Hi frens. I’m not being a scaremonger. Please. We have been advised by Q that we will enter ‘10 days of darkness’. We have no idea when that will be but if you have not started to prepare, do it as soon as possible. This guy has some good advice and just one tip may help you get thru this. If you have any tips on what you are doing to prepare, please share.
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I have a question about keeping water. How long can you keep self-filled jugs before the water gets gross or dangerous? Is there some way to seal them so they keep for longer? Is there a better way?
If your jugs are sealed, you can keep water a long time, depending on how good it is to start. Some people use a few drops of bleach -- I don't. My main advice -- keep them covered and out of the light. Get a gravity ceramic candle filter, and build your own jug system. Know where your local surface water is -- and be prepared to carry and filter if required. Do NOT use valuable drinking water to flush a toilet -- time for the emergency composter. RUREDY?
A month? Longer? OK, will look up the filter you mention. I've got enough yard to shit in for quite a while, lol.
I buy the separate replacement filters here: https://www.jmccwaterfilters.com/product/gravity-replacement-filter-elements/
Take a blue 5 gal jug. Drill a 1/2 hole in the bottom. Cut a 4" hole around the neck and remove it. Reach in and mount the filter. Fill the jug and catch the filtered drip.
Sanitation is a major, and ignored prepper issue. In 3 weeks, you're yard will get real funky -- especially with a family. I suggest the most important prepper book of all is "The Humanure Handbook" by Joseph C. Jenkins. Get it, read it, be ready and regular.
Buy a few 5 gal buckets, a big block of that chipped cedar animal bedding, and a camper toilet seat -- you're in bizness.
Great info! Thanks so much.
Some water safety tips during emergencies:
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water
Very cool, thank you.
OK, thank you.
Well.... maybe. That's a lot of capital outlay and effort, sometimes one has to drill down quite a long way to reach groundwater or aquifers. And even then you have to be careful of bio-hazards (algae, bacteria, e-coli, etc.). And if you're in the proximity downstream of an industrial plant, you also have to deal with potentially harmful pollutants like heavy metals (lethal) or chemicals. So you would also have to invest in a water purification process like distillation or reverse osmosis treatments. It's hard and expensive to do that for an individual.
I once contacted a well-digging company locally to inquire about using groundwater, and I got an estimate of a few thousand dollars, and that didn't even include SEARCHING for a viable source on my property! So I started collecting bottles of water...large and small. Be sure it's stored in BPH-free plastic and it should last a long, long time. Also you can capture rainwater in barrels, if you're prepared to boil it before drinking it.
Thanks.... for my area in east Tennessee I would have to go down about 80 ft to the aquifer. I live in the hills, ya know.
I keep several Sawyer filters on hand, unopened. These are perfect barter items and they are cheap. Purification can be achieved by use of pool shock which is more shelf stable than liquid bleach. A few bags of shock will purify thousands of gallons of water. Used in conjunction with the Sawyer filters you should be set if you have a source of water which may not be contaminated by chemicals or metals but may have wee beasties that will give your tummy the rumblies. Be aware cholera, e-coli, and other microbes of the like will spring up like crazy if there is any interruption of utility supply. I forget the ratio of shock to water but its a very small amount of shock to make bleach then a very small amount of bleach to purify water. Good luck.
Good info, thank you. Will add that to my list.
You can also "catch" water by buying a new trash can and a small tarp or plastic. Hang the plastic/or tarp from a clothesline or some sort of "T" your husband can easily build and stick in ground. Let the plastic hang down in a slope and place trash can under it. This insures clean water and NOT the water coming from your gutter down spout. You can use this for drinking/cooking if you boil it first.
You could save water from your downspouts for flushing the toilet or taking small baths.
I too have cola bottles, milk jugs, bleach jugs and juice jugs I have saved on my porch for simply taking baths and doing dishes. I bought cases of bottled water for cooking and I bought the trash can and the tarp for catching clean rain water. Hope this helps. God bless and I pray that all is safe and well with you and your family.
Thank you.
You're welcome.