Category: Water Purification

Letter Re: Winter Survival

HJL, One point to consider regarding use of water filters in cold weather: Both Sawyer and Lifestraw warn that once their filter have been used, they should not be exposed to freezing temperatures. Ceramic filters are not as susceptible. From the Lifestraw web site: “If your LifeStraw has been used, and is then exposed to freezing temperatures, water inside can freeze and crack the filter. You may not see these cracks, so we recommend never letting it freeze once it’s been used. When camping at high elevations or freezing temperatures, be extra careful not to let it freeze.” From Sawyer …


Water Works- Part 4, by JSP

Other Projects, A Future Project, and “War Game” Potential Problems In this final section addressing survival related water systems, I will outline a few projects we have completed, talk about a future project, and “war game” potential problems that could arise. Our personal outlook is that, when things crash, people who are previously identified will be coming to our place of retreat, and we also have to be open to the fact that the Holy Spirit may direct people to us who we don’t currently know. Our main residence has a standard septic tank and drain field, two bathrooms, and …


Two Letters Re: Water Works, by JSP

Hugh, Reference “Water Works, by JSP”. Back in 1960’s Dad buried a 250-gallon steel fuel oil tank. The oil tank was buried in heavy clay soil. In the 1980’s Dad retired and since he no longer needed the fuel tank, he left the tank empty. After an unusual heavy rain fall, the oil tank had floated out of the ground about one foot. Since the author is burying plastic tanks, I feel it is very important to strap the tanks to a concrete base, if he wants to keep them buried. – R.L. o o o HJL, In reference to …


Water Works- Part 3, by JSP

Hot Water Grid Down or When the Schumer Hits The Fan Let’s all agree that we can survive without hot water. Yet, as some have successfully argued on this blog that when it comes to food “variety is the spice of life”, I would ask why it is important, especially in a survival situation. “Morale” would be my answer. We could all survive on rice and beans, but it would be hard to keep group morale up if after a supper of rice and beans the group only could look forward to a breakfast of rice and beans. My personal …


Water Works- Part 2, by JSP

In part 1, I explained several things we did to take our water preps to the next level, which felt good but was still lacking in some areas. So, let’s start by looking at the potential problems of that system. Problems of Our Water System At This Point First, at this point, the poly tanks are not “plumbed” to anything; they are simply static, stand-alone storage vessels. Make no mistake that is way better than having no water on hand but not ideal either. Secondly, the primary grid down backup plan is a gas generator. Many people would argue that …



Three Letters Re: An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite, by TLS

HJL, Great article on the Pentair Intellichlor. A couple of things I gleaned from the Amazon listing attached to the article: “…I’ve been told the power unit is simply a fancy transformer that reduces the voltage from 120V down to 12V…” So, perhaps the unit can be run, grid-down, without the need for an (energy consuming) inverter? (directly from a battery bank?) And: “It won’t generate chlorine if the water temperature is too cold. The water temp needs to be at least 52 degrees.” Good to be aware of this limiting factor. – Best, P.R. o o o Hugh, We …


Obsoleting Sodium Hypochlorite – The MSR SE200, by Hugh Latimer

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In 2004, the devastating Southeast Asia Tsunami stimulated charity from all over the world. Fresh drinking water was one of the prime concerns in this disaster and MSR (Cascade Designs) had been specializing in back country water purification for years. They lept into action, delivering many of their water purification devices to the area. Unfortunately, they learned some hard lessons along the way. In their own words, they admitted that the philanthropic effort, though well intended, was humbling. The logistics were complicated, so delivery of the devices was hindered, and once there they discovered that the size of the devices, …


Letter Re: An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite, by TLS

Gentlemen, I just read the excellent article written on chlorine usage for water disinfection. As a long time analytical chemist, it was a pleasure to read such an articulate article on the subject. I wanted to add a caveat to the article. One must keep in mind that when using chlorine, a minimum contact time of one hour is required to kill organisms, and you should maintain a residual of chlorine in the water. Contact time is the length of time the chlorine is allowed to work. And since the chlorine reacts with the organic molecules composing the undesirable organisms, …


Two Letters Re: The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities

Hi HJL and JWR, The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities was an awesome article. Patrice Lewis definitely addresses the knowns, the unknowns, known unknowns, and unknown-unknowns in her article! I totally agree, based on the same data that she and her husband are looking at that most people won’t make it out of the cities alive. As a collapse theorist myself, if we do indeed have a fast crash (as compared to the slow one we’re currently in), I believe that the current societal trends– the suicides, the mass-shootings, overdoses of legal and illegal drugs, et cetera– would …


A Beginners Guide to Practical Prepping: Lessons From a True Story of Disaster, by R.L.

It was September 1989, a time in history that is forever burned into my memory. I was working as a firefighter in a small town outside Columbia, South Carolina. Hurricane Hugo had developed in the Atlantic, it was ripping apart the Carribean islands and it was headed our way. All the news on television and radio were inundated with updates on this killer storm; we were tuned into the Weather Channel at the firehouse carefully watching and waiting. The original forecast was that the Category 4 hurricane would turn north and only threaten the North Carolina coast. It was assumed …


Reality Checks for a Grid Down Scenario, By Blueleader

I sometimes hear misguided individuals who repeat the statement going around that if the grid goes down we will be thrown back to the days before electricity: The 1880s. The prevalent thought is that folks back then did fine so it wouldn’t be so bad for us to simply revert to that level of technology. Well, what if we examine your day in a post grid failure scenario? Here is a reality check for you to consider: Let us say you get up ‘the day after’ and you’re cold. Bummer. Well, in the 1880s if you got up and you …


Hidden Groundwater Sources in Urban/Suburban Settings, by ALP

If you are ever find yourself in an urban or suburban setting and need water badly, there is a source of water you probably never thought of as accessible: groundwater. In my day job as an environmental technician, I frequently have to supervise contractors who are drilling observation wells in all sorts of urban and suburban settings. Sometime after drilling, I take samples from the wells and submit them to labs to test if they are contaminated. Basically, almost every transaction of a commercial or industrial property, and many residential properties also, will have several surface groundwater wells; so, you …


Scot’s Product Review: Katadyn Pocket Water Filter

There is the rule of threes for survival, which says you can go three minutes without air before you’re dead, three days without water, and three weeks without food. That’s not exact science, of course, and there are variables. Someone in great shape can last longer, and a moderate climate will let you go longer without water. In my part of the world, it gets really hot in the summer, and I suspect three days might be optimistic. Luckily, down here in the southeast, it rains a lot, especially in the summer. There is also a lot of standing water, …


Letter Re: Calcium Hypochlorite

I recently bought a 1 lb. bag of DryTec calcium hypchlorite through Amazon. When I repackaged it for long-term storage I noticed there was very little chlorine odor. I made a 1/2 gal. per directions for stock. I poured the stock directly on the tail of a non-colorfast shirt (bright red that already had white spots from a sodium hyphochlorite spill) and left it for hours; it didn’t even lighten the color. I don’t know any other way to test the amount of available chlorine that I have on hand, but I am deeply concerned that a lot of people …