water ?

For most people there biggest problem will be water . If you live in or near a city and the power goes away that means water will stop flowing . You need water not only to drink but to flush a toilet or wash clothes. After people use all they have Most people will be forced to travel to the nearest lake ,pond or river . This is where the zombies will be in huge herds. Nature tells us predators go where the largest easiest food source is. This will be any water source . People in rural areas will not fair much better because even if you have a 1000 ft private well ,with no electricity to pump water your sol . So what to do ? I recommend if you live in a rural area with a private well buy a hand pump at a farm supply store and even if you don't install it now just make sure you have everything needed to attach it to the well head and put it up in your shed . If you live near a city go to google maps and look for an isolated lake or pond something assessable only by foot This is where you should go as few people will want or know of such a place . I think water is going to be such a big deal anyone with a safe (zombie free) source of water will be able to name there own price If they can hold on to it . Oh and remember to boil any water from a lake or pond as it may contain bacteria and other parasites.

So how do you stand on the issue of water during a ZA

Just one important factor you missed out, while boiling water will kill bacteria and parasites, you'll need to filter it to take any man made toxins out of it......

Just sayin.

Tony

thank you yes you are correct . an easy way to filter is to fold a T shirt four times and pour through it

Initially I have a stockpile of various bottled water, and we have an electric well. We have a generator that will run it if need be. Although it's a quiet Honda, it still generates noise.

The hand pump idea sounds good, though I am not sure how our system works or how I would change it.

The ZED day planning talk can be applied to any disaster, and gets me to thinking about a lot of stuff. Also, we gotta be careful and not get too wrapped up in it and loose sight of the good things we have in front of us at the current time.

Stock up on Brita Filters, Iodine Tablets and Chlorine Bleach.

I opted to go with a couple of ceramic filter bags and keep them in my BOB. Brita filters and the like are OK for dealing with already good water, but they are not effective at purifying tainted water. I also keep purification tablets in the bag.

We live in a wooded part of the city. Still have well water and I wired the well pump to work off our generator in case we lose power.

That just takes the big particulates, it does not remove the chemicals.

You'll need a carbon filter or some other method to separate the chemicals from the water

I'm not sure if you could use existing tubing from an electric pump well with a hand pump.. but..

Lehmans sells them.

also sells various filters and components, too.

During a time when the human population is being decimated by an undetermined communicable virus of some sort you won't find me drinking pond and river water after pouring it through a t-shirt.

Locating potable water tankers and taking them to water towers seems like a much better idea for the short term. Locating reverse osmosis water purification units are a bit better for the long term.

Katadyn Gravidyn is what I have. My brother rolls with a Big Berkey.

You can also use a tarp or plastic sheeting or something like that to catch evaporating water. So, you set up a tray or just dig a pit, not very deep, but with a container in the middle, and water (or urine or other liquid which will evaporate) in the bottom of the tray/pit whatever. Then you put the tarp over it with an object in the middle of the tarp causing a low spot right above your container. Water in the pit will evaporate, condense on the underside of your tarp, go to the low spot and drip into the container. It doesn't make a whole lot of water very quickly, but it also requires almost no effort to set up and then just wait. Use buckets of non-potable water, evaporate them, and get a glass of water. Beats dying of dehydration.

Much easier to have water rights to an artisan well

Once i run out of stored bottled water i'll tap the 50 gallon water heater.

A word of caution. After the 1989 quake in Santa Cruz, we thought the same thing, but we discovered that once the city water system goes down and pressure drops to zero there's a reverse flow. We opened the drain valve on the water heater and all we heard was a sucking sound. All of the water had been pulled out of the heater. Granted, our house was higher than the city's pumping station, and old enough that there was no back flow preventer, but if you're planning on using the heater as a source, disconnect yourself from the city system.

If you're on a well and you lose power, you may have the same problem if you don't have a back flow preventer.

my bugout location in Northern Wisconsin (friend's property) has a well with an indoor hand pump, no electricity, no problem. the property has a stand alone power system with a Diesel Generator as well as 5 1000W wind turbines with a grid tie system (the power output to the grid pays the property tax on the property as well as the property tax and electric bill for his house in Southern Wisconsin). Hidden basement access (with escape route), and coffin style freezer for meat (currently has deer and bear, about 400 lbs total).

Same problem- bleach and iodine only kill organics, and do not remove chemical contaminants. Make sure you know what your filter system does and does not do- there is a lot of erroneous info in this thread. If you want to know the real deal, eyeball the Survival Forum.

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