What If Your Safe Water Supply Was Totally Gone As Of Today

[healthnut]

I see some great comments concerning water on this forum. This is great since without safe drinking water our bodies would shut down in a few days because our organs did it to function. I am sure most people out there already know a good bit about survival, but here is a great article on how to purify possibly contaminated water in an emergency situation. After all, if we make the mistake of drinking water that has been contaminated in some way we have made a bad situation even worse when we start vomiting or having diarrhea and losing body fluids we can't replace.
http://www.emergencywaterpurification.com

 

[mrcharly]

The article you've linked to totally fails to mention the risk of drinking water contaminated by chemicals. Just boiling won't help with that and can make things worse.

 

[ateallthepies]

Also boiling for 10-12 minutes?? Maybe on the top of mount Everest but in most places just getting to a rolling boil is enough.

Most houses in the UK have a tank in the loft that will give several months supply if rationed and not drained all at once for one or two baths!!

Steve.

 

[YorkshireWay]

Also boiling for 10-12 minutes?? Maybe on the top of mount Everest but in most places just getting to a rolling boil is enough.

Most houses in the UK have a tank in the loft that will give several months supply if rationed and not drained all at once for one or two baths!!

Steve.

Alot of new people with combi boilers don't have this luxury

Though the above comment on chemicals is quite important if you live in the UK as there are built up areas along a large number of waterways if you are not positioned right at the source.

 

[Pandabean]

With regards to the chemicals, not only have you to take into account the pollution from city places, you also have to take into account the farming land around about springs which would have been treated with plenty of chemicals over the years.

As ateallthepies says, I have also been told that a rolling boil (obviously after filtering) is enough to get rid of the organic nasties, from what I remember Stuart mentioned as long as it was above 70-80 degC it was ok, no need to boil it to death.

 

[Toddy]

Besides, this is the UK, much of it's sodden wet
Seriously, we get a lot of rain, and the pollution now is so much less than when we were a 'coal fire in every house' premier industrial nation.

Does anyone have any idea of how much benefit there is to actually filtering water through charcoal or biscuit fired pots for removing chemical pollutants ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

People confuse charcoal with activated charcoal. Chemically they are similar but structurally they are very different.

The purpose of the charcoal is to adsorb (chemically bond with) certain chemical pollutants

Ceramic filtering generally removes larger particles that cause turbidity in the water to be boiled or chemically trated. Particulates insulate the micro organisms they contain from the actions of heat or chemicals.

[\nerd]

Red

 

[wingstoo]

Most houses in the UK have a tank in the loft that will give several months supply if rationed and not drained all at once for one or two baths!!

Yes "some" houses have water storage in the loft, but it is rarely more than 40 gallons or about 160ltrs, "Several months", maybe at a push it could for one maybe two people, but anymore than that and you would be pushing the panic button.

Daily water requirements
The normal daily turnover of total body water is approximately 5-10 per cent in adults.(1) The amount of water required by the body can vary markedly, depending, for example on dietary factors, physical activity level, environmental conditions, metabolism and health status. The kidneys also require a minimum amount of water to excrete soluble waste products. Studies indicate that daily water turnover is 3.3 litres for sedentary men and 4.5 litres for active men. For more active adults, particularly those living in a warm environment, daily water need can increase to about 6 litres.(1) It is therefore difficult to estimate a general water requirement, because of the wide variability within and between individuals.

Most of these are being removed as modern water heating via combi boilers saves (allegedly) more fuel thus less CO2 etc etc.

 

[rik_uk3]

If the mains went I still have my stream which never stops and

http://www.greenshop.co.uk/home-gar...on-british-berkefeld-gravity-filter-5302.html

And

http://www.lifesaversystems.com/buy.../lifesaver-jerrycans/lifesaver-jerrycan-20000

So I'm all right Jack.

 

[Zingmo]

I can't think of any chemical pollutants that would make you immediately ill in the concentrations likely to be found in a stream. Some have to build up in your system to be harmful (like heavy metals) and many will simply increase the likelihood of your developing some sort of cancer in years to come. Filtering & boiling is necessary and shouldn't be skipped. But if it was a choice between drinking chemical polluted water and dying of thirst, I know which I would choose.

Z

 

[Toddy]

I know about the activated charcoal BR, but I was thinking that ordinary stuff isn't beyond mortal wit to make so I wondered if it were good to use or not.

How about those filter jugs, and the wee insert thing for my kettle ?

There's a burn runs not 30metres from my back door, it rises just past the end of the street as a fresh water spring, and the Clyde's about half a mile away. The Calder water and the Avon and Strathclyde loch are less than a twenty minute walk. My outdoor sink needs the bung left open or it overflows, a bucket of water left in the garden ends up with it's own wee microenvironment of newts and so on.....wet is my world.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

Lol - Ordinary charcoal will probably act as a reasonable fine filtration medium, but lacks the surface area for chemical adsorbtion (unless you pass water through metres of it!).

That said, your burn is unlikely to have large chemical contamination - I suspect not much industry or heavy ag uphill from you (with chemical fertilisers)?

In that case, filter the turbidity out and boil is fine. Worth thinking about periodically sanitising the filter medium too - otherwise it collects gunk and is a breeding ground.

 

[EdS]

used to get this reguarly until thet main was replace. Simple solution - went to the village pub for the night, same as when the electricity goes or the kero boiler breaks down.

 

[ged]

... here is a great article on how to purify possibly contaminated water in an emergency situation.[/URL]

You're in Dallas, and the registrant of the domain name that you linked to is also in Dallas.

Are you Robert Perry?

 

[Wayland]

I live in Oldham... The home of rain.

 

[udamiano]

How about those filter jugs, and the wee insert thing for my kettle ?

The Brita water filters you get at home are basically a charcoal filter, they use Activated Charcoal made from Coconut husks left over from the Harvest in Malaysia and Thailand. Ive actually been to the plant that supplies the charcoal to Brita back in 2004 while visiting friends in Thailand, Its like hell kitchen they first turn the Coconuts into charcoal then reheat to 900 degrees and then fire pressurised steam into the oven to activate the charcoal, Can you imagine what its like with 90% humidity and 30-40 degrees. It was the only tour I've ever been on when the visitors were almost running around to get out.
Anyway they ship the now activated charcoal back to Blighty for packaging.

so if you were to cut one open then you could use it to filter water.

Activated charcoal has a huge surface area compared to normal charcoal, and its this large surface area that traps the chemical compounds. It need pre-charging though, the first litre or so should not be used to drink.

 

[BillyBlade]

I know about the activated charcoal BR, but I was thinking that ordinary stuff isn't beyond mortal wit to make so I wondered if it were good to use or not.

How about those filter jugs, and the wee insert thing for my kettle ?

There's a burn runs not 30metres from my back door, it rises just past the end of the street as a fresh water spring, and the Clyde's about half a mile away. The Calder water and the Avon and Strathclyde loch are less than a twenty minute walk. My outdoor sink needs the bung left open or it overflows, a bucket of water left in the garden ends up with it's own wee microenvironment of newts and so on.....wet is my world.

cheers,
Toddy

Sounds like you're not far from me then. You'll be pleased to know, that according to someone I know who works for Scottish Water and whom is involved in measuring pollutants, that in this area the Clyde, Calder and Avon are pretty much now totally free of the nasty stuff that was there in the 80's.

Quick rolling boil and you're fine. As indeed I did at the weekend with water from the Clyde near Chatlerault when I was badger watching. Made a great cup of tea!

 

[JoshuaP]

buy a water filter at the time, i know prices will rise if there is no water but i cant see them selling out

 

[Ex-member PaganBushcraft]

You can make activated charcoal yourself all you do is make charcoal as normal when done.Cut off the oxygen so it go's out and will it is still hot exspose it to the air ( oxygen ) quickly sudenly. this make thousands of bubbles of air to form inside the charcoal. Then dump in cold water or pour cold water over it and you have activated charcoal. Hope this is useful.

 

[FGYT]

been simple straining water and boiling for many years when out and about

as for home use Im about to fit a couple or 4x 1000ltr IBC containers as a water butt irrigation system for the garden (might even get rounf to pumping it into the roof to flush the toilets .
Theres a brook running near the end of our track and we have a fairly large pond

looked out side its raining again

think im covered for a couple of days no water


ATB

Duncan