What if you suddenly had no water.

You probably have a good 50 or so gallons of water in your house that is potable.

The water in you hot water heater should be at least 30 gallons and there's a nozzle at the bottom to drain it,

Also the water in the back of your toilet is clean as well.

Sorry about your dilemma. Few ever think of how precious a resource water is and how hard it is to get by without it.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I had water in the two toilets but, it was when i flushed the toilet I realized the water was out. And thank you for reminding me about the hot water heater, if need be Id use it, but for right know I have a good working john deere kids type wagon that helps me up the hill to the neighbors and get my water.

Warning on the water heater.

If its electric or gas you will need to turn it off completely and extinguish the pilot light in order to drain the usable water.

If you dont, it will heat up and blow the pressure safety valve and you have to hire a licensed person to replace it. (if the well is off no new water is coming in)

I'm on 10 acres halfway up Saskatchewan, and up here in the rural areas, everyone has a dugout pond for grey water. Mine was connected to the house until one day the line connecting broke, and suddenly - zero water. Luckily I had six 5 gallon jugs full of drinking water that I get from town. I had 3 neighbours trying to help get the line fixed, no luck. I need a new line, but its 8 feet down, because of the winter freezing.

I relied on those jugs until I was able to set up a system with two 200 gallons tanks downstairs, and a 250 gallon turtle tank that sits in the back of the pickup.

I get water weekly, or twice weekly when my truck driver hubby is home. 200 gallons costs $2 from town.

Because the house is on a pump system, anytime the electricity goes out, I have no water, except that the pumps pumping OUT the water coming up from beneath the house stop working too, so the basement starts to fill.

Crappy being in the shower and the water just quits. :shk:

We just bought a generator, so we can keep the pumps powered now, we need to get a portable pump next so we can go and pump out of the river into the turtle tank if needed.

A pump for the water to get around the house where needed, a pump to work the septic and drainage, and 3 pumps to get the water from flooding the basement - and I still need a portable pump, just in case.

You never know when your going to need extra water . My water jugs are those blue camping jugs with the little turnable spout. I keep them full, they've come in handy so many times.

reply to post by snowspirit


After my husband gets back tomorrow or tuesday, I am taking our truck diectly to town and buying something large enough to safely store enough water for any future emergency. Out here in the rural area, like yourself we have alot of outages, more-so in the summer then winter, im not sure why this happens because I am on a co-op electric system, and our area is large , however they service maybe 2000 homes in a area 150-200 square miles. There will be many many many changes here in the next few weeks as to how we are not prepared.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
reply to post by lbndhr

 

A teaspoon will keep 30 of the 750ml bottles of wine stable. Its probably overkill for water but hey. I think sodium metabisulfite may be a little less harsh, but I dont have any on hand.

The same store will also have powdered citric acid. (vitamin C)

Citric acid is vitamin C?

I have heard some cities in West Texas would be out of water in a year and a half.

Currently, I'm not TOO worried over the water situation on the property I'm situated on.
We have 6 wells, all 100+ft, all run through filtration systems outside and then the water softener, and again through another water filtration system in the upper level of the house.
The water is about as pure as I could ever dream of.

Originally posted by Nephalim
I have heard some cities in West Texas would be out of water in a year and a half.

Yes this is true, the areas of El Paso and its surrounding areas are definately running out of water. And what gets me is so is Houston and the greater Houston areas. But with Houston its a matter of the toxic waist going into their waters more then what the drought is doing. I live southwest near a extremely large lake, which has a extremely large aqufier which is shared with the north mexico areas. I have done a little background checking on our water supply and I honestly believe we will be some of the last communities affect by a drought so bad it actually made people start worrying about it, and by then I will have built my properly lined underground water storage....I thought about preparing my survival area in a 6 acrea piece of land I have nestled near the rockies in a secluded area, again this property sits atop a aquifier, but, with all the facts I have read on colorado and the military secret doings, I worry I will loose this property to THE MAN.

Originally posted by ImAwareSC
Currently, I'm not TOO worried over the water situation on the property I'm situated on.
We have 6 wells, all 100+ft, all run through filtration systems outside and then the water softener, and again through another water filtration system in the upper level of the house.
The water is about as pure as I could ever dream of.

my well system is also filtered, but, have you considered what is the electricity goes out for a extended time?

That is why I am thankful I have an artesian well. Unless the water table gets dried up or becomes polluted I will have fresh water daily.

I will never take water for granted. I'm staring at a glass of water sitting on my desk marveling at it's true essence. . . Life in a glass!

reply to post by Enkii


Your correct. I was severely coffee deficient. I have a damn 2# sack of the stuff in the cupboard too

It is ascorbic acid. I could have walked 5 steps and looked.....

en.wikipedia.org...

First off, I am not trying to scare anyone or spread fear but there has been times when you need to be prepared and ready for anything for we live now in scary times!
I hope that everyone who has posted or read your ordeal has learned their lesson to be prepared for any kind of problem or crisis that might arise at anytime! Everyone here has the greatest resource at their fingertips, the internet! With the internet you can get yourself ready for any crisis that pops up and to learn to be self-sufficient! Teach yourself how to fix everything that can brake down from plumbing to the car! it is all here on the internet waiting for you! You say that you moved to be safe when the TSHTF and that was very wise to do but now you have to learn to be self-sufficient and depend on yourself! You can order all the things you will need and have it shipped to your doorstep from the internet! Always have spare parts for the things that are the most important and you can't live without! You need to have a manual hand pump hooked up as a back-up to draw your water from! For years people laughed and called Survivalist nuts and crazy but you only have to look back at what happen in New Orleans to know that when TSHTF you will be ok and well prepared for it! As for your husband show him some u-tube videos of places that the TSHTF and let him know that if he is away from home at the time that it does hit, you are well prepared for anything and he will not have to worry about anything but getting back home! When the TSHTF any big town or city will be in big trouble with people fighting for scraps and there might not be anyone to come and fix your pump or anything else. For the last year, I have done alot of research and have a long list of websites with info on anything from ordering supplies to the knowledge of making your own anything!
knowledge is not only power but wealth because you can always barter that knowledge for the things you need and also you can save money by fixing your own stuff and know that is is fixed right!
On collecting any kind of rain or creek water to drink, keep in mind the Japan nuclear disaster and the fall out that is happening here in the states! You can find all kinds of water tanks and such on e-bay or craigslist anywhere from 100 gals to 1000 gals. If you need a list of websites for any kind of supplies from Seeds to Survival Gear or info for fixing or making anything from barns to bunkers and windmills let me know I have just about anything you could think of!
It is always better to be safe then sorry!

Good post, and a wake up call for you that can teach a lesson to others.

They make a manual pump that goes on your well and can be used along with your electric pump. So the well runs normally when you use it and in an emergency you can pump water by hand also. They aren't cheap, I think they run about $1,600 but it's something to think about.

Another cheaper option that we can take advantage of is fill a pool. Buy one of the 12' diameter by 30" deep pools from Wal-mart and fill it. You can cool off and relax in it and at the same time you also have like 1,400 gallons of water for emergencies. (I forgot what ours holds - somebody else can do the math)

You can probably install a larger pressure tank on the well also and use that as emergency water. Ours is 300 gallons right now. We have 2 wells and one just has the manual hand pump which is good.

I'm sorry to hear about your problems with your well..

I also have a well, and I still have city water, but I was planning to hook my pump up to a solar rig, and buy a backup pump and repair supplies just in case we get a SHTF moment.

good luck

A still will work to purify water.
Either a solar still. Or a wood burning still.
Also you can use a porous rock to filter your water. A nice chunk of rock with a bowl depression in a metal stand with a pitcher below.
It's a trick the Spanish used in st Augustine.
Plus there's more tips online for filtering water.

This is B.S IMHO. OOh: Help me my hubby left poor little ol me all alone..I Prayed and the good lawd he did help me. Lawdy lawdy..

First if you rely on a well you need at least a 500 gal tank just for fire protection with at least a 2 1/2 inch valve and fire hose fitting that a fire truck can draw from.

This tank is also a backup tank for toilet water and bath water. Use it for bath then use a bucket to flush the the toilet with the bath water.

For drinking buy a at least 6 flats of cheap bottled water and keep them in the back of a closet

I have live in places with wells and pulled and replaced many pumps my self.. If the system is built right you can pull a pump yourself.

reply to post by thesimonator2000


Very well worded reply, myself along with so many manyother people truely do need to prepare for any possible emregency. WHat is making me down right ashamned is, I do see how life is going I see the turmoils, poverty, wars ect... I know I need to understand self survival, "KNOW" that I am hit in the reality with a true emergency. Yes A hand pump conected to the well is a must,large, storage containers, last night when my husband called, I was telling him, we really need to make a list and uy the appropriate emergency items. I will never ever get into this desperate a situation again, knowing and failiong to do something about it is worse then the sheeple not knowing to beable to do something about it.
within the next few weeks I will be close toprepared for anything, or almost anything.
I think my biggest blunder is the fact there is a beautiful large lake not more then 1/2 a mile from my home, and I didnt have 1 container that I could use to bring that water to my home