Something to think about...
Two days ago, I am sitting at the computer, going through the night's post in a group I belong. After about an hour I want something to drink, so I get up. Of course, I have to use the bathroom, flush the toilet, wash my hands. Then I'm off to the kitchen to refill my mug with fresh ice water. So I use the ice maker on the fridge to fill my Yeti about half full of ice, turn to the sink and turn on the cold tap.... NO WATER.... That's right, no water.
I turn off the tap, go outside and look around.
I don't see any water spewing anywhere, don't
see any utility trucks, or any vehicles for that
matter. I go down to the water main and open
the lid. Nope, it's not off. I put the lid back on
and head back inside.
I walk over to get my cell to call the water
department. As I start to dial, I here a noise at
the side door, so I walk over and look out, I
see someone getting into a vehicle. I open the
door. As the doors opens, a paper falls to the
floor that has been stuck into the storm door.
No, they did not knock on the door.
The PAPER: It is a notice that they are shutting
down the water for repairs for an unspecified
amount of time. After they turn it back on, we would be under a boil order for at least 24 hours, but to call first to see if it has been lifted.
In the infinite wisdom of the city where I live, they have turned off the water to 1/3 of the town to do repairs to the water lines in the middle of winter. No, we didn't have any water main breaks. They are just redoing some of the lines.
Now, I am all for regular upkeep and maintenance for our water, electric, and cable lines, What I am not for is to just shut it down without any warning, no notice in the paper, not robo calls saying that they are going to do this on a certain date, etc....
We are the lucky ones since we are preppers.
Imagine you don't have water. You have a
baby at home on formula, you don't have
any water stored in your home. You had
an ice storm making it almost impossible
to drive to the store to buy water, so when
you do finally get there, they will be out of
water.
It has been two days now and we just got
the water turned back on, so we will be
boiling water for at least a day.
Yes, we had plenty of water and still do, but only because we store water.
What I noticed was the issue of just two days without running water. The lack of running water affects your ability to do dishes with ease, flush the toilet, make food, get a drink, brush your teeth, wash your clothes, your hands, yourself, etc.
With advance notice, you could at least fill up a bathtub, some jugs of water, maybe the sinks or something, so that you would have some water to help you survive.
So, here is your notice:
Any given moment you could be without water for an unspecified amount of time. After that time, you will need to boil water for a minimum of five minutes for an unspecified period of time in order for it to be safe to drink or use for cooking.
Store water now. When it does shut off, you will not be the one trying to get to the store for water, only to find out that there is none. You need two (2) gallons of water, per person, per day, to cover the basics of eating, drinking, and hygiene, and then save your grey water (also spelled gray water, greywater, and graywater) to flush your toilets or keep an extra store of water for that.
You may also want to store disposable plates and utensils so you don't have a lot of dishes to do during the outage. Of course, depending on where you live there are multiple options for cleaning dishes that don't require using water, but that would be a different story.
Photos by, John Morgan and Google Photos
Author, John Morgan
Courtesy of, Preppers Are We
