OK, so all the markets are on the upswing and we can all go merrily along our way, right? No, I think not. Maybe I'm reading too much doom and gloom on the 'net, but it seems to me that in the last couple of months there have been so many fundamental changes to the market and financial systems in this country that it is no longer the same system. It seems to me that we are seeing ever widening swings of volatility in the markets and the last two days represents an upswing in the wild ride. The huge upswing is not a great thing when it represents ever increasing waves of a storm. However, I am the dead last person to talk financials so I'll leave it at that.
*****Water****** We've already covered the importance of water and I am very pleased that folks are getting water put by. The availability of water is definitely a regional thing. We've always been desert people. I think we have 130gallons put up here, not including rain barrels or hot water heater. Our rain barrels are full but we're not too far from freezing temperatures and then they'll have to get drained. I wouldn't drink the rain barrel water but I wouldn't hesitate to give it to livestock or animals either.
The least expensive, least favorable to the most expensive, best way to clean water:
If you run out of clean water, you can add 14 drops of unscented old fashioned Clorox to a gallon of the cleanest water (qickly moving water across rocks) you can find. This will not do anything for contamination by fertilizers, pesticides, heavy metals... it only kills the organic creatures that will set up havoc in your gut. If you have plenty of fuel or energy, you can boil water for 20 minutes, the higher the altitude, the longer the boil.
I think it is far better to filter your water. Instructions for a least expensive route to a water filtration is found here here. You can buy these filters here. I think it's worth printing the instruction sheet.
Were I to come into money or If there is enough time to prepare, I would like a Berkey Water Filtration system. The one in the picture is plastic but they do come in all stainless as well. These are the systems used by mission and red cross societies around the world and have independent ANSI/BSI laboratory testing. You can also buy them through the Leaman's catalog.
Maybe it is because when we lived in Moab, we would lear of several tourist deaths a year from of lack of water; or maybe it is because as a VERY Young adult, I drank directly from a quickly moving stream (as I had done successfully as a child) and ended up hospitalized and more miserably sick than I've ever been in my life; or maybe it is because 88% of deaths in the developing world are caused by water borne illness that I want to stress the importance of access to clean and available water.
Please, feel good about the steps you are taking to protect your family. None of us will do it all right, but by spending this time investing in thinking and preparing we will be as well prepared as is possible!
8 comments:
And as I child I drank from a frog pond that turned out to be a storm drain overflow and never got sick. We have an Aquarain which is like the Berkey. It says in the direction that you can filter rain water through it to make it safe to drink. That is why we got it. If you have to filter pond water or any water with particles in it, I recommend getting the prefilter. I think it is just a mesh bag, so a bandana could work in a pinch.
I went to garage sales today and found 2 BWB canners, 28 canning jars, 9 books, a building set for my son, a kids lantern, and a bunch of closet maid shelving with hardware- all for $13. Good deals!
Cindy in FL
Ohh good yard sale
I'd love one of those Berkey filters but the house we are moving to have a 600 foot well so all we need is a back up generator or a hand pump to be able to get the water. It is very clean water. My husband backpacks a lot, so he does have a small very efficient filter that could be used in a pinch. I'd like to get a bigger filter but can't justify it right now.
I got a Katadyn water filter, similar to the Berkey. Cost a lot but can't live without clean water! BTW you can also use a Sun Oven to pasteurize your water - you need to heat the water to 150 degrees for a short period of time to kill all the microbes.
We have an MSR camp filter - works very well. And we do use a bandana as a prefilter all the time - just to filter out silt and big bits. Works just fine.
We use water power to pump our water from our spring, and it is clean. So no worries there for us.
But even though we hardly eat any grain products anymore, I'm going to Bob's Red Mill today and stock up for bartering material. This situation is getting scarier every day.
Cool, I have a blog now. So I can share on your site also. I love this challenge. It's already led me to make a new list of things that need to be done, and to give it to DH so he can look it over. He looked, agrees with it, however he thinks some things can be combined.
Water is our main concern. We meant to have a well dug a few years ago, but I found out I had cancer, so put it off due to treatment, etc. Hopefully this year, or the beginning of next. We just had all new facia board put on the house, so have to replace all of the guttering, which will lead to our rainbarrels. We've done this for a while now, and used the water for gardening. I have to admit, I never gave much thought to the quality of the water coming off the roof until someone had said something on a site about what kind of shingles they had on their roof. So now, I kind of worry about the water quality. But I guess in a pinch, it will be better than nothing.
I haven't gotten a Berkey filter yet either, but it's on my list.
I was planning on getting this solar charger.
http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_CM%20B475_A_name_E_Solar+4-in-1+Plus+Battery+Charger.
If the link doesn't work just go to Http://beprepared.com/ and search under solar.
Cindy in FL
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