Category: Water Storage & Filters

Letter: SHTF Water-Related Questions

Jim I keep hundreds of coffee filters at my house and quite a few in the BOB to extend the life of the Katadyn ceramic water filter when it comes down to that. Could a reusable gold-screen coffee filter basket be deployed to pre-filter water in a survival situation (with possibly other applications I’m not thinking of yet)? I have one I no longer use but nothing goes in the BOB unless it will serve well. My wife tolerates a giant stash of coffee filters because I use them every day, but she is less tolerant of salt accumulation, whether …


Home Brewing for SHTF, by C.K.

(Preface by HJL: SurvivalBlog neither condones nor condemns alcohol consumption. However, we stand by a biblical perspective that takes a strong stance against drunkenness. There are serious issues that must be weighed in regards to alcohol consumption and commerce, and each reader should measure them carefully to know whether home brewing is for you or not.) What is home brewing? I am not talking about brewing your favorite cup of coffee or tea; I am referring to the growing hobby of brewing beer, wine, and other spirits at home. There are many advantages of brewing in SHTF. However, like other …


Letter Re: Gravity Fed Water Systems

Editor, A good and useful post by J.S. I always appreciate articles by those who have lived and used what they are proposing. As an irrigation contractor I built and used a homemade water system for a couple of decades in the Colorado mountains and can offer a few further ideas. For an infiltration gallery, I dug a small trench under the spring/small stream I had on the property and placed in the bottom 10′ of 4″ perforated flexible plastic drain pipe that came with a mesh “sock” around it. This pipe is used in French darins and the like. …


Gravity Fed Water Systems, by J.S.

Gravity systems are simple but very complex at the same time. Having lived on spring water that was fed by gravity for over 50 years, I have some experience in making these systems work and easy to maintain. I hope that my simple overview will help you design, build, and enjoy a gravity-fed system, too. There are four basic elements to a gravity water system: source, intake, sediment removal, and storage. Of course, you may have to deal with some troubleshooting down the road as well. Source The source can be any supply of free water. Spring, creeks, lakes, rivers …


Letter Re: The Water Solution

I liked the article and the follow up comments noting the sanitary issue raised. My plan is to drill a hole in the bottom of the right side of the water closet tank and put a separate filler valve supplied by water from the catchment system via a separate pipe. I have an abrasive edged hole saw and am about to go test it out on some decommissioned 5-gallon flushers. It’ll be interesting to see if I can successfully drill porcelain. I think this solves the sanitary issues of hooking up a catchment supplied system in a useful way, saving …


Letter Re: The Water Solution

HJL, I enjoyed the water article by EG. I own a farm and spend a great deal of time moving water around for irrigation purposes, and, yes, water is very heavy and difficult to move. I would like to give the folks some short hand for water. First, when burying water lines, go large. The smallest line I will install is two inches, when moving water over a couple hundred feet, because there is viscosity friction that builds up inside the the pipe wall the farther you go. It costs the same amount to dig the hole and the same …


The Water Solution, by E.G.

I am writing this article because most of my friends are still living in major U.S. cities and I feel that this information could be very valuable to them. In a grid down situation, one of the most important items to have on hand is a quantity of stored water. According to the Rule of 3’s, in an extreme situation, you cannot survive three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. I went off grid in October of last year, and I have learned a lot. I live on top of …


Letter: Clorox Changed Formula

Hi Hugh, Is the new Clorox Concentrated, splash-less bleach still recommended for purifying water? I can’t find the Clorox I bought for years. It seems all bleach is now concentrated. I am reading the blog this morning and people talking about bleaching their water (as we are taught to do). Well, it just occurred to me that the 3-pack Clorox that I bought from Sam’s Club awhile ago has not been doing the job it normally does. Yes, I know that they now have lemon and lavender, but I stay away from those. What I bought was the new “concentrated” …


Big Picture Water and Irrigation Considerations, by Terry Wyoming

As background, I am a water rights attorney with multiple engineer degrees who formerly worked as a drinking water treatment plant operator.  Given that water is a preppers most precious resource, there is no lack of advice for preppers about water treatment, storage, and procurement.  Despite this, very few people truly understand where their water comes from and the factors that influence the availability of water in rivers, lakes, and streams. However, this information is crucial for planning water supply and retreat locations. Below are some important considerations regarding water sources and delivery. Some of this is information specific to the …



Resource Managment – Water, by Z.H.T.

One of the reasons that I love watching movies and reading books, particularly those of the apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic variety, is because I occasionally learn a little tid-bit of useful knowledge that may one day benefit me. One of my favorite movies and novels of this genre is “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. While it is a fantastically bleak and powerful work, it still provided me a teaching moment that has been invaluable. In one of the opening scenes of the movie, we see that something dire has happened. Though we are never told what it is, we assume that …


Two Letters Re: Building a Backyard Water Treatment Plant, by J.S.M.

Dear Sir: Regarding “Building a Backyard Water Treatment Plant, by J.S.M.“, I wanted to comment on a couple of errors I saw in the last section on treating surface water with alum. I once worked for a manufacturer of aluminum sulfate and was involved in several trials at municipal water systems. First thing, I would not bother waiting a day for an initial settlement. Once the leaves, twigs, and tadpoles have been removed, you should go ahead and treat the water. It seems paradoxical, but the cleaner the water is when you start, the harder it is to get good …



Building a Backyard Water Treatment Plant, by J.S.M.

Clean drinking water is critical to your survival, because without potable water you will die within a few days. I don’t intend to hammer away on this point, because everyone who visits this blog generally knows how important it is to have access to clean water, and this subject has been covered many times from many different angles. Many of us have several hundred gallons of water stored away in containers, some more portable than others. Some plan to rely solely on a Berkey water filtration system to filter surface water collected from ponds or rain catchment barrels. While the …


Letter Re: Charleston West Virginia’s Drinking Water Crisis

Mr. Rawles, I noticed your reference to the water situation in the Charleston, West Virginia (Kanawha Valley) area. As of Saturday when I’m writing this, the water is suitable for flushing toilets and fire fighting but that is all. The town I live in (St. Albans) has their own independent supply, but most of the surrounding area is fed from the centralized West Virginia American Water Plant in Charleston. One plant serves a very large geographic area. I know when I first finished mechanical engineering school I could only find a job working for a small civil engineering company. We …