Whether you're a Jack or a Jill, you are going to have to fetch your own pail of water at some point in your life -and if unprepared, it's definitely going to be an uphill battle! Droughts and shortages, city-wide boil notices, and other water contaminations occur even in the most modern and nicest of places. We have seen these in America happen all too recently. Preppers and survivalists go on entire woodland retreats to sharpen their water-fetching skills. ...Or, you may just want to go camping with your kids and have a fun experiment to try.
It's important to have a real plan for real water emergencies; not just a vague consideration of "fetching water". But don't get overwhelmed! I recommend breaking this down into 5 basic steps: Store the water, Look for water, Collect the water, Pre-filter the water, and Purify the water. Repeat.
STORE THE WATER Why is water storage the FIRST thing on the list and not the last? Because you should already have extra emergency water stored in the first place, silly! This leads to several interesting questions: Does water expire? What kind of containers should I use for long-term storage? How much extra water should I realistically keep in my family food storage? Different considerations are needed depending on the situation. Best to be truly educated on this one.
LOOK FOR WATER You can drink straight from that freshwater stream, right? (Hint: Wrong. Animals poop in it.) But you can drink the water from the back deck of the toilet. Whether in the woods or your apartment, you must know where to find extra water and which to purify before drinking.
COLLECT THE WATER This is the fun part! After finding a water source, there are plenty of intriguing ways to gather it up. Cactus and several plants contain water to be irrigated out. Rainwater is an option and can be collected by a tarp roof pointing into a barrel. Or, do the 'do to collect the dew! Many more tricks will be explained in the 3rd installment of this blog subject.
PRE-FILTER THE WATER When working with dirty water, you'll want to strain out the chunks. 'Nuff said.
PURIFY THE WATER From commercial filters to bleach to homemade stills, check out all the cool ways to clean that water! It's not as hard as it seems.
...Then back to "Store Water" again. Repeat cycle.
The next 5 blog posts will focus on a complete breakdown for the "how to" of each step. NEXT WEEK; PART 1- STORING WATER: More Than Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Keeping Potable (Drinkable) Water From Turning Toxic
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