SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Today, a SurvivalBlog reader writes in asking for your opinion on whole house water filtration.
Firearms in Vehicles
A Pennsylvania State Representative has introduced H.B. 2669 which would prohibit a person from carrying a loaded firearm in any vehicle with some exceptions related to game hunting, law enforcement, military personnel and security drivers. Using the standard anti-gun rhetoric of “common sense gun safety”, she has decided that your ability to protect yourself while traveling is unimportant. The statistically insignificant incident of road rage that is being targeted is more important that your ability to defend yourself and/or your family while in your car.
I notice that the significant number of defensive uses of firearms carried while in vehicles is strangely absent from your statistics. Thankfully, I live in a state where your vehicle is just an extension of your home as it should be. Hopefully, voters will remember her actions come re-election time. Thanks to DSV for the link.
Get Government Out of Your Life
Reader H.L. sent in this excellent article on how to minimize the impact of government on your life. Interestingly, the premise is mostly just to ignore them. Of course, the author isn’t talking about those IRS notices demanding their protection money or the police car with flashing lights behind you. Rather, they are talking about government intrusion into your normal life. In the words of the infamous Rahm Emanuel: “You never want a serious crises to go to waste”. Government has a habit of capitalizing on emotion and stepping in “to help”. Don’t let them help. Move on. The statistics given on deaths attributed to terrorism in the U.S. are appalling compared to deaths by cop, or traffic accidents, yet look which one gets more headlines and imposes more invasive restrictions on your travel.
Pantries and Root Cellars
Reader T.J. sent in this article on the lost art of pantries and root cellars. Modern conveniences like refrigeration have made the use of storage pantries and root cellars almost a forgotten art. Our electric grid seems to be reliable for the vast majority of the time and power outages tend to be comparatively few and far in between. This article is a primer for those who are unfamiliar with these two types of storage serving two very different storage needs. Root cellars are cool and humid (like the crisper drawer in your refrigerator) to create the right conditions for your crops and a pantry is cool and dry. While root cellars are typically not practical in our current urban lifestyles, pantries are.
I know I have been appalled when visiting family and friends only to discover that they make daily trips to the grocery store because they have such a limited supply of food at home.
Herd Immunity
The Patriot Nurse has new vlog entry on this new polio-like disease that is currently appearing. She gives a good description of what the disease actually is and what your chances of being affected by it. She also goes into the media coverage of this disease and how news reporters are using this to attack anti-vaxxers. The concept of unnecessary vaccinations is covered and how many doctors offices (and places like pharmacies) use these vaccines as income. It is refreshing to hear a medical professional take the opinion that you have the right to make your own choices about vaccines. You are responsible for your own decisions and this concept of “civic duty” and “herd immunity” is just garbage.
Fatal Herpes
Fox News had an article about a sad situation recently. A newborn baby, born healthy, died within days after having contracted the HSV-1 (Herpies) virus. The mother believes that one of the well-wishers who had the active virus kissed the baby and imparted the virus. The virus then attached itself to her spine and ate her lungs and brain. The article goes on to relate that up to 70% of the adult population in the United States is infected with this virus and may not even know it. Cold sores or small blisters on the mouth are the typical indication that something is wrong, but not always.
I remember how protective I was of my own children when they were born and I hesitated to let others hold him (especially when they hadn’t washed their hands) let along kiss them. While many a friend was offended by my actions, I now feel totally vindicated. This is a reminder though, about how fragile a new life can be and how we are rather spoiled in today’s medical world on the survival rate of our children.
Water Filtration
SurvivalBlog reader P.B. wrote in to ask other readers for their opinions on whole house water treatment. He lives in a very rural location, but still has access to municipal water. They also have a well and are putting in a second one. They would like an on-site, unified water treatment facility that will manage all three of these water sources and make sure that there is plenty of water for their homestead and render it safe for drinking. If you have some ideas, you might post them in comments below.
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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
On water filtration I live in a very rural area of New England with no municipal water only a deep water well I get the water tested every year ( never a problem) I run my drinking water thru a big berky just for peace of mind it works for me and its simple.
Water Treatment.
I have basically the same situation, well water w/ methane and sulfur. I use a simple 2-3 stage 2×10 canister filter for basic filtration. Get the clear housings so you can see the condition of the filters.
Start w/ a 5 micron pleated filter that can be cleaned and reused followed by a 1 micron poly filter and then a 1/2 micron carbon block.
For the safest, healthiest, drinking, cooking, cleaning and disinfecting water go here
http://www.wedrinkkangenwater.com/
and watch this 30 minute video introduced by Pat Boone
http://www.wedrinkkangenwater.com/?c=uses-videos#c=uses-videos
Reverse osmosis is the best way to have ” the best” water. Its very expensive for the whole house, so you would put one unit where ever you drink water, then at your primary water source weather it be from a well or city supply you will have a whole house double unit being a micron cartridge then a carbon cartridge, these can be bought at Tractor Supply if you have one other wise Home Depot and Lowes carry the reverse osmosis and the whole house filter housings. NOTE, you will have to change the cartridge filters monthly without fail, but this will only cost about $ 16 for both. The RO filters last a couple of years.
Fatal Herpes. This is a sad article but the commentators over reaction to an isolated event is even sadder. I listened to The Patriot Nurse awhile back as she described how being over protective of children is causing more harm than good. Specifically sterilizing you home and isolating your children has the negative effect of preventing the growth of their natural immune system. Now I am not suggesting that we snack on a handful of dirt once in awhile but without a strong immune system people rely on antibiotics for everything, this causes Mother Nature to keep coming up with mutated strains of germs that become resistant. We are seeing these strains popping up all over the world. As a prepper I know that antibiotics will be a thing of the past as they will disappear or lose their potency and our only defense will be our immune system or natural remedies and I do not want to rely on leaves and twigs to fight flesh eating bacteria or mutated typhoid fever.
@Joe,
Now who’s overreacting? Did I mention anything about protecting your kids from germs as they grow up? Did I mention anything about jumping to the use of antibiotics for everything?. Did I even mention sterilizing your home? Nope. What I said was you should be careful of letting others touch your NEWBORN without at least washing their hands. During the first week of life, their own immune system is adjusting and growing and overwhelming it by bathing them in a septic tank to make sure they are good and exposed to every possible germ is a great way to kill them. Patriot Nurses vlog was about parents that perpetually protect their children from germs, not about NEWBORNS. I’d really rather not go back to the days where infant mortality was at the 50% mark. This article is about a sad case that ended in death, but as an EMT, I’ve seen literally hundreds of cases where NEWBORNS are rushed back to the hospital and required extreme life saving measures because the parents did not take precautions during this very critical time.
There are a couple of good water treatment options out there for processing useable amounts of untreated, raw water. I am using a whole-house filter system by Equinox, called the Lakewater Filter. I use a Jet pump to pull water from a mountain stream about 200 feet to the cabin and push the water through the filters, in-line chlorinator, carbon filter (this weighs about 80 lbs, dry), and a UV sterilizer in the final stage (nails any life form that ranged to get through the .35 micron final filter stage). It features progressive filter stages…..20 micron, 5 micron, and .35 micron. Cysts, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium, are anywhere from 4 to 14 microns, but in the event a couple wriggle through, the UV unit will render them inactive…..to say nothing of viruses and bacteria. The huge carbon filter is rated at 700,000 gallons…..100 gallons per day for 20 years.
I get about 5 gallons per minute through this system. http://www.vitasalus.net/lake-rain-water-system CALL them.
I recently installed a WaterPure Technologies three stage filter….it’s a gang filter assembly starting with a 5 micron filter, then a carbon cartridge, and the final stage rated at 99.9999% of viruses, bacteria, even DNA. This technology is used on the International Space Station and is far more efficient than RO units (no back-flushing required!). These are 4 1/2″ X 20″ cartridges, so the flow rate is an impressive 20 gallons per minute. Life span (on city water) is 200,000 gallons, but I think you can get at least 50,000 GPM if you are filtering ditch water if you install a 20 micron and 10 micron jar in the line ahead of the unit to spare the WaterPure unit the heavy lifting. A set of three 4 1/2″ X 20 cartridges is $200.00. Each filter jar has its own pressure gage to notify the user when THAT cartridge needs replacement. No need to change out the entire set. I routed the plumbing of the new WaterPure Technologies filter to run through the Steri-Light UV unit. I have to throttle down the WaterPure flow rate to 8 GPM or less so the treated water spends enough time under UV insult to inactivate pathogens. I employed the WaterPure unit as a backup to the Lakewater unit.
Both systems require some power to operate, so see to it that you have your own, reliable alternative power system to assure operation. Spare pumps, cartridges, UV bulbs, etc…are wise. I’d attach pictures, but I can’t do that here.
With some planning and commitment, you can assure your family has a reliable source of safe water.
Well water and a Royal Berry, similar to John. Very happy with this set up.
We’re about to install a new softener and double filters from US Water Systems. Spouse is an avid researcher and found it seemed to be the best for our rural well. We needed to filter out turbidity, hardness, H2S smell and other gases. Filters are 20 micron then 5 micron filter, then it goes into the softener then into a recovery filter. I’m not up to speed on all of this but hopefully it will be installed while I’m out of the state for five days.
Limescale and sulfur, you want an oxidizer like chlorine or peroxide. Bleach is much cheaper than peroixde.
You have a treatment tank that the chlorinator pump (a stenner) feeds into w/ a diluted bleach mixture from a chlorine tank. Limescale and sulfur particles fall to bottom of this tank, and water then feeds into a charcoal tank prior to heading to the water softener (w/o charcoal tank excess chlorine could damage softener resins).
Surprised at how few know this — chlorinator alone would eliminate most limescale and sulfur from folks water…
Regardless, to unify those systems, I’d have outdoor water use exclusively on wells as own independent system, and then configure wells and municipal to feed into an onsite water storage tank with whatever pre-treatment you desire prior to entering that tank for potable water stage… For the tank, you’d have a float switch, or switches, that’d control the feed from a water source. Leaving that storage tank, you’d have a pressure tank and jet pump to feed water to your home and pass through whatever add’l filters/uv treatment you’d like at that time.
RO in the home for consumption is a no brainer with all the chemicals — pesticides and pharmaceuticals that standard treatments don’t remove. We have an apec (yes, do get the 3/8″ line upgrade kit — big difference in flow from 1/4), but I added the aquasana claryum remineralization cartridge to it either immediately before or after the final charcoal filter on the line exiting the storage tank. Aquasana cartridgecontains calcium, magnesium, and potassium and doesn’t seem to be intended to produce alkaline water (which are all mostly just calcium), and I also think that alkaline water benefits are a crock…
For ice makers, you can feed a line off prior to remineralization cartridge if you wish to ensure no taste issue on cocktails, etc, but that’s entirely up to you.
I’m still on the fence about purchasing one of the vortex water conditioners. Even if claims don’t stick, it shouldn’t cause any harm if you let water run for a few seconds prior to drinking…
And regardless on RO systems, about 1/2 of whatever you water tank size is under the sink is add’l gallons of water you have on hand and in a pressurized system that’s unaffected by water outages until that tank runs empty.