Store Water Just In Case

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The Lazy L said:
I do not consider commercial bottled water as filtered. Municipal water has more controls, restrictions, requirements, and safety precautions in place then bottled water.
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I agree. The one thing I wish they would leave out is fluoride, but Berkey's can take out fluoride.

My brother worked for and with the companies developing the rural water system in South Dakota. He knew which farm was known for having the best rated water in their well from all the water evaluations. It happened to be a farm that was within a few miles of my mom's sister's place where I spent lots of time as a child. It also happened to be a farm that I had been on for a few weeks one summer, working on a haying crew. I know the couple who owned it are deceased now. That would have been a farm to buy, just for the production of high quality bottled water.
 
Those of you with manual operated well pumps - what do you have? I've been considering getting one for my parents. Their well water level is about 10 - 12 feet below the well head and I would think that in case of an extended power outage (or a pump failure at an inopportune time, such as a weekend when stores are closed) it wouldn't be that hard to remove the well cap and get water with a rotary hand pump, but I've never used one and furthermore nobody I know has either. Only a few old timers have used hand pumps and those were permanently mounted pumps...
 
Weedygarden said:
There are a couple things about plastic that I am not going to go into now, but my daughter took a class in college, and immediately began to rid herself of plastic with food. She has glass containers for food storage and reuses jars as well. She uses metal water bottles. I have not been as good about plastic as she has.

The plastic reused bottles that I got rid of were years old, and I needed to go through and pitch them. The case of water bottles that I have is also years old and should be pitched as well. In addition to the metal water bottles, I drink from canning jars at home. Since Colorado is arid, I always keep water by my bed and drink some every night.

This is my set-up. It helps to keep the water clean and from spilling easily. I could technically keep cases of water in these canning jars, but the jars get used for many aspects of food storage. I prefer this size and type of jar. Glass is really better for us than plastic, but is heavier and breakable. I was gifted metal straws which I use with the set up.
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We use glass containers for almost all freezer storage. Non acidic foods we will use plastic bags at times. Pyrex, Anchor or Corning ware with lids which are plastic we cover with wax paper then apply the lid.
 
Spikedriver said:
Those of you with manual operated well pumps - what do you have? I've been considering getting one for my parents. Their well water level is about 10 - 12 feet below the well head and I would think that in case of an extended power outage (or a pump failure at an inopportune time, such as a weekend when stores are closed) it wouldn't be that hard to remove the well cap and get water with a rotary hand pump, but I've never used one and furthermore nobody I know has either. Only a few old timers have used hand pumps and those were permanently mounted pumps...
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About 15 years ago we had a hand pump put it an it had a very slow stream. I told them to take it back out that we wouldn't pay $1000 for that thing that would work our butts off for a gallon of water.
So be careful about promises. Thye were mad and did somerhing to our well taking it our which cost us too.
If it is wide you can always try a bucket with a good pully on it. I used that as a kid. At least you'd be standing up. Of course well opening has to be wider.
 
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Meerkat said:
About 15 years ago we had a hand pump put it an it had a very slow stream. I told them to take it back out that we wouldn't pay $1000 for that thing that would work our butts off for a gallon of water.
So be careful about promises. Thye were mad and did somerhing to our well taking it our which cost us too.
If it is wide you can always try a bucket with a good pully on it. I used that as a kid. At least you'd be standing up. Of course well opening has to be wider.
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It's a 3 inch casing, about 130 ft deep. I recognize that the water flow rate may be low, but I wouldn't need 250 gallons a day, either. Drinking water for 10 or less people plus water to flush toilets. And if there's 10 people using the water, there's 10 people who can take turns pumping the water, even if it's slow...
 
Spikedriver said:
Those of you with manual operated well pumps - what do you have? I've been considering getting one for my parents. Their well water level is about 10 - 12 feet below the well head and I would think that in case of an extended power outage (or a pump failure at an inopportune time, such as a weekend when stores are closed) it wouldn't be that hard to remove the well cap and get water with a rotary hand pump, but I've never used one and furthermore nobody I know has either. Only a few old timers have used hand pumps and those were permanently mounted pumps...
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Spikedriver said:
It's a 3 inch casing, about 130 ft deep. I recognize that the water flow rate may be low, but I wouldn't need 250 gallons a day, either. Drinking water for 10 or less people plus water to flush toilets. And if there's 10 people using the water, there's 10 people who can take turns pumping the water, even if it's slow...
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Oh no that would not work for a bucket. Maybe get a windmill to pump it like these farmers here do.
 
Meerkat said:
I figure it is mostly scare tactics ' again ' but just in case we decide to blow up another nation it may be wise to listen and watch.
I hear there may be plans to poison our waters if we go into war with Iran and since we hire anyone available to guard these facilities they could be compromised.
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Idk about all that, but its only responsible to keep a couple days of water handy for you and your family. Just like candles and oil lamps, it comes in handy.
 
Tacitus said:
Always wondered how much of a stir I would create if I dug a well in suburbia. Probably illegal.
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Not in suburbia, in the country in South Dakota, one of my cousins has the land that was his grandparents. They had a well in their basement. I imagine the well was dug first, by I really have no idea. I always thought that was an interesting place for a well. In a SHTF situation when you would be safest inside, having a source of water that couldn't be shut-off by someone outside, would be best, imho.
 
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Weedygarden said:
Not in suburbia, in the country in South Dakota, one of my cousins has the land that was his grandparents. They had a well in their basement. I imagine the well w as dug first, by I really have no idea. I always thought that was an interesting place for a well. In a SHTF situation when you would be safest inside, having a source of water that couldn't be shut-off by someone outside, would be best, imho.
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I thought about doing that. We had a contractor come in and install a bathroom in our basement. He put a big hole in the basement floor to access a drain line. I wish I had thought about this before...I don't see why I couldn't have dug a well next to that bathroom at the time. That is a perfect place to have a well.

Of course, the wife would have thought I was insane. :) She tolerates my desire to protect the family in all cases. We both think the other spends on silly things. I prep, she makes the house look unnecessarily nice. :) But, we are both good natured about it.

She did, finally, agree that I could put a big water tank in the back yard under the deck. I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet, but I intend to do it after I figure out what I need to do to keep it from freezing.
 
Meerkat said:
Hi Tacitus,good seeing your post again.
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Thanks Meerkat!

Meerkat said:
No telling what you hit doing so. Or what kind of fines.
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I can't even cut down a tree in my back "yard" (really, a small forest) without running afoul of the law. They would probably send a SWAT team if I started digging a well!
 
Tacitus said:
Thanks Meerkat!
I can't even cut down a tree in my back "yard" (really, a small forest) without running afoul of the law. They would probably send a SWAT team if I started digging a well!
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I would imagine a permit is needed to drill a well everywhere.
 
Weedygarden said:
... grandparents. They had a well in their basement. I imagine the well w as dug first, by I really have no idea. ...
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An open well? A well that you could lower a bucket into and draw water out? IMHO a open well below grade is a source to contaminate the water source. Furnace using oil for fuel and has a leak. Basement have a history of flooding? Playing children emptying into the well whatever chemicals or paints stored in the basement.
 
The Lazy L said:
An open well? A well that you could lower a bucket into and draw water out? IMHO a open well below grade is a source to contaminate the water source. Furnace using oil for fuel and has a leak. Basement have a history of flooding? Playing children emptying into the well whatever chemicals or paints stored in the basement.
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I doubt that it was an open well. I never saw it, but all the wells I saw in that area had hand pumps on them. I would imagine that eventually they had it set up so that they had a pressure tank and no longer needed the hand pump. My parents had a well just outside the house and eventually Dad set it up so that we had running water.
 
A few cases of bottled water (we rotate those), Four 55 gallon drums filled with water (plus a wee touch of bleach to keep the water good), and small rainwater harvesting system. 3 Water Bobs if the need arises to fill them. Probably not enough, but it's the best we've got right now.
 
CrackbottomLouis said:
I have 3 springs on my property. ...
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That is awesome. When I win the lottery, I will have what you have.

I don't think I can get the wife to move, so property with a spring has to be an add-on to what we already have, not a replacement.

I wonder how much the government or the public knows about spring locations on private property. Are these usually catalogued? I'm guessing not. But, if I were a disaster planner, I'd want to know where the springs were.

There are several flowing springs in a park a few miles away. I've thought that those who visit the park and know about them will eventually be camped out there if an EMP strikes, that is, if they live too far away to make it possible to bring water to their house every day. Most people probably don't know about the springs...but the authorities surely know about them (or will know about them)...assuming any authority remains, those authorities should probably take steps to protect the springs (make it possible for thousands of people to access them), lest the traffic around them pollute the area.
 
Tacitus said:
That is awesome. When I win the lottery, I will have what you have.

I don't think I can get the wife to move, so property with a spring has to be an add-on to what we already have, not a replacement.

I wonder how much the government or the public knows about spring locations on private property. Are these usually catalogued? I'm guessing not. But, if I were a disaster planner, I'd want to know where the springs were.

There are several flowing springs in a park a few miles away. I've thought that those who visit the park and know about them will eventually be camped out there if an EMP strikes, that is, if they live too far away to make it possible to bring water to their house every day. Most people probably don't know about the springs...but the authorities surely know about them (or will know about them)...assuming any authority remains, those authorities should probably take steps to protect the springs (make it possible for thousands of people to access them), lest the traffic around them pollute the area.
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The springs look great but I havent had the water tested. On my to do list. Unfortunately, I live right over a granite shelf so any ground water comes from unconfined aquifers. As opposed to confined aquifers, unconfined aquifers are much more susceptible to pollution from ground contaminants. As I live in a decently populated area I would be concerned about the water becoming polluted in an extended shtf situation.

I have extra filters for my berkey but 5 gallons at a time (it takes about 24 hrs to filter through with 2 filters) would not keep up with demand if we had extra family staying with us as planned. I have about 6 5-gallon jugs which is about 3.5 weeks for my wife and I if we use other water for bathing, washing and flushing toilets.

Long story short, even with access to non public water my water plan needs some work. There are several things on my to do list besides getting the water tested. I want to build a larger water filter for non drinking intermediate use water. A few rain barrels on downspouts for easier, close access to water for flushing toilets. I want to dam up below one of the springs to make a small pond uphill from where I want to put my greenhouse for irrigation and small fish stocks. I have a pool as well so I definitely need to stock more water purification chems like acid, base, chlorine, and food safe pool shock. Another berkey if not 2. But, I'm far better off than in my last place water wise.
 
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