Category: Water Storage & Filters

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 …


Letter Re: Questions on Short Term Survival in an Urban Office Building

Dear Mr. Rawles, First off, I just want to say that I really appreciate what you’re doing with your blog site. I’ve learned so many useful things and feel that I am beginning to have a basic understanding of how to prepare for and live in and a survival situation. Second, I’d like to give you a quick bit of background about myself so you can hopefully help me with my dilemma/question… I am a young adult working on the 9th floor of a large building in Manhattan [on Long Island, New York City, New York]. I do not own …


Letter Re: Advice for an Unprepared Greenhorn

Hello Mr. Rawles! I love your blog, and visit at least weekly, more often daily. The current economic situation is sickening. I mean, actually making my stomach hurt, as I am not prepared. I just recently was hit on the head with the motivation to get prepared. The only problem with that is that I don’t even know where to start. Food? Weapons and Ammunition? Medical supplies? I am the patriarch of a family of 4. My wife and I, and our two children, both 10 and under. What I could use your advice on is just what I mentioned …


Letter Re: My Hurricane Ike Experience

Dear Mr. Rawles, First of all, my heart goes out to all those who truly suffered with loss of life or property as a result of Hurricane Ike. I only had the minor inconvenience of being without electricity in Houston for five days. (There are still over one million in Houston and the surrounding area without power.) So I had a taste of what it is like to be off-grid and learned a few things to share with your readers. It seems a lot of people here had generators which burn lots of precious gasoline. But after a few days …


Letter Re: An Expedient Toilet Flushing Method for Grid-Down Situations

Salutations, [In a recent letter to SurvivalBlog,] Jeff in Ohio mentioned filling the toilet tank with water in order to flush it, however, this is not necessary. You can flush by pouring about a gallon directly into the bowl. (Don’t dribble it in, but also don’t get carried away and slosh it in at once . . . unless you really want to use more water to mop the floor.) I learned this from my military service in Okinawa in the late 70s where we had water rationing with running water only every other day. On water days we filled …


Three Letters Re: Tropical Storm Ike’s Devastation Works its Way North to Ohio

Hello Jim, This note is in reference to the letter from Melanie and Rick in Columbus about the woman who never thought of using the grill to cook. I had a similar experience with my mother-in-law. While we had power and water, she had lost hers. I offered to bring buckets of water to her house so she could manually refill the toilet tank to flush with(she has septic). Not only did she not think of that, she couldn’t understand the concept. She ended up going to a hotel for a couple of days. People like this will not last …


Letter Re: Some Thoughts on Practical Preparedness — Things That Work

Jim: To follow-up on the last two e-mails that you posted from me, here are some random thoughts that I’d like to share on preparedness for when the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF): Use an eyeglasses “leash” (lanyard) to prevent the loss of glasses and reduce the risk of damage. Buy janitorial-size rolls os toilet paper, without perforations. Each roll is 1,000 feet long, and a box of 12 rolls measures about two feet square. These take up just a fraction of the room required to store the same length of toilet paper in standard household rolls. Use a kiddie-type …


Letter Re: Some Thoughts on Fuel Conservation WTSHTF

Jim: To follow-up on my last e-mail, here are some random thoughts that I’d like to share on fuel conservation, for when the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF): Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) – Often used in the Third World to save fuel and time when treating drinking water. Water that is heated to 149 degrees for a short time is free from living microbes. Water does not have to be boiled for 10 minutes. A WAPI is a simple, small and low cost tube with a special soy wax that can show that water has reached a safe Pasteurization temperature. …