Having gone through several direct hits as well as a lot more brushes with various hurricanes, I’ve had my share of dealing with hurricane aftermath. All systems break down during and after a hurricane, social, political, and physical. Law enforcement gets pushed to the limit, politicians with little or no emergency training flounder, looking for answers, and the power goes out.

And stays out.

The simplest way to find out who of your neighbors are the planners and preppers is to step outside on the first night after the storm has passed and listen for the sound of generators.  Those with the forethought to have a generator, fuel for it, and have maintained it so that it starts when needed are the folks that you can most likely count on in a pinch. The rest sit in the dark, and scurry out in the morning to try to improve their situation after all stores are already empty, the supply lines are cut off, and those that work in the stores are sitting in the same situation they are, and NOT planning on going to work.

The lines form as the social and political systems start to crank back up, with emergency aid operations underway, handing out ice, food and water.

Water. Looking at the picture to the right, you’ll see that my zipcode is close to 50% water. And all that you see (without zooming in) is salt water, or brackish (salt & fresh mixed – still salty though) at best. Non-drinkable. And without a desalinator, still useless for consumption. What is a dislocated hillbilly, used to fresh running water all around him, to do in this environment?

Like all smart hillbillies, learn from his previous mistakes and plan ahead.

Hurricanes bring rain, and LOTS of it. Rain is a fairly safe source of water in most places. With a simple rerouting of a downspout to a food grade plastic drum, I’ve added a rain barrel. (Click here for several how-to’s on making you own rain barrel) 

However, rainwater isn’t 100% safe to drink. Airborne contaminants, microbes, and bird poop are all tasty options you may find in a rain barrel. Right after a hurricane is NOT the best time to contract an illness. SO some method of water purification needs to happen before the water is consumed. And in this situation, something that doesn’t require power.

Being a research junky, I’ve put my time in on water purification methods and options. Boiling water, while a valid method, is time consuming, wasteful, and in truth, most times is overkill. Anyone that tells you you must boil water for 10 minutes to make it safe is wrong. Water temperature of 180 degrees is enough to kill all pathogens. By boiling for 10 minutes, yes, you’ve killed the pathogens, but about a mile back. A problem with this though. I am good, but I cannot tell what temperature water is just by looking at it. What boiling does offer is a visual aid to letting you know your water has reached 212 degrees, plenty to do the job. Once water reaches a boil, you are good to go…as far as living organisms in the water are concerned.

However, boiling does nothing for most chemical contaminants, heavy metals, etc. For this you need a filter of some sort. And in researching filters, I came across a line of products that are so efficient (99%+), it can actually remove food coloring from water. Add in the fact that it is gravity operated, and I was sold.

The Berkey line of filters offered me a solution to all issues I had regarding safe water. Further reviewing their product line (eight different units), I opted for the smallest, the “Travel Berkey System“, since it purified 1.5 gallons an hour and is good for 6,000 gallons before replacing the filters, it is more than enough for a family of four.

I also added the “Water Level View Spigot” option, and due to being a MSB member at TheSurvivalPodcast.com, I also received two Berkey Sport bottles, an excellent  water purification item for highly portable situations. Since they use the same purification technology as the Travel Berkey and are good for 30 gallons worst case or 110 of pre-filtered water, I carry one every day, and also have them in both vehicles.

Since having purchased the Travel Berkey, I’ve made a daily ritual of filling our water jugs and the refilling the reservoir, repeating as needed throughout the day. It takes only minutes, and allows us to have fresh, clean, SAFE water whenever we need it, with or without power.

A person needs about a gallon of water per day just for consumption. Add in another half gallon for sanitation, and we figure to need around 6 gallons of water per day for the family. The stored water we have already purified coupled with the 55 gallons of water stored in the rain barrel, we have enough water for two to three weeks without leaving our property – plenty of time for the local electric company to get our power back up and running so we may get back to using our well. And having just recalculated, I believe I’ll be adding a second rain barrel to shore up our water storage. Just in case 🙂

I highly recommend the folks over at Directive21.com for all of your water filtration needs.

I’ll leave you with this. Marty Robbins, a long-time favorite western crooner of mine, did a fabulous job when he covered the Sons of the Pioneers song “Cool, Clear Water”. Watch the whole video and NOT get thirsty..

Stay thirsty…

db

Tomorrow, Day Four of Hurricane Prep week is a surprise….mostly since I’ve yet to figure what I’ll write about…Hmmm…
Please “like” FloridaHillbilly on Facebook, subscribe to my feed, and tell your friends! The more folks involved in preparing themselves, the less likely they are to knock on your door looking to “borrow” a gallon of your water!