Old thread closed for speed and trickled down from here.
I just did an experiment: tracking how much water I actually DRINK. Did it by only using water in a 1 gal container. In 4 days, I polished off 3 GALLONS of water. This doesn’t include water for cooking, washing, or anything else. Just strictly the need for potable drinking water.
This, for me, in a small way is testing my preps.
If we end up having intermittent water service with “boil” advisories, I envision the need to store contaminated water separately from water that I’ve treated either with bleach or by boiling. There might even be three different water storage areas: the first to use for flushing only (captured rainwater off my asphalt shingle roof, what’s left from several cleaning cycles, or could contain leached plasticizers), the second that may have biological contamination but no other problems that I could drink or wash in after treatment, and the third water that I’ve treated. A clear color coding or spatial separation system seems called for.
My blue 55-gal barrels, plain white buckets, and pop bottles could be for clean or treated water, the bathtub and white buckets marked with a colored water-proof marker all the way around and on the lid could be for biologically contaminated water, and a used metal drum, colored buckets (like I’ve seen at Home Depot and WalMart), and kitty litter buckets could be for flush only. I think I could keep that straight
So when the water gets turned back on, I think my process would be (1) fill the bathtub and color marked white buckets from the tap, (2) if the power is on, get the automated drip system going for what’s left of the garden, (3) treat the bathtub water to fill up the potable water containers and refill the bathtub as many times as it takes, (4) if the power is off, hand-water the garden using the color marked white buckets or garden hose, (5) fill up the flush only containers using the garden hose.
Another thing to think on …
It won’t matter if you are on a well or not, but in the even that the water goes off … due to power failure or failure of public utilities … there will more than likely be a period when water isn’t available even after the water is turned back “on.”
People in desparate situations as is being predicted will more than likely drain all their house lines and possibly drain lines from from the street into their home.
Sometimes water pressure is the only thing holding some older water lines together. In the absence of water pressure, or suddenly renewed water pressure, pipes may rupture.
Be prepared to turn off the water coming into your house manually with what ever shut off valve that you have, until pressure is normalized somewhat.
If everyone in town is draining their lines, then this process of normalizing the water pressure will take even longer with lots of air in the lines, etc.
Good reason to make sure your water supply lines and pipes are in good shape now.
It also bears mentioning that it might not be a bad investment now to replace old faucets and toilet guts with the new, lower water usage styles.
Fix all leaky faucets and run-on toilets, etc.
Fix any tubs that won’t hold water (i.e., the plunger doesn’t fit tightly).
These are fairly minor fixes now but could be catastrophic in the event of a worst case pandemic.
Kathy in Fl, are you recommending turning off the water to the house right after city water fails, or after a problem has developed at your house and you have leaks?
There are two ways to turn off the water to my house - one at the street and one right near the house. The street method takes a big, long, heavy metal thing that I can’t manage by myself. The near house method works fine with the implement that you use to turn on sprinkler systems (long & thin) that a child could use. You might want to check your house to see if you also have multiple methods, and be sure you have the equipment for all of them.
Jane – at 10:22
It will depend on your individual situation. I’m not saying that draining the lines is bad in and of itself; however, as much benefit as have access to any and all water you can harvest might be off-set if draining the lines eventually causes breakdowns in the water delivery system. You also don’t want your neighbors draining your lines … through gravity or whathave you.
Turning the water off at the street means that it is unlikely that anyone but your house will be able to access the water that lies between the street and your home. Turning the water off at your house means that you should be the only one that has access to the water remaining in your home lines.
For instance, I have an 80 gallon hot water tank here at home. I plan on accessing that water if necessary. However, if the powder goes back on I know that there will be a time delay to fill the tank back up before I can get any water out of it again so will need to make sure that all hot water taps in the house are off and stay off until the tank is filled up. I also know that I need to make sure that if I empty the tank that I need to make sure that the water is off to the tank or I could blow the heating element inside it if the power is on, but no water.
Also thought about getting locks to go on the exterior water taps to prevent any water from being “borrowed.”
Just look at your water delivery system and take it sector by sector. Are there any weak points inside your house? Are there weak points from your house to the well or your house to the road? Are there any weak points in the water delivery system so that it can get to your house?
By taking it a small sector at a time, you can develop the best logical response in case the water does go off.
Personally I discovered that I needed to clean out my hot water tank more often than I thought it needed it. I also found several small items that needed repairing with regard to faucets and tubs. I also discovered that I needed to clean out the tanks for the toilets due to mineral sediment.
A bonus discovery I made however was that between the hotwater tank, the toilet tanks (not bowls), and the likely amount of water in the house lines I have an extra 100 gallons of water I can access if I have to. For a family of 7, that is almost 2 weeks worth of water.
Kathy in FL – at 11:02
“I have an 80 gallon hot water tank here at home. I plan on accessing that water if necessary. However, if the powder goes back on I know that there will be a time delay to fill the tank back up before I can get any water out of it again so will need to make sure that all hot water taps in the house are off and stay off until the tank is filled up. I also know that I need to make sure that if I empty the tank that I need to make sure that the water is off to the tank or I could blow the heating element inside it if the power is on, but no water. “
I anticipate gradual deterioration of water service, not On or Off scenario. It may start with lower water pressure, water still flowing but untreated etc.
My question is when should we turn off so that we don’t contaminate the water in our pipes and the hot water tank. Especially if water stops flowing one day and come back up the next.
Whatever I store will only last so long, hopefully long enough for a ‘wave’ to pass. Now comes the hard part, how do I deal with the suspect water coming through our pipes - seems like a nightmare to me. Perhaps I need to add a garden hose type faucet right beyond the incoming valve, and then another shut off valve just beyond that. Then I know bad water won’t get beyond the second valve which will remain shut off until I am 101% certain that it is safe.
ANON-YYZ – at 13:27
I have a well system so my water will be “on” or “off” depending on whether we have electric or not. <grin>
Ask your local utilities about how quickly contaminated water could reach your house if there is a problem at a pumping station or what ever system they use.
Then you can judge when is best to start filtering and/or chemically processing your water for contamination.
Hmmm. Meant to add that once we began to SIP, I would begin the process of filling extra water containers so that I didn’t get caught unexpectedly by a power outage.
Sorry about the measurments it is 40 feet down for the shallow well. I talked to the plumber guy and home depot and he states several people he knows have moved the well head down over 200 feet to the underground river. This is here in Florida.
Blackbird – at 01:18
That’s a great idea. I’m going to try.
Closed to maintain Forum speed.