How Do You Get Water In A SHTF Scenerio?

I am thinking of the New Madrid Fault, and am wondering, let's say the earthquake hits, and we survive, but the city water has been disrupted along with all else. We have the OHIO river in walking distance. How would that water be usuable? Would boiling it work, or would you need filters? Say you barely have the clothes on your back, and help is days out. You are without shelter due to an earthquake/natural disaster, how do you get water?

Thanks.

before heading out to the river i would empty the toilet tank there is a supply of up to 10 gallons of water there.

you can buy a simple water sterilization kit at almost anyplace that sells camping gear...walmart included. it is something you should have in any survival kit.
however if you have no access to that a couple of drops of chlorine per gallon of water should kill anything that is dangerous and still safe to drink.
if that isnt an option boiling is the final solution but fairly effective, however that wouldn't protect you if the water is chemically compromised.

1) Drink your urine... yes its nasty but will save your life.
2) Find standing water and boil it.
3) Evaporation method... dig hole 2 ft deep in sunny location... place plant matter in hole... place cup in center of hole... cover and seal hole with thin clear plastic material.. place small stone on plastic over cup.... water condenses on plastic and drips into cup.
4) Find fruit and edible water containing vegetables.


...thats a start!! =)

a makeshift water filter, is to take a pair of trousers, jeans

put one leg inside the other,

tie the bottoms of the legs

so that you are making a 'double lined bag'

pour water in, and what comes out is filtered to some extent

in an emergency it makes rough water a bit more drinkable if you dont have access to boiling / filtering equipment

I don't live anywhere near the problem area you talk about, but...

I would lift the cover on the well I have and drop a bucket. There's currently about 4000 litres down there filtered through limestone rock, cold, sweet and free.

There's short term planning ahead for SHTF scenarios, and there's long term. It's mine whenever I want it as long as I'm here.

Good Afternoon,

Louisville has good rainfall so "availability" of water isn't to much of a problem. Collecting water in barrels, containers, etc or finding standing water in ponds which are all over Jefferson and surrounding counties shouldn't be a problem.

Purifying the water so you don't get sick is the issue. That is pretty easy. Boil if you have or can light a fire as the first step always. If not, filter.

This is the best filter on the market and it is tiny & portable. Unlike most filters that can only filter a couple hundred gallons before needing to change the inner filter, this is good for like 5,000 gallons! Use a coffee filter on the end to keep out any big particles and your good to go.

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1297534948&sr=1-1

reply to post by infolurker


You could set up barrels to catch rain water.

You can also make a crude filter using charcoal and dry grasses put inside cloth of some sort. Charcoal is a very good filter for water and the best thing is you can just burn wood to get it.

Boiling like you mentioned would also be a good idea in any situation if it is feasible.

If at all possible I would stay away from stagnant water but if your are dying of thirst it may be worth the risk.

I have an ecoloblue atmospheric water generator, which is a fancy name for an air conditioner stuffed inside a water cooler. It makes a couple of gallons a day. The newer models can probably run off a solar battery system. Close enough to topic?

To all those who plan on storing water for troubled situations...

Rotate it. It will always be fresh when you need it.

For example: if you were to store 10 x 20 liter containers for use when no other sources are available, use one for everyday water use and then replace it. Next, use the second one, then the third etc, then start again at number 1.

As anyone who has read about historical sailing ships knows, fresh water goes bad in about one week, depending on the container and environment. As every educated person knows, sailing ships always held to a coast, both to avoid getting lost, and to be able to land and reload fresh water every few days. Every grade school student knows that Columbus and his crews only survived to reach the West Indies because they were able to collect rain water on the way. Without the storms they encountered, they would never have survived two weeks on the water they brought with them. That water would have killed them all after a maximum of 10 days. Fresh water always goes bad when exposed to light and air. Read more: wiki.answers.com...

Answers.com

cheers.

Water purification tablets for the short term, with microfiltration bottles to strain out giardia and other protozoans.

Long term: water distillation units (start as low as $100).

OF course you need power for the water distillation - boiling kills microorganisms, but won't remove
radioactive particles - hence distillation (takes about 1 kWh)

You can find all of these on ebay or amazon or majorsurplus.com, other sites (google) etc.

Bottle water in bulk is difficult to carry/ cart, but a small amount always helps.

I think you pretty much got the answers you need already from the above posts. I will add that pure silver is a natural bacteria retardant so if you happen to have bought or already own any silver dollars you could place that in your already filtered water to help keep it sanitized. It doesn't kill the bacteria per say but it will make it unable to harm you after consumption.

Can anyone tell me if you can use the water from a humidifier that is run off a generator

and is the water safe to drink or would it need serious cleaning..... ??

Distill the water. It's pretty easy,boil the water and catch all the steam...No microbes no mud just clean sterile water. I built my still out of a fountain coke canister it's stainless steel and copper tubing for the worm...works just fine wood fired..

Your hot water tank is also full of water. Find natural springs in your local area. I know where mine are and use them frequently for drinking water and stocking up. I also read somewhere that adding bleach to your water is helpful in killing bacteria etc. It was a very small amount, like a teaspoon for 10 gallons or something. I suggest you google it if you are interested.

Silspa "disinfectant" www.genesisspasandpoolsupply.com...

is the most affective virus and bacteria cleanser on the market. it was tested and used by the military, and was used in water tower treatment, but was so expensive to produce was discontinued going back to chlorine. it was originally called Sildate and Ecoball but is now known as Silspa.

made from silver oxide and hydrogen peroxide, it holds a 2 volt electrical charge that electrocutes "ALL" water born pathogens and is harmless to humans, unless you have allergies to silver?

Tetrasilver Tetroxide,Ag404,Silver 2 Oxygen is its patented name.

one teaspoon will disinfect a gallon of water and electrocute any pathogen in your intestinal tract or can be used as field dressing to kill infections, especially Staph.

I live in a rural area of New Zealand and we are too far from any city to recieve "piped in" water. So we catch rainwater (from our roof) & store it in a couple of 6000 gallon underground tanks.

We then pump the water (using an electrically driven pump) to the house via an osmosis filter which gives us water free of biological nasties & chemicals, at mains pressure.

In an emergency, we could put a generator on the pump but we'd most likely use that for other things. Its just as easy to lower a bucket on a rope & get water.

I'm working on a solar PV system to generate power & we already heat our water with solar so we are pretty independent of the power grid.

We also cook with LPG gas & have two bottles, each of which last more than a year in average use.

If you were in a city and "something" happened, you could always look to rural areas where people are used to "fending for themselves" and have the infrastructure.

Most of them would be glad to be of assistance provided you were polite and also gave somthing back of your time and effort. Especially if you were in need.

Some people have mentioned chemicals for water treatment.

Basically, any peroxide bleach is sufficient. Do not use chlorine bleaches if you can get peroxide. Chlorine and its by products are usually toxic.

Peroxide breaks down to hydrogen and oxygen and so is pretty safe.

Put a small amount of peroxide bleach in your water. Wait about 12 hours (less if the water is in sunlight) = safer water.

Also, if water is chemically contaminated, you could use some aluninium oxide (alum) powder. Drop it in the water & agitate it for a while, then allow it to sink to the bottom (precipitate). It bonds to a lot of chemicals and removes them from solution in the water, taking them with it as it sinks to the bottom.

In New Zealand we have a brand of bleach called "Janola" which is peroxide bleach. Alum is also available from chemists.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


You can harvest rainwater, and water around you. It doesn't matter how dirty it is. If the water is muddy, or cluttered with different kinds of stuff. You can then filter it through a cloth of somekind. Even the shirt off your back. Then if you need to find some kind of metal, glass, etc holder that will allow you to boil the water after it has cleared up a little. In a disaster scenerio its not about whether you can drink crystal clear water that taste like your minions just chipped it off an iceberg. It matters that you get fluids, no matter how bad they taste. There are also other ways of getting fluid. Such as from plants, cactus, fruits, etc. In a now dry river bed, or lake bed you can dig for water. You get have to make your hole below the water table. Now in a very bad pinch. You can choose to save your pee, and using two cups, and plastic use evaporation to make water. The same way you would in a pinch with sea water. Plus i've been told that on a pinch you can drink your own pee once. It will refresh you system similar to water, but not as well. Trying a second time will do nothing, but make you sick and probably killing you. What ever you do, make sure to sterilize the water. Getting dissentary from drinking water with microbials, is way worse that being thirsty for 2 more hourse. You will vomit up what you drank, and need more fluid that before to fight off the stomach virus.

Here's a few books:

1. Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks by Art Ludwig

2. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (Vol. 2): Water-Harvesting Earthworks by Brad Lancaster


Just watch an episode of Bear Gyllis on discovery channel. He comes up with some crazy ways to drink water.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


Boiling and or filtering is absolute. If we're lucky the New Madirid will be the only thing we have to worry about

Plastic or tarp hung up and made funnel shaped a bit. In the mornings, the dew will condensate on the liner and drip down into a bucket. I think I saw that on some zombie movie. I might test it to see if it works.