid. Even if the acid can be satisfactorily neutralized there's still the issue of the lead content. I keep looking and hoping that there are alternate methods. So far, no luck.

Distillers stone carbon is the best. It can be boiled and cooked on a barbq and reactivated a couple times.

More critical is the knowledge to distill toxics and particles from water. A common miss conception is that you need vitamins and minerals from water and this is not only not true, there is little or nothing actually in water. Its a sales pitch from spring water suppliers. All of the vitamins and minerals you actualy need come from food.

Water may be distilled as follows: In a square metal can such as is found in restaurants, cleanse the oil or other food substance with many washings with soapy water. Some have big lids to get inside to clean and these are the ones you are after. In the lid use a spike or punch to perforate a hole about 1/4 to 3/8. Get a marble and it rests in the downward gully from punching. This is your pressure blow off, and if chemicly contaminated water will be your chemical release with the marble off. all chemicals that boil below water will escape from here during a very slow warm up if chemicals are suspected. on the side of the can at the very top you will need to carefully cut a 3/4 in hole. into this hole a 3/4 inch pipe will be fitted. in the gap wrap cotton rag around pipe to stop steam escape. pipe will need to be 10-12 foot long. its easiest to cut in 5-6 foot sections and use solder or weld couplers and seal the peices into the couplers with teflon tape.

Now if the boiler can holds 3 gallons you add 2.5 to allow room for the steam to come off and go into the pipe. The pipe should be level not pointing up or down. You will add enough wood or heat till steam comes from the end of pipe and then back the heat down and tip pipe end down about an inch over its whole lenght. Never keep the first pint of water. contaminants released early will be in it as well as the water that flushes them out. Catch the next two gallons and throw the rest of the sludgly water away. In a cool climate one of these can stills can supply two people with clean sterile drinking water.

Try to use all food grade stainless if possible. tin wears out and rusts in a year or so. copper works OK. Never use any plastic in the construction of a water still, or you may die from leached plasticisers.

Always filter found water till it is very clear, before distilling. Clean white t shirts work.

Just wanted to bump this thread and say thanks for the info, i have been looking at 55 gallon drums today, the plastic ones, and am tempted to get one of these.

The advice about the bleach will help a lot.

So say i fill the drum with water and add my bleach, how long before i have to change it again?

Do i have to do anything to the water before using it, or can it be used straight from the drum?

Thanks for any advice,

CX.

reply to post by CX


I'd like to add to your post in that I have 2x of the blue plastic 55gal drums on my allotment that are used for plant watering...if bleach is added to keep it at least semi-potable, can I also use that to water plants without harming the crop?