When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes

by Cody Lundin

  The disadvantages to glass containers are pretty obvious. They are breakable (and the resulting mess can cause serious injury) and nonrepairable. They are heavy compared to plastic. It is rare to find any glass containers over a one- or two-gallon capacity. Algae will grow in them unless they are painted or covered. They are noncombustible, but they may crack or shatter with enough heat. They may crack if exposed to freezing temperatures when filled with water.

  Small Glass Containers

  Small containers of a gallon or two are about all you'll find, the most common being those that held apple juice. Look over the advantages and disadvantages of the various containers explained and decide whether glass fits with your water storage plan.

  Galvanized Metal

  Galvanized metal containers have some advantages. They are durable, repairable, noncombustible, and are commonly available (especially in rural areas) in a wide variety of sizes.

  The disadvantages are that they are expensive and heavy, even when empty. They will eventually corrode and the reflective metal is highly visible unless it's painted. The zinc coating may also present a health problem. Because of the zinc, aquaculture folks won't use galvanized containers to raise their fish; they use plastic.

  Small Metal Containers

  Before plastic, metal buckets, milk jugs, and coolers were common. I have adapted old metal milk jugs for back-country water containers and have always had the problem of eventual corrosion and rust—and drinking flakes of rust is a drag. Although you can sand and paint the inside with some sort of paint that's nontoxic, it's a lot of work, and work you're destined to repeat if you use the container for long-term water storage. The most practical household application for storing water in metal containers is to fill extra cooking pots and pans.

  Large Metal Containers

  Many ranches and farms in the West use massive galvanized metal tanks that hold the results of the neighboring windmill. These can be purchased in a variety of sizes for home use as well. Check the pros and cons of plastic and metal and decide what's best for you.

  Wonderful Water Storage Containers You May Already Have at Home

  Important Note: Know where the water intake valve to your home is located. If there are reports of broken water or sewer lines in your area, or if you're recommended to do so by the authorities, you will need to shut off this valve to prevent contaminated water from entering your home. For those living in apartments or other places where accessing a water intake valve is slim, recognize that the water coming into your home after a disaster may be heavily contaminated with sewage, dangerous chemicals, or other substances that could make you ill or kill you.

  Bathtubs

  While many newer homes and apartments have opted out the bathtub in favor of a shower, the vast majority of households have this ready and willing container ready to fill. In an emergency, your hydration will far outweigh how you look and smell so buck up and fill it to the rim while you can. Watch the kids for accidental drowning and keep the water as clean as possible. It's doubtful that any tub is clean enough to drink from but that's not the point. You can always disinfect the water later for drinking.

  Swimming Pools, Jacuzzis, and Hot Tubs

  All of the above contain a bonanza of emergency water. No matter how nasty the water, waterborne pathogens can be killed with the methods explained in this book so be thankful you have something to disinfect. Added chlorine eventually evaporates over time and loses its punch so don't worry about superchlorinated water. If you've added chemicals to your pool or spa, check with the manufacturer to see if you're out of luck to use the water as drinking water, even with disinfection methods. If it isn't suitable for drinking or cooking, you can always use it for keeping clean and other hygiene needs.

  The Back of the Toilet

  The back of your toilet, NOT the bowl, will have water that should be potable after disinfection, just to be on the safe side. Do not use water that has been chemically treated or that appears "blue."

  Sinks

  As the average U.S. household turns on its faucets an average of seventy times each day, leave at least one sink free for washing, cooking, and the like. I have been in some homes that have massive kitchen sinks that could bathe an eight-year-old. If this is you, hubba-hubba, store what water you can! To use the existing water trapped in your pipes, find the highest faucet in the home and turn it on (and leave it on for this exercise) to let air into the pipes. Water should then freely drain from the lowest faucet in the house.

  Water Beds

  Water that has been sitting in your bed since the turn of the century may have become a toxic cocktail. Check with the manufacturer to see what kind of plastic or rubber your bed is made from, and if it imparts noxious chemicals into the water over time. Fungicides added to the water may also make it unsafe to use as drinking water. If not suitable for drinking, even after disinfection, it's always a welcome commodity for hygiene and sanitary needs.

  Water Heaters

  Many homes are equipped with old-style water heaters that store forty gallons or more. These can be accessed and drained if need be for potable water. Be sure the electricity or gas is off and open the drain valve at the bottom of the tank. Turn off the water intake valve at the tank and turn on a hot water faucet in the house, lower than the water heater itself if possible. When the crisis is over, remember to refill the tank with water before electricity or gas is hooked back up to the heater. The water found in hot water heaters such as those designed for heating entire homes should not be used for drinking water.

  If you have the money and the opportunity, consider purchasing an "on-demand" water heater. This little gem, popular in Europe for years, heats only the water you're using at the time. If you're a wasteful slob, this means you could take an everlasting hot shower. If you're a responsible human being, you'll save immense amounts of energy, i.e., money, over time as the water heater is not constantly turning on and off to keep those forty gallons of water hot for your next use.

  Ice Cubes and Liquids in Canned Goods

  Although miniscule, the water from melted ice cubes is potable and should be utilized. The average household also has many types of canned goods that contain large amounts of liquid such as canned fruit, tomato juice, and fruit juices. None of these, however, should be thought of as replacing water to combat dehydration. Although many canned vegetables contain water, they are typically laced with sodium and should not be thought of as drinking water. It should be saved along with the vegetable to be used to cook the contents of the can or consumed directly from the can with the vegetable itself.

  Radiators in Vehicles

  DO NOT drink water from radiators or use it topically on the skin or clothing to increase evaporative cooling. The chemicals in antifreeze can be lethal inside the body and irritating outside the body.

  Collect, Collect, Collect Your Water!

  There are approximately one million miles worth of city and county water pipelines and aqueducts in the United States and Canada—enough to circle the earth forty times. If your only access to water is through these pipelines, or a private well in which the pump runs off grid power, you won't have any idea if and when your spigot will run dry, so start collecting water the instant that you are able to do so in a disaster situation. Although it will seem like a hassle to have containers all over the house filled with liquid, you will eventually use them up. Use the containers first which are the biggest inconvenience to have filled with water. If you live in an arid region or are dependent upon "grid water," I can't possibly overemphasize the importance of gathering and storing every possible drop of water that you can. I don't care how much food, ammunition, firewood, and flashlight batteries you have stored, if you fail to have an adequate supply of drinking water, you and your loved ones will die.

  Making Your Water Safe to Drink: The Art of Water Disinfection

  "AFTER A MAJOR CATASTROPHE, POPULATIONS ARE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE TO WATERBORNE DISEASES, AND OUR ABILITY TO PRODUCE L
ARGE QUANTITIES OF SAFE WATER AND PROVIDE ADEQUATE SANITATION QUICKLY HAS BEEN CRUCIAL IN ENSURING THAT THESE COMMUNITIES WERE NOT SUBJECTED TO A SECOND DISASTER."

  —MARKKU NISKALA, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF

  RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES IN RESPONSE TO THE DECEMBER 2006 TSUNAMI

  For centuries various means have been used to make water safe to drink. A couple of recorded methods date back to 2000 BC. One states that water must be exposed to sunlight and then filtered with charcoal. Another, that nonpotable water must be boiled and then have a piece of copper dipped within the water, seven times no less, before finally being filtered. The actual mechanisms of disinfection, however, through the knowledge and destruction of otherwise unseen dangerous pathogens have only been around for a hundred years or so.

  There are more than 58,900 public water supply systems in the United States. Approximately 85 percent of U.S. residents receive their water from public water facilities while the remaining 15 percent supply their own water from private wells or other sources. It wasn't until 1974, when the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was enacted, that public drinking water supplies were protected on a federal (national) level in the United States. Today, potable water meets over a hundred different standards for drinking water quality. That said, others argue that there are more than 2,100 known drinking water contaminants that may be present in tap water, including several known poisons.

  It doesn't matter how plentiful water is if it's unsafe to drink. Disasters of all types are notorious for fouling whatever drinkable water a community had and making it a challenge for emergency response personnel to disinfect or deliver potable water to the population. I remember vividly the news footage of hundreds of people begging for water from their rooftops during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while New Orleans stood submerged in, well, water. Waterborne, diarrheal illnesses took their toll as norovirus, Salmonella, and toxigenic and nontoxigenic V. cholerae were confirmed among Katrina evacuees.

  Even in good times, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) receive notification of more than 4,000 cases per year of illness due to drinking water contamination. Water can be contaminated by organic and inorganic substances from land erosion; the disintegration of minerals, rotting vegetation, and rotting animal and human bodies; earth- and waterborne biological pathogens; industrial chemical pollutants; and microorganisms from animal and human waste.

  There are many ways to disinfect nonpotable water, but I'll limit my how-to writings to the most common household methods. The term "water disinfection" means killing or removing the pathogens or bugs that make us ill. While its usage is technically associated with chemical halogens like iodine and chlorine, it can be applied to filtration and heat as well. The term "water purification," as preached in the majority of survival books and elsewhere, involves the removal of organic and inorganic chemicals and particulate matter and deals with how water looks, tastes, and smells. It has nothing to do with the art of eliminating harmful microorganisms that will have you barfing up a lung and filling your pants with excrement. Severe diarrhea can significantly increase your body's fluid loss, up to twenty-five quarts (liters) in a twenty-four-hour period! Death from dehydration caused by diarrhea is one of the biggest killers of people worldwide, especially infants and small children. Estimates are that, worldwide, 28,000 to 68,000 people die each day from diseases caused by contaminated water and unhealthy conditions.

  There are four families of critters that cause us gastrointestinal grief: protozoa, parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Some of these creatures mean business and can make you very dead if not dealt with sooner or later. For our purposes, all of these creatures, especially the viral variety, are measured in microns. They are thus extremely small and can't be seen with the naked eye. It's usually what you can't see in nonpotable water that hurts you, not the stuff that may be visibly swimming around doing the backstroke. This is an important realization, as your family may scream bloody murder if they have to drink safe water with "stuff" swimming in it, and yet blissfully chug down clean-looking water that's laced with harmful waterborne pathogens. In regard to the halogens described below, the various harmful microorganisms have different rates of resistance to being killed. The easiest for halogens to kill are bacterias; the most difficult, parasitic ova and larva. As both are "invisible," it really doesn't matter, other than reminding you to use caution when treating your water.

  Tincture of Iodine 2%

  Iodine is a chemical halogen available in many forms including 5–7 percent solution, 10 percent solution, tablets, crystals and 2 percent tincture. Although I prefer the 2 percent tincture, regardless of what form you choose it must remain in contact with the water for a certain period of time in order for it to kill the pathogens. The amount of contact time required varies in regard to the water's temperature and pH, how strong the iodine solution was made, the type of microorganisms that are present, and the quantity of nitrogen compounds and particulate matter found within the water. Of the four families of waterborne pathogens, iodine kills them all with the exception of the protozoa Cryptosporidium parvum, which infects many herd animals including cows, goats, sheep, deer, and elk.

  HOW TO DISINFECT ONE QUART OF NONPOTABLE WATER WITH TINCTURE OF IODINE 2%

  In most situations, I use five drops of tincture of iodine 2 percent per one U.S. quart of water (there are four quarts to a gallon), although as many as ten drops per quart may be used. (Note: A liter of water is just a bit more than a quart but I've never found the need to add more iodine or any other halogen to compensate for this.) For most water sources, let the five drops sit for thirty minutes before drinking. The medical books say twenty minutes, but I like to add in the extra protection of more time. This next point is critical, so pay attention. If the water you are about to disinfect is NOT clear and temperate, you will need to add more iodine per quart and/or let the iodine sit longer before the water is safe to drink. Turbidity or water's "cloudiness" is caused by suspended particulate matter such as clay, silt, plankton, and other microscopic organisms and is often the reason some water tastes and smells ghastly. Funky-looking surface water is a common occurrence in many locales and contains ten times the organic carbon content of aquifer groundwater. Waterborne pathogens can absorb into or already be imbedded within the floating matter to such an extent that organisms in the center of the chunks are somewhat protected from disinfection methods. Iodine is a halogen and will readily bond to the nitrogen compounds, organic and inorganic, present within the water's turbidity. These nitrogen compounds, commonly referred to as pond scum, tamper with the halogen's ability to kill pathogens and require either more sit time for the water to disinfect or adding greater amounts of halogen, or both.

  Filtering out water turbidity decreases the number of microorganisms present in the first place, while decreasing the amount of iodine needed to disinfect the water. Doing so also makes your water look and smell a lot better. Water clarity can be improved by simply letting it sit or by straining it through a piece of clothing, bandana, paper towel, coffee filter, or any tightly woven material.

  Iodine and halogens, in general, are very temperature sensitive, and take longer to do their work when water is cold. Thus, the colder the water the more contact time is required in order to successfully eliminate bad bugs. For extremely cold water let the five drops sit for two to three hours or longer if possible. To cut down on the sit time you can also add more iodine, up to ten drops per quart, although this will make the water taste strongly of iodine, and it's not exactly a kid-tested and mother-approved flavor. Having several water containers will let you stagger your disinfection times by treating some while drinking others. This allows the disinfecting water to sit for long periods of time by using less iodine, thus conserving the precious substance and making your disinfected water taste a whole lot better.

  The pH of the water being disinfected is also a factor. Halogens form several compounds, each with different disinfection rates,
by oxidizing in water. How well each compound works is determined by pH. In general, the optimal pH for halogen disinfection is 6.5 to 7.5. The more alkaline the water, the greater the dose of iodine is required. If water is extremely alkaline or acidic, it's usually too nasty to drink anyway, so don't be overly concerned with the water's pH.

  If the water you're disinfecting is highly suspicious and difficult to filter, add more iodine rather than just prolonging the contact time. When dealing with extremely questionable water sources, both the color and the taste of iodine-treated water can be used as rough indicators for the proper disinfection amount. Under these circumstances, if the iodine taste created makes the kids complain even louder and the contents of your container appear yellow to light brown, you've successfully achieved 0.6 parts per million or greater, which is what you want.

  In summary, strain or filter the water to be disinfected if necessary through a piece of cloth to get rid of organic and inorganic matter. For heavier particulate matter, you can also let the water stand for several hours in a larger container such as a five-gallon bucket. Next, add no more than ten drops of iodine per U.S. quart or liter (I use five drops per quart or liter). Give the container a little shake. If the water temperature is fairly temperate, let the solution disinfect for thirty minutes. If the water is cold, increase the iodine's disinfection time. Before drinking, partially unscrew the lid of the container it is in and turn the container upside down, thereby allowing treated water to dribble down the threads. It only takes a drop of water containing pathogens to get ill. This action also flushes out any untreated water that may have been hiding in the threads of the container. By the way, if you flavor water to make it more palatable and the flavoring contains vitamin C (ascorbic acid), it will neutralize the iodine (and its nasty taste!) before it does its killing. Wait thirty minutes or longer after disinfecting before adding the flavoring! Zinc brushes are also available to rid the water of its iodine taste and are available at most camping stores.