What if you suddenly had no water.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Thank you ATSers for the words of support and information shared to this non prepared dummy ole country gal. I am trying to prepare for the worse case scenerio when I bought this home and land. Its location is key for a chance of survival. Know I need to learn the survival skills and needs. again thanks all for your replys,

Once you get your well pump up and running you may want to consider a serious investment in a large back up reservoir based on your remote location. This one will give you 250 gallons of drinkable water that can be stored for up to five years if treated properly.

For your grey water needs perhaps you can install a rainwater collection cistern and a manual pump..

www.yourfoodstorage.com...

Here is a good backup manual pump for deep wells from a trusted source in my neck of the woods.
www.lehmans.com...

reply to post by lbndhr

Stick at it,and buy replacement parts and pumps.
And try to get hold of an old diesel generator if you can,you can run them on veg oil if need be,or mix 50/50 with diesel to get more hours out of it.Get a few replacement fuel pumps and filters,and you are sorted for emergency power.

Main thing is to get as much done while the power is on,not after.So get stuff now if you can.

Originally posted by Nomadmonkey
This is B.S IMHO. OOh: Help me my hubby left poor little ol me all alone..I Prayed and the good lawd he did help me. Lawdy lawdy..

your a meannie kinda person at heart. I wasnt looking for sympathy. I realized I let MYSELF go into a situation I COULD HAD CONTROLLED. I thought hmmm, maybe there are other numb-heads like me who dont consider emergencies so I thought why not share a situation that was proventable...meannie get a heart,

OK, my water is up and running once again. It was the diferenturator electircal panel. it took them about 30 minutes to fix, it. while here I had them show me what the pump looks like, and i watched them change out that mechinism. Just for records I have learned alot from this and will do something about not having answers to emergencies. I take this as my wake up call for reality thanks eveyrone for advice peace

reply to post by lbndhr

If you need any help with lists of things to get or ideas on where to began just let me know and I will help you out for that is why we are all here! It is never too late to get prepared!

reply to post by thesimonator2000


Yes I would like help, your information. This water ordeal I have been induring has greatly opened my eyes to how unprepared I am. I honestly do feel like an idiot. Here I am aware of the life situatioon, knowing that someday perhaps nearer then further when TSHTF and im survival skill lacking. HOWEVER, sense the pump went out I have started creating a survival manual with the information for getting water, things to eat, know hows on fixing things, and starting this week I will start buyng large water containers, extra parts, im late starter but I can do this I can.

reply to post by lbndhr


I have been reading of your troubles and replies with serious interest. For 5 days we went without any utilities ( water, electric etc) and that was a learning experience (WAKE UP call) for us also. The first things I noticed were that my figures for amount of water needed were TOTALLY off, and the culprit was washing clothes! I was washing clothes in a (clean) 13 gal kitchen garbage can and a (new) plunger to agitate the clothes. Even tho I was only filling half way, I was having to change the water out SEVERAL times to get them cleaned and rinsed. Yes that water can be used as gray water etc - but seriously not THAT much. Also, as I didnt (and still dont) have any sort of "wringer" I was wringing by hand. Jeans and thick t-shirts held more of the water than I thought. Even with putting buckets under the clothesline to catch any drips while they were drying, still lost a lot thru evaporation.

Suggestions based on my experience (that I also still need to implement):

1. Now that you have water - act as if every drop is precious and MEASURE how much you really use. Measure it out when you wash dishes, wash clothes, how little can you get by to get yourself clean etc.

2. Wash clothes / dishes in a container that you can reuse the water with, the first load of dishes was in the sink, there was a HUGE sigh when I realized I was going to have to scoop out all that water to use in the toilets or the garden! It would have been so much easier to have done it in a container... And was after that first oops!

3. Get a floor mop wringer if able to. Also keep in mind light weight clothes are easier and faster to clean.

4. If / when set up a clothesline for line drying, also have a "rain gutter" or even a pvc pipe cut in half to catch whatever drips off the clothes as they are drying, slope it so the water runs into a bucket. Works better if line dry at night - less evaporation.


Another suggestion I would add is a "french drain" to the other end of your garden to catch any irrigation water that was not utilized by the plants and have that also sloped to a barrel or some type of catchment system. I realize in a perfect world there should not be any "extras" when using an irrigation system, but I would rather have something in place for the "just in case" than see that something happened overnight (animals trying to get at the water and busting pipes etc) than sit there and see our life fluid literally going down the drain.

I appreciated your thread very much - Thank You!

reply to post by Casing


Good Advice!

To save water when water is precious, I keep on of these little guys on my boat to tend to small batches of laundry. I also use easy rinse detergents that rinse out with far less water than commercial detergents.

www.laundry-alternative.com...

And products like this www.campmor.com... are highly concentrated and rinse clean with minimal sudsing. Good stuff when camping or when water is tight.

Keep on Keepin' on!!

reply to post by jibeho


I seriously debated about the portable washer. My problem with it is (a) money - I dont have $50 to spare! (b) I had read several of the reviews for it and I dont have the funds to find out if that plastic handle is as sturdy, or not, as they say and (c) $4 spent on a plunger and 13 gal garbage can seemed a better investment as can be utilized for other areas (ie: in a rainstorm can use the garbage can to catch MORE water!)

But it sure seems like a nifty little contraption!!!!!


Also I make my own laundry soap which is low / no suds also, from borax, washing soda, and soap (garden friendly). The issue was my hubby is also on a job leveling a house and crawling underneath it. He would come home FILTHY. Also daughter was in athletics and, well, gym clothes can get pretty rank . Not to mention in a house that was getting to 95 degrees, well took more to wash the clothes than I anticipated I would change out the water when I could not see the plunger after about 4 inches. eewww.

A note about the soap also. With the same ingredients I can wash dishes (adding some unsweetened lemonade drink mix - citric acid), clean and disinfect counters, floors and bathrooms with a minimum of supplies. I really like being able to use products and materials for more than one or two things.

It works for me anyway

Originally posted by Casing
reply to post by jibeho

 

I seriously debated about the portable washer. My problem with it is (a) money - I dont have $50 to spare! (b) I had read several of the reviews for it and I dont have the funds to find out if that plastic handle is as sturdy, or not, as they say and (c) $4 spent on a plunger and 13 gal garbage can seemed a better investment as can be utilized for other areas (ie: in a rainstorm can use the garbage can to catch MORE water!)

But it sure seems like a nifty little contraption!!!!!

Also I make my own laundry soap which is low / no suds also, from borax, washing soda, and soap (garden friendly). The issue was my hubby is also on a job leveling a house and crawling underneath it. He would come home FILTHY. Also daughter was in athletics and, well, gym clothes can get pretty rank

. Not to mention in a house that was getting to 95 degrees, well took more to wash the clothes than I anticipated

I would change out the water when I could not see the plunger after about 4 inches. eewww.

A note about the soap also. With the same ingredients I can wash dishes (adding some unsweetened lemonade drink mix - citric acid), clean and disinfect counters, floors and bathrooms with a minimum of supplies. I really like being able to use products and materials for more than one or two things.

It works for me anyway

Your resourcefulness is impressive! Borax is certainly one of the best things next to baking soda and vinegar to keep on hand for a countless number of uses. More and more People are rediscovering the proven benefits of Borax.

As far as laundry goes, I wish I had my grandmothers old "crystal glass" washboard. She still used it to scrub socks and t shirts clean even though she had a modern washing machine. She could not tolerate the dirty bottom of white socks or any rings around the collar. Her washboard and a bar of fels-naptha is all she needed. My grandpa worked in an Iron foundry so his Tshirts and socks kept her busy.

Cheers!

as a former consumer of well water, we didn't have water anytime the electricity went out. So most people in the country have generators.

I have heard once but never proven that you can hook up a car battery to the pump if your desparate.

Living on well water is no joke. you lose the well you lose water.

What I do suggest to you, what the rest of us do, is get a large barrel and water container and stock up! Once you have that pump back up and running.

Well drillers have a lot of power and basically can play by their own rules. Some plumbers will do well work but make sure they KNOW what they are doing. I have seen a few plumbers who say they know what they are doing and screw things up.

Even when you get a new pump, you are going to have to disinfect your well and plan on having an additional day or two without water, depending on your gpm and the depth of your well.

The upside of well ownership? You have your own unique water supply (unless its an aquifer) that no one can tamper with.

reply to post by Sinny


Spoken like a true person living in a civilized country. They don't have a local store to run to and buy well parts. They also do not have geographical knowlege. They also don't want to sell their last starving cow to risk putting in a water supply. And many of these lands have tribal regions so you can't just pick up and move. Which is why only those with the funds from first world countries can afford to put a well in for them. Go ahead and try to drill a well, tell me how easy it is. Well drillers here have to use diamond tipped drills that are attached to an extremely heavy truck.

reply to post by lbndhr


Oh don't feel bad. My job was well water testing for years. You would be surprised how many people don't even know where their water comes from. They turn on a spigot, it works,that is all they need. So many times they have called me and didn't know if they were public or private.
So our question was: do you get a water bill?

This is a great thread to get people thinking. Good job.

We recently had to test our water reserves when our pump froze and busted. Thread here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Casing


You just gave me some deeply needed information on catching used water. here again I hadnt thought about this. I do realize it is difficult to estimate enough water per day, so far I have it at 24 gallons a day which is also used in my garden. But i never thought about my clothes. I am a little fortunate

For even more ideas on collecting and conserving water we should all look to the Tiny nation of Bermuda. They've got it down pat.

We can learn a lot from Bermuda when it comes to water — especially rainwater.

A visit to that lovely island far out in the Atlantic taught me a lesson in what can be done when there is no underground aquifer, no rivers and no lakes from which to obtain water.

Given that situation, the folks in Bermuda, some 65,000 people, turn to the sky for their water needs. Roofs throughout the country are designed to collect rain and large tanks and cisterns store it for future use. By law, all new construction must include rainwater harvesting adequate for the residents.

In the residence hall where we stayed, our shower flowed in a sporadic dribble that certainly conserved water. Whether that was by design or because of the ancient plumbing, I’m not sure. But there were notices posted which explained the importance of conserving water and I was told most residents take water conservation very seriously.

The concept is simply part of everyday living there. Certainly out of necessity and it works.

also learned that all birds are not viewed with delight in Bermuda, especially pigeons which congregate on roofs and poop in great quantities. That poop has to be filtered out of the water and pigeons are considered a public nuisance. I’m told raccoons pose a similar problem for collection systems in Hays County.

My own rainwater collection efforts are quite paltry. I utilize plastic garbage cans to collect roof runoff to water my outside potted plants. But compared to people in Bermuda, I am a rank amateur.

By law, homeowners there must keep catchments, tanks, gutters, pipes, vents and screens in good repair. Roofs are commonly repainted every two to three years and storage tanks must be cleaned at least once every six years.

Catchments are whitewashed with white latex paint since the paint must be free of metals which might leach into water supplies. While there is municipal water to supplement individual storage, almost every roof is designed for rainwater collection.

Bermuda’s average rainfall is about 60 inches a year and I noticed many roofs had wedge-shaped “glides” laid to form sloping gutters. These gutters divert rainwater into vertical leaders and then into storage tanks. In addition to filtration, systems utilize parabolic solar cookers and solar water disinfection to make water safe to drink.

In addition to saving water, I was informed the white roofs can cut air conditioning bills about 15 percent. Not a bad combination.

The population of Texas is expected to double in the next 50 years. It is predicted water will become as valued a commodity as oil is today, and that areas will thrive or die based on water supply.

One would hope that our country — and our state and county — might lead the way in devising new and innovative solutions to declining water supplies.

A good place to start might be with captured rainwater. It certainly works in Bermuda.

We're getting there slowly but surely. In my area water and sewer rates are set to nearly double in order to repair and improve a long outdated water management system. The water authority will actually calculate sewer rates based on your properties hard surface area (driveway, patio etc.) Time to rethink where the rainwater and runoff goes.

www.sanmarcosrecord.com...

reply to post by jibeho


I'm getting some real good feedback for future water issues. We know water is one of lifes most critical requirements. Our nation us peoples, the government, we need to take the efforts and technologies of places like Bermuda before its to late. I thought we are such a highly advanced sophisticated country, we are not, we are selfish spoiled creatures that if we do not step up and change our ways will be the ones who parish as all the countries who actually care about our natural and precious resources watch and say, those ignorant Americans are getting what they deserve.
Thanks for the reply.