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Hey FerFal, have you ever heard of the WaterBOB? It sounds like something great to have on hand. I remember watching "The Road" and in an early scene, the lead actor fills his tub with water, presumably to store it. Well, I tried it with mine, and it slowly leaked out.
I've heard that in a crisis, if the water treatment plants shut down, you will still have a couple of days of running water from the water that remains in the water towers. This should give you plenty of time to fill up.
I'd get several of these, because they are one-use only and you may need them more than once, or you may have a false alarm or two.
I've heard that in a crisis, if the water treatment plants shut down, you will still have a couple of days of running water from the water that remains in the water towers. This should give you plenty of time to fill up.
I'd get several of these, because they are one-use only and you may need them more than once, or you may have a false alarm or two.
-Scott in Tennessee
Hi, Happy new Year Scott!
Movies are usually very bad sources of survival information. :-)
Check the Amazon WaterBOB reviews, people that haven’t even used it during an emergency gave it 5 starts. Is dangerous when you THINK you’re covered for water shortages but you really aren’t.
The thing is, they will not alert everyone so they can fill up every container they have, this would only make things worse, boosting the consumption of water and water running out even faster. If the problem has a quick/easy solution, the water company will sometimes alert users that there will be no water for a few hours, but if there’s a serious problem they’ll usually not say anything until they run out of water completely, buying themselves more time.
If its serious, you will not know that there’s a water problem until you turn on the faucet and not a drop comes out. That’s why the waterBOB will be of no help.
Water for emergencies must be pre-stored and rotated every year. An empty container with a Post-it note saying “fill me up!” wont help you one bit. I spent half a day couple days ago without water and it reminded me of how bad it gets when that goes on for days. I’d rather go without electric power than without running water.
Store lots of water, you can do it almost for free (for free if you use soda containers or you get some for free) Recently, people here in some parts of Buenos Aires have been without water for over a week. If you ever have to go for a couple days without tap water you’ll know what I mean.
Buy a couple of these instead and fill them up (or check around fast food joints, they usually throw away perfectly good containers).
Some survivalists say they know if another survivalist is for real depending on how much food he has stored, but you'll know if someone has been through an emergency situation or disaster of some sort depending on how much water he stores and how much he values it.
Take care!
FerFAL
20 comments:
The linked product (or similar) does seem to be useful for people living in areas where their water gets cut off by floods or hurricanes. Fill up a bladder to get an extra 100 gallons in addition to what you already have stored.
The local government surplus place (north caroline, US) had blue 55 gallon drums for about $5. Once washed, these seem like good water storage. A right pain to move, but doable with a hand truck or dolly. I believe for storage in the long term a dash of laundry bleach wil keep things from growing. If it smells slightly of bleach, there is still active chlorine in the water. for ease of use you may want a way to hand-pump water out of the barrel.
A closet might be a good place, but nit a patio. God forbid things get to water theft, but it's nice to not worry about freezes or access to your water.
waterbob is also NOT designed to be re-used. So you will need "many" in "stock" to make proper use of it. I would prefer 1-gallon containers around the home. The best reason for that size is to barter with those who have something and forgot to store water.
having been through 2 hurricanes
and a winter ice storm (each time...
no power/water for 6 days), my advice
is to store water in 2-liter plastic soft drink bottles. 1-gallon plastic
milk jugs break down and split in a
year's time. the 2-liter bottles are
TOUGH.
Assuming Scott's in West or Middle Tennessee the Water Bob may be of use to him. Tornadoes and harsh weather are a big issue there, and having the ability to gather a lot of water quickly under such conditions could help. Obviously, it would be a solution to only one sort of problem, but I wouldn't necessarily diss it.
Speaking of which:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12082535
While the Republic of Ireland is in an advanced state of economic collapse, Northern Ireland is still part of the UK, not exactly the third world.
I highly recommend the Aqua-tainer. You can even get it with the integrated (but removable) filter.
Just don't plan on stacking more than 2 high, as the sidewalls are not that strong.
They need to be prepared with cleaning solution (a tablespoon of bleach) and let sit for a few days, then rinse really well. At that point, the "plastic" taste should be gone from the container.
Do not try and barter water. People will look at you as a greedy profiteer, and use it to justify what they do to get the rest of your water.
I tried one of these when they first came out. The plan was to use a spare bathroom as a storage closet, filling the tub with water in a WaterBob, and stacking bins on top. I check on it 3 mos later and the seams on the WaterBob had split and there was an inch of stagnant water on top of the bladder. The thing was USELESS!
I've since gone to a 55 gallon barrel, 7 gallon hard plastic water containers, and several cases of bottled water. Everything gets rotated and I don't have any further issues.
I purchased several of the Aquatainers some time ago after comparing them to what else is available. The consensus among Amazon reviewers is that and they're sturdy and well-designed.
I've bought the 5 gallon water containers from the Ready Store - they're cheaper than the Amazon 7 gallon ones:
http://www.thereadystore.com/water-storage/5-gallon-stackable-water-container
I acquired a bunch of 6-gallon water containers from a company that supplies bottled water. They are great for storing water - they are designed for it. This is where I store my drinking water. I have several 55-gallon trash cans that I use, filled before the impending disaster (hurricanes and civil unrest), for washing and clean up. I also have rigged a downspout to catch rainwater (we have a lot of that here). Be sure and store some bleach and some water filters.
This post strikes a nerve for me. On New Year's Eve I moved into an RV (self-contained 5th wheel) on the farm I work at. Luckily there's a spigot less than 20 feet away, but we've had a real cold spell and all the water in the hose has been frozen. I was fortunate enough to have about 10 gallons of stored water that didn't freeze, so I've been relying exclusively on that. I'm quickly learning how to seriously conserve water, whether I want to or not! I have other options if I have to get more water before things thaw out, but it's been a useful exercise to live off my stored water. I have a feeling this winter will be full of useful preparedness exercises....
Where would you guys recommend storing the water? Seems like leaks could be an issue...
JOhn
anon 7:19, i wouldn't reccomend stacking aquatainers at all, if they have water in them. (especially if they don't have the screw on type vent, some of them only have plugs in the vent hole) i foolishly stacked mine, and they leaked, wetting the ceiling of the apartment below.
i think the best storage container is the glass or plastic "carboy" that spring water comes in. (you can purchase the plastic ones at Lowes, in the U.S.)
the aquatainer is available at wal-mart, and they work ok, for dispensing your storage water; but i would keep some other type of container for the majority of my water "stash". for transporting water, i like the "blitz" brand water jugs. (available at k-mart)
... of course, a glass carboy filled with water will weigh over fifty pounds. (which is a strong argument in favor of the two liter bottles)
I live in Christchurch, New Zealand - we had a bit of an earthquake a few months ago. In that instance, there was no warning - 4:40am, things shook, power went off, and things broke. Power was back within 12 hours - but it took more than a week for tap water to be deemed safely potable.
Having bottled water (shop-bought to improve odds of sterility: outdated gets you a plastic taste, no sign of growth) was quite handy. Relying on having advance warning for filling water containers isn't the best plan.
Okay, seems like alot of folks keep water in one of the rooms of the house. I think I will eventually go that route as well for potable water and put jugs inside or above a tub of some sort with a Leak Frog in it.
Leak Frogs will give you an audible warning when water gets underneath them. They are very sensitive and have actually saved me from a few leaky pipes.
JOhn
I found the best solution is a 55 gallon water barrel and several "Preserver" bottles for emergency storage. I just bought some at armageddon outfitters online and they work great.
Those big water jugs really come in handy when a natural disaster happens and you need it for your freeze dried food. I think the only freeze dried food I've had that was good without water was the ice cream.
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