Category: Water Storage & Filters

Field Gear on a Shoestring Budget: Ten Project Examples, by George S.

The following are some hopefully useful field expedients, substitutes and spares, all of which can be had for a buck to about ten bucks each: #1: Drywall Saw: if you don’t have one of those all-purpose $49.95 survival knives or field shovels from Gerber or Glock with the accessory root saw, or you’ve found that the finger-length saw blade on a Swiss Army folder leaves a lot to be desired when cutting a 2×6 [board] down to size? A bow saw or flexible survival kit saw are a couple of possible candidates that may be up to the task, but …


Letter Re: Precipitation and Growing Season as Retreat Locale Criteria

Sir, Regarding your Retreat Areas recommendations: I grew up on a small multi-crop and livestock farm in north western Iowa, with 24 inches of precipitation and 180 frost free days. I have been living in California Eastern Sierra since 1982 , but soon will be leaving. I respectfully submit that your assessment of the agricultural capability of many of the low precipitation/low humidity areas of the western US is vastly overestimated. Western states such as Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico are not farmable by amateurs using conventional means available during any TEOTWAWKI scenario. Obtaining water rights and controlling large …


Letter Re: Small Volume Water Purification with UV from Sunlight

Jim, I recently learned about a water purification system that is being promoted by Rotary International for Third World areas without safe drinking water. Simply put: fill a plastic bottle with water, and leave it in the bright sun for six hours. The ultraviolet (UV) light kills the pathogens, and the water is safe to drink. [JWR Adds: This method only works well with fairly clear water. UV light cannot penetrate very murky water, and it will not sterilize any plant matter suspended in the water. So be sure to use a pre-filter when treating water from open sources such …


Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Assembling Web Gear

I love the questions on web gear. Best advice I can give, having gone through multiple iterations of trying this and that, is to divide up your load. What do I mean by this? In the military they have a “combat load” and an “approach load” concept. Your “combat load” is the web gear that you see troops with all the time – their “battle rattle.” On the other hand the “approach load” is similar to what we would refer to as a survival load (roughly). The major problem with web gear is that it does not work with any …


Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Rainwater Catchment and Filtration

Sir: I am an environmental engineer. You posted a letter that inquired as to whether a ceramic water filter was capable of removing chemicals that leach from plastic containers. The answer is no, a ceramic microfilter will not remove the chemicals. Aside from reverse osmosis, which requires pressures that are too high [for treating large volumes of water] in a survival situation, the best choice for treating water with chemical contaminants is to use activated carbon. Activated carbon is very cheap, widely used by municipal water treatment plants, and is highly effective at removing many organic contaminants (through adsorption). I …


Two Letters Re: A Vehicular BoB

Mr. Editor: I have been a reader of this blog for a little while now and one of the earlier postings I read caught my eye: In regards to a vehicle “bug out” kit. That list was certainly a good place to start, but it was missing a few items, so I thought I would put my “two cents” worth in. To give you a little bit of background, I would describe myself as essentially being a realist. I watch the news, I read the papers. I know what is going on around me. I am aware of today’s political …


Letter Re: A Vehicular Bug-Out Kit

One thing that I have not seen properly addressed anywhere online is an appropriate kit for the bug out vehicle. You folks in snow country can reply to this with some recommendations for that scenario. Please do. I survived five hurricanes , one of them in the Virgin Islands, over the years so I consider myself an advanced student of the Bug Out Vehicle. First and foremost. Cars are useless without fuel. They make a decent shelter but they’re tough to carry with you. I haven’t seen a backpack that would hold one. Get yourself as many large cans as …


Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Rainwater Catchment and Filtration

Mr. Rawles: When constructing a rain-catch such as this one, which the good folks at Lowe’s [–a major hardware store chain in the US–] suggest for economically watering your garden, is there any instance where it would be okay to use this as a backup for drinking water? Obviously, one would be foolish to drink directly from containers that are not food-grade or if the water has been sitting for too long a time. But, my question is does that change if you plan on running the water through a purifying process such as through a Berky or this economically …


Letter Re: A Suggested Checklist for Preparedness Newbies

Here’s a beginner’s list I made for my [elderly] father today: Food {Brown pearl] rice does not store well. Neither does cooking oil so that needs to be fresh. No, Crisco doesn’t count. Coconut oil would be your best bet. Wheat berries – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Beans – 400 pounds – bulk order at your local health food store Mylar bags Spices Salt Country Living grain mill propane tanks, small stove and hoses to connect freeze dried fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat if you can find them. Water 500 gallons of water …


Letter Re: Mexico as a Retreat Locale and Advice on Water Filters

Hello Folks, I just completed going through a portion of the SurvivalBlog archives and look forward to exploring the site further. I especially liked the animation about Libertarian philosophy. Very well done with excellent points to consider. I have recently returned to the US after having spent four years in a small village in Mexico outside of Guadalajara. I am an artist and teacher of art and semi-retied there after having had my medical insurance increased a number of times to the point of being ridiculous. I just got fed up and moved south. Two years earlier I had spent …


Letter Re: 11th Hour Preparations: It is Not Too Late to Start

Jim: It is not too late to prepare for the hard times that are coming. But time is short, so I am going to be brutally blunt. Prices are going up. If you don’t already expect double digit inflation, you haven’t been paying attention. If you are just realizing that you need to prepare for the future, forget buying barter goods. Forget precious metals to swap for what others may be willing to sell. The idea of buying things so that you can swap them for other goods or services later is bad policy. That’s right. I’m advocating that you …


Letter Re: Water Storage and Crash Course Advice

Jim, First off let me say I continue to enjoy everything you post on SurvivalBlog. I believe that, given, recent events, my extended family is coming around and is wanting to finally start getting prepared (let us hope its not too late). Second, in reference to the WaterBOB that someone cited recently: what preferred method of treatment do you recommend in storing the water in the mentioned device for long term? Third, what ‘crash course’ advice can you offer for those who may be too little too late in getting prepared for WTSHTF? Or for those recently converted who want …


Letter Re: Some Practical Notes on Third World Living

Jim, As this is not a competition entry, it has not been reviewed by an outside set of eyes yet, and I’m sure its kind of disorganized, but this is some info about third world life, as I can see it here, after things stabilize. My wife is from Peru. She was born during the Peruvian hyperinflation and transition to its next fiat currency, the Nuevo Sol. (Yeah, we’re young whippersnappers) She recently started to help out in getting ready. What helped her was comparing the current economic climate here to Peru. This allowed her to correlate things that occur …


From FerFAL in Argentina: A US Crash that Will Parallel Argentina’s?

Hi James, These are hard times, indeed. The parallels between the days before our own economy [in Argentina] collapsed and what’s going on today in America today are very hard to ignore. Our local television seems to be getting some kind of sick kick out of all this. They showing the comparisons, even editing politicians and economists speeches showing how similar they were to the ones the American politicians and economists are using right now. In some cases, they even said the exact same line, the only difference being the language. About the article “Letter Re: What Are the Economic …


Letter Re: Recommendation for Water BOB Bathtub Water Storage Bladder

Dear Mr. Rawles, All the stories recently about power failure and storing water in bathtubs have encouraged me to write to you about the WaterBOB. It’s a heavy duty plastic bladder that you put in your bathtub and then fill with clean water from the tap. It comes with a siphon so that removing the water is easy. IMO, The greatest advantage of this product is that the water remains potable, even though a bathtub is generally not suitable for storing drinking water. The WaterBOB holds 100 gallons. Prices have increased substantially since I first bought mine a year or …