Squaregrouper's SHTF Water Info Thread

[Pinecone]

Removing salts would be the biggest challenge. Even in the most arid regions of the world, this is not something any logical thinking person would consider.

Solar still.

Basically distillation using sun as the heat source. You can make a simple one with a piece of plastic, a wide mouth bottle or can, and a rock. And a shovel to dig a hole.

There are also commercial ones from survival rafts.

One thing you said at the beginning of the thread was that boiling does not remove anything. But it does. If you boil water in an open pot, all the lower boiling point volatiles will boil off first, into the open air. the heavy fractions would remain.

If you have source with a high chemical load from low boiling point compounds, boiling then distilling (as separate steps) would help. And if you do not boil the pot dry when distilling, you would get rid the higher boiling point fractions.

Also, there are many people around the world that use distilled water for drinking and cooking for many years. If you were ONLY drinking water, it would be an issue. But you also eat foods with minerals. And if you mix anything with the water (drink mix, coffee, tea, etc) it is no longer pure distilled water.

 

[LiveSteamer]

This is my first post. My brother is a forum member and put me on to MDS. I have been prepping for years and this water thread is some of the best material I have found on the subject. Thank you.

I have a rainwater collection system. My roof is metal and runoff goes to gutters on the front and back of the house, each 50' long. The gutters feed a 1,000 gallon underground storage tank, (concrete septic tank installed when house was built, and no, this tank isn't the septic tank in the septic system, it is dedicated to rainwater storage). The roofers installing the gutters said I should have had a larger tank because the roof could produce 40,000 gallons a year.

My emergency water plan is to first filter water from the tank in a homemade ceramic filter system similar to a Berkey and then disinfect. I am prepared to disinfect by boiling, potassium permanganate, pool shock, or battery powered UV Steripen. My backup water source is a 382,000 acre feet Corps of Engineers fresh water lake about a half mile away.

For immediate emergency need, I store a thirty day supply in 1 gallon plastic jugs. Water is drinking quality purchased at a grocery store and treated with a 5 year water preservative concentrate purchased on Amazon (currently unavailable or I'd post a link). I also have pocket size water filters and Aquatabs Purification Tablets for use in get home bags, bug out bags, vehicles, etc.

 

[2ndCharter]

If you tell me your zip code and the sq ft of your roof or length x width of the structure plus pitch of your roof, I can tell you how much water you can produce.

Do you have a prefilter on your system before the water enters the cistern?

 

[LiveSteamer]

No, I don't have a pre-filter before the captured rain water enters the cistern. I am afraid the pre-filter may clog with debris and back up into the downspouts and eventually when water backed up high enough, burst the downspouts. It is a three story house and downspouts are 30 feet high. The hydraulic head pressure would by quite high if the downspouts clogged. I have cheesecloth and will pour the unfiltered water through cheesecloth as I pour it into my "Berky style" ceramic filter.

 

[Hansum]

Great thread and the perspective of a seasoned professional is much appreciated. Are you familiar with the fairly new Grayl Geopress? How about Katadyn's Micropur (chlorine dioxide) tablets?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

 

[Squaregrouper]

Great thread and the perspective of a seasoned professional is much appreciated. Are you familiar with the fairly new Grayl Geopress? How about Katadyn's Micropur (chlorine dioxide) tablets?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

I just Googled the Grayl Geopress and found their process to be rather cryptic. If they actually have the certifications they claim, they should be good to go.
Katadyn Micropur is a proven, yet pricey, method of deactivating biologicals. Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) is much more economical and gives a visual result: Pink is OK to drink, purple too strong, brown means too many oxidized organics in the water.

 

[Squaregrouper]

No, I don't have a pre-filter before the captured rain water enters the cistern. I am afraid the pre-filter may clog with debris and back up into the downspouts and eventually when water backed up high enough, burst the downspouts. It is a three story house and downspouts are 30 feet high. The hydraulic head pressure would by quite high if the downspouts clogged. I have cheesecloth and will pour the unfiltered water through cheesecloth as I pour it into my "Berky style" ceramic filter.

Polyester batting/quilt liner is cheap and much more effective.

 

[newmuzzleloader]

Polyester batting/quilt liner is cheap and much more effective.

And that can still be found at Walmart today. With my wife home and a grandbaby due any day now she's finishing her 3rd baby quilt.

 

[Blaster229]

I might buy a case or 2 of this a month. 30 year shelf life without having to prep mass storage.
Can't hurt to have 20 or 30 cases on hand.

 

[shootin the breeze]

This is my first post. My brother is a forum member and put me on to MDS. I have been prepping for years and this water thread is some of the best material I have found on the subject. Thank you.

I have a rainwater collection system. My roof is metal and runoff goes to gutters on the front and back of the house, each 50' long. The gutters feed a 1,000 gallon underground storage tank, (concrete septic tank installed when house was built, and no, this tank isn't the septic tank in the septic system, it is dedicated to rainwater storage). The roofers installing the gutters said I should have had a larger tank because the roof could produce 40,000 gallons a year.

My emergency water plan is to first filter water from the tank in a homemade ceramic filter system similar to a Berkey and then disinfect. I am prepared to disinfect by boiling, potassium permanganate, pool shock, or battery powered UV Steripen. My backup water source is a 382,000 acre feet Corps of Engineers fresh water lake about a half mile away.

For immediate emergency need, I store a thirty day supply in 1 gallon plastic jugs. Water is drinking quality purchased at a grocery store and treated with a 5 year water preservative concentrate purchased on Amazon (currently unavailable or I'd post a link). I also have pocket size water filters and Aquatabs Purification Tablets for use in get home bags, bug out bags, vehicles, etc.

Where are you in TX? You don't have to answer. TX boy here. When I was in college in central TX I had to take a summer class to make room for something else I needed. Anyway, I took a ecology class. Mostly sucked but part that was great was a field trip we took to a friend of the teacher. We drove out to Dripping Springs. This was more than 20 years ago so some details have left me but this guy had two or three giant cisterns. IIRC they were 10k gallons. He had a pitched roof built over them draining to gutters draining to the tanks. It was like a pole barn roof and close over the tops. IIRC he didn't need additional filtration and nothing except possibly some pine needles floating on the top which he skimmed. It ran down hill and the head was enough to run everything but the washing machine and dishwasher. For that he used an electric pump. Had his property been a little hillier he wouldn't have needed that. He also used it for a powerful shower but could get by without. At the time, his wife was pregnant and freaking out about infection (didn't before and drank/bathed in it w/o complaint). To satisfy her he added inline UV filtration and started to treat the water but prior testing showed it was just H2O and nothing else. It was a badass system and he had enough water to endure a 5yr drought based on his usage patterns. I'd love to check it out again.

 

[lawrencewendall]

I picked up 2 Lifestraw Family purifiers a while back when Woot had them on sale. Don't know how good they are.

 

[Blaster229]

I picked up 2 Lifestraw Family purifiers a while back when Woot had them on sale. Don't know how good they are.

They are very good.

Do you have a water source nearby in order to use it?

 

[lawrencewendall]

They are very good.

Do you have a water source nearby in order to use it?

4 55-Gal rain barrels pulling water off the roof. 2 miles from BWI, may not be the best rainwater.

 

[LiveSteamer]

I live about 30 miles south of Dripping Springs. A local here built a house with the intention of rainwater capture for all water requirements. Three large storage tanks and some really fancy chemical water purification equipment. That was about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, the completion of the house was in the middle of a multi year drought. She had to buy thousands of gallons of water to fill the tanks. Eventually, the rains returned and she has been self sufficient since.

 

[TheArmouryStudio]

I keep a LifeStraw, Iodine Pills, Ceramic 5 gallon bucket drip filter, rain catchment system in my bag of tricks

 

[gremlin42]

Any recommendations for testing a spring on my property? I’m recently starting to get more serious about prepping, and by dumb luck there’s a spring on my property that streams downhill into a feeder of Seneca Creek. It doesn’t let up even in drought conditions, and I wondered if it might have something to do with a public water line issue but according to the elderly next door neighbor it’s been going as long as the house has been here, almost 50 years. Is there a consumer grade kit I can use or should I hire a pro to check it out?

 

[Squaregrouper]

Any recommendations for testing a spring on my property? I’m recently starting to get more serious about prepping, and by dumb luck there’s a spring on my property that streams downhill into a feeder of Seneca Creek. It doesn’t let up even in drought conditions, and I wondered if it might have something to do with a public water line issue but according to the elderly next door neighbor it’s been going as long as the house has been here, almost 50 years. Is there a consumer grade kit I can use or should I hire a pro to check it out?

Take a sample to a lab. Let me know the results and we'll go from there.

 

[gremlin42]

Take a sample to a lab. Let me know the results and we'll go from there.

Will do.

 

[Blacksmith101]

Any recommendations for testing a spring on my property? I’m recently starting to get more serious about prepping, and by dumb luck there’s a spring on my property that streams downhill into a feeder of Seneca Creek. It doesn’t let up even in drought conditions, and I wondered if it might have something to do with a public water line issue but according to the elderly next door neighbor it’s been going as long as the house has been here, almost 50 years. Is there a consumer grade kit I can use or should I hire a pro to check it out?

After you get it tested you will probably want to "develop" the spring. Here are a couple of references to get you started:

Spring Catchment
https://skat.ch/book/spring-catchment/

This concise and well-illustrated “how-to” manual is both a useful aide-memoire for those already well versed in the construction of spring catchments and an invaluable reference text for the novice. Useful tips and tricks cover the initial planning of a new catchment right through to sustainable operation and maintenance of existing systems.

Spring Development and Protection
https://extension.psu.edu/spring-development-and-protection

From Penn State Extension. You should also check with the County Agricultural Extension Agent for your county, every county has one, to see what information they may have.

 

[gremlin42]

After you get it tested you will probably want to "develop" the spring. Here are a couple of references to get you started:

Spring Catchment
https://skat.ch/book/spring-catchment/


Spring Development and Protection
https://extension.psu.edu/spring-development-and-protection

From Penn State Extension. You should also check with the County Agricultural Extension Agent for your county, every county has one, to see what information they may have.

Cool, that’s something I’ve thought about with no idea about how to actually set it up to bottle water. I should also probably do it in a way that doesn’t draw too much attention or the back of my lot might become a popular spot for visitors.