Beginning Lesson #3 WATER

[RICHFL]

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BEGINNING LESSON #3 WATER

Question what covers 70 percent of the earth and you cannot use it to live on? The majority of water located on Earth. It is sea water you cannot drink it or use it to gorw plants with.

Here is a subject that is one word that can take a book to real understand just how much water effect us in our every day lives. Why did I give water such a high priority over weapons and self-protection, survival BOB or BOL, and all the other topic that I will cover in the future?

You can live with out oxygen for 5 minutes.
You can live with out food for 30+ days.
You can live without MTV forever.
You can live without power forever.

But you cannot live without water beyond 3 days! Our bodies need water on a regular basis, with an average of 2 quarts per day normally, and 1 gallon per day in survival mode.

You cannot survive without the use of fresh water for your -

Health
Sanitation
Cleaning
Cooking
Bathing
Farming
Gardening

TERMINOLOGY:

- Potablel is fresh water that is fit for human consumption you can drink it

- Nnon-Potable (RAW) is water that has not been treated for human consumption but can still be utilized for everything but cooking, kitchen cleaning, bathing, and drinking. I added bathing so that there is no medical issues of raw water getting into eyes, nose, mouth, cuts, abrasions. or ears.

- Bail Out Location (BOL), final place where you will resettle, until it is safe to return home if ever.

- Bail Out Bag (BOB), What can be carried on your back Backpacking to the extreme. Over 60 pound load!

- Bail Out Transportation (BOT), Transport Autos,truck,vans to Bikes allowing you to move faster then walking, carrying more survival gear to your BOL


How do I make non-potable water (RAW) into potable?

- It requires you to kill all germs, bacteria and virus, that grow in water that can cause great bodily harm or kill you.

- Use of Commercial Water filters: Today with the growth of travel and camping in the wilds a need for a portable water filter device was needed. There are many on the market and you need to be aware that not all will provide the ability to make fresh drinking water out of a mud puddle. That takes advance filtering thatis going to cost MONEY.

- FEMA is changing terminology dealing with water purification do to new technology . They all use to be called water filters, now with new technology there is several ways of water purification available.

- One way is the water filter which with the used of paper, ceramic, charcoal etc made filter they remove the bacteria and virus that can cause you to become ill or die from using untreated water. One of the best today is a water filter made by Katadyn® it is now called the "Pocket Purifier". It is portable weighs in at less then 1 pound and can filter up to 13,000 gallons. I have used one for over 5 years without replacement of the filter. Just follow the direction on using and cleaning the device. Some devices are true survival water filters because they are the size of a large drinking straw and will filter only about 20 gallons.

- One way is called water purifier that uses IR technology to destroy viruse and bacteria in your water. I do not own this system since I believe that it is a non renewable system (Needs Power) to work. I stick to chemical and water filters.
Using the KISS principle meaning "KEEP IT SIMPLE AND STUPID!" requires me to not use it.

- One way is the use of a liquid agent used to kill off the active bacteria and virous in your container of water. There is the correct formula to use it: Add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Store disinfected water in clean containers with covers.

- One way is to filter raw water with a t-shirt/coffee filters then boil it for 20 minutes. Let stand for 1 hour before using. Store in a clean container with cover.

- One way is to use Commercial Purification Tablets. They are normally come a a package of 10 with 2 being used for each quart of water. Instruction are easy - just put in the tablets into 1 quart of raw water shake well and wait for 30 minutes before drinking.

- One way is to use liquid iodine like you use liquid bleach. I do not know the correct amount needed or the strength of iodine that is necessary. KISS again I can buy 1 gallon of bleach for under 2 bucks enough said!

- One way is to build and use one of many homemade plans to filter you raw water. These are slow sand filters (Similar to what is used by cities today); many plans are available on the WEB today. It allows for large amounts to be filtered on a 24/7 basis. The bigger the filter the more water is usable/ This is for your BOL.

- One way is to use Solar pasteurizing by placing your raw water in a FDA approved Dark Color container in the sun until it reaches 160 degrees for 30 minutes.

As you can see there is many ways to take non-potable water (RAW) and make it usable for personal use. Many are now portable enough to put into your BOB while others can be home built to clean thousands of gallons per year.

Where should I get my water from?

- Well to start does you Bail Out Location (BOL) have a fresh water well on the property? If not that is one of the first improvements you need to do. Make sure when drilling you hit fresh water and not ground water (Less then 40 feet) because that will not sustain you and your family. If you do have a good well can you add a hand pump to bring the water to the surface? If not make the changes now. That is your primary source of water. You need a minimum of 2 if not 3 different sources of water to be secured.

- Secondary sources must be running water like a creek, river, or lake. The faster running the water the cleaner the raw water will be and easier to filter.

- Third source is rain water catchment system. Where a proper prepared roof is utilized to catch and channel water into containers for storage for use later. (This is used a lot in the desert). The is after all free water! There is simple instruction to follow for maintenance, storage and usage of this type of system.

Moving to my BOL. How do I find water along the way?

Many times prior to you using your BOB to go for the final time to your BOL; you need to practice routes and need to note resources along the way. This includes water. Water weighs in at 8 pounds per gallon. You will not be carrying that much on your back for very long. You need sources of water that you can located, filter and carry away with you along your route.

IN history we find that people movement west in the US was accomplished by finding water sources at least 3 days walking distance apart (about 20 miles). Here is where the portable water filter becomes king by taking all sources of water and making it into fresh clean water for personal use.

I repeat you need to know where sources of water are along your routes remembering that all water sources have dangers involved in a survival situation - danger from wild life and people.

How much water do I need and were can I store it (BOL)?

- Well that depends on the source of water available, how many people are using it, how much is needed for gardening/farming.

- For personal use bathing drinking and cooking/cleaning, you need between 3-5 gallons per day.

- Add additional amounts for laundry of your clothing and bedding on a weekly basis; that amount should be about 10 gallons per person per load of clothing.

- Gardening requires that it receives a minimum of 1 inch of water per week in season.

- Farming required water for your animals; each has its minimum level needed. That will not be covered here but when we start talking advance BOL farm requirements.

- Crops are normally given water only if 1 inch of rain does not fall every 15 days. To irrigrate crops is too costly in a survival situation and will make your BOL stick out compared to the surrounding country side.

- Survival in your BOL may required you to store potable water in FDA approved containers. This includes 55 gallon drums that can be treated and sealed for up to 5 years for storage. E-bay and local sources can be found if this is the way you want to go.

I could go on but you start to understand just of hard a single item WATER is to located, filter, store, and use.

[ZAGran]

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Even though I have 3 sources of water (well, pond, natural lake) I still store water. You never know the whens or whys you may need it right where you are!

[Morgan101]

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RichFL great post. Shelter is first on my list. Second is water. We use all of the methods you described, starting with storing fresh.

[RICHFL]

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There is more water filter devices on the market most for use in a base camp or at your BOL. That includes the commercial built Berkley and other camp filtering devices.

When you get to your BOL you need in place a good homemade slow sand water filter. This device will filter water up to 55 gallons per hour and the filter (Sand) can be renewed using no power at all.

Remember for health reasons use drinking water to bath in in and around your head!. Use drinking water to brush your teeth. I have seen people use raw water to do this thinking that the toothpaste has some type of chemical in it that will clean up the water!

[Applejack]

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We have well water, we have stored water bought from the store and a berkey water system. We also have a river in back of our neighborhood. Don't know yet how all this will work out, but feel that we still need to work on water sources.
AJ

[RICHFL]

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If you must use river water find where it runs fast like a rapids, that is where least amount of the particulates will be, makes it easier to filter. Remember 1 gallon weighs 8 pounds; so if you have 10 gallons you have to move 80 pounds!