How to locate local sources of water

OK, so the grid goes down, you have no power. Well that means no water. No water means you die after several days. If you live in Texas it can be quicker than that.
 How do you locate a water source? Well one way is to know where sources are is to use Google Earth and Google maps to search a head of time for sources. First thing is to start local, using Google Earth locate all the water sources in your neighborhood, this to include swimming pools, ponds, cattle tanks, etc. Next would be to go recon these areas and figure out how far they are in relation to your house or bug our location. If it is a house, is it occupied? You don't want to get into a fight over water that someone owns. If the house is empty or has been abandoned well its fair game. Also remember If the house is empty the water heater could possibly hold up to 60 gallons of water, an easy score. Don't go grabbing all the close water sources first and emptying them out. There will be times that you will have the need to have a source near by. Also look into improving a few local sources, lets say your neighbors leave and have a pool. Do they have a gutter system? If you have the time and materials you could divert the roof water to the pool and then when it rains you could easily capture several thousand gallons of water that could have been lost. Look at your own situation, do you have gutters? do you have a harvest system? You can easily have several thousand gallons on hand and be able to keep it going or on reserve. Are there parks near by that have ponds or lakes? I have several near me, one with in a mile. I can easily bike there and carry water home via a trailer.
 Also figure out how much water you are going to need daily, that could be 3-5 gallons per person per day..Yup thats a lot, so plan accordingly, that means bathing is cut way down and laundry on an as needed basis. Hand washing sucks, but its how we use to do it. If your smart, all your gray water will go to your garden. or if you have a septic tank you can filter it and use it to flush your toilets.
 If your like me I know of 2 fairly safe and secure wells I can get access too for quality drinking water, they are about 10 miles from my house, so I would have to plan and maximize my trip. one well also has its own generator there, so that's an extra bonus. 
 Also remember you need to keep your potable and non-potable sources marked and separated. this could also tie into a slow sand filter or any other filter system you may have. You could easily direct a Big Burkey filter to fill a 55 gallon drum and with someone keeping it full you could always have 55 gallons of potable water ready. Set up a couple of these and you could barter out or help out neighbors in need.
  Also remember, when on a water run, fill your containers as quickly as you can. Do not filter on sight. If someone sees you have a filter you could quickly find yourself in a bad situation.
 Something else I have thought of, I am about 1 mile also from my city well and water tank, in a grid down I would see if it was possible to get the pumps going again that way the community could benefit. A large enough generator and some work could easily keep water going for the community.
 That would calm a lot of nerves....

So remember to scout your sources, map them and set a plan. That way your not a water statistic. 

slow sand filters.

One way to clean water is through a slow sand filter. A slow sand filter uses sand as a medium to produce a biological medium/layer that traps and filters bacteria and viruses. They are pretty easy to build and only require a few parts and a little patients. A rookie could build one with basic tools and a good set of instructions.
   There are still many municipalities that use slow sand filters to treat water so if you have concerns about its reliability, you can put those to rest.
 For a decent home size unit you will need a 55 gallon drum, some PVC pipe some wood, sand, gravel in pea size and also 1/1/2 in size. I also like to use landscape fabric to keep layers separated.
 Here is a PDF I copied that explains it better than I most likely can.
 http://www.preppers.info/uploads/Water_-_Slow_Sand_Filters.pdf
note,, most of the items can even come from salvage! or found cheap!

http://en.howtopedia.org/wiki/How_to_Filter_Water_with_a_Sand_Filter

 http://www.slowsandfilter.org/illustrations.html

Sam at The Human Path has a working model they use at the school and also teaches classes on this subject. If you are interested and live in the area let me know and I am sure Sam will let you take a look at his and also let you know when he will run a class on it again.

http://thehumanpath.com/





 

pandemic flu and family

How do you deal with a pandemic flu and family?
 
Should it occur you face some serious challenges. The medical system will sooner or later collapse if the load of sick become to great. The hospitals will quickly become overloaded with sick and dying people. What do you do where do you go? Well, the most likely scenario would be to keep family members at home and do what you can to keep them alive. First reality is the flu is spread by a virus, antibiotics do not work on viruses! Second reality is you are going to have to isolate yourselves and also isolate at sick members of your family.
  One way to do this is to be pro-active. That means be ready before cold and flu season, have all your ducks in a row. This also means if you do get them, flu shots and pneumonia shots.  Not everyone will agree about the flu shot or will have other reasons not to, but I wont get into that. Also have a flu kit handy, this means OTC meds to treat the symptoms of the flu. This is also a good time to learn some herbal medicine and have your herbal tinctures and herbs on stand bye. There are lots of herbs that have anti-viral properties and there are some good OTC remedies out there as well. Find a qualified and well educated herbalist and take some lessons.
  Once you have a really well stocked kit you will want to go to the hardware supply and get some items like tyvek suites, M-99 or 95 mask, several roles of 3-4 mil plastic sheeting, a staple gun and duct tape and even a few extra tarps. You will use the hardware store items to create an isolation room for anyone in your family who gets sick. You will want to also have items like bleach, medical gloves, a bucket several sponges and anything else you might need to keep things sanitized. Also do not forget to block the air registers in the isolation room, and if you can afford it get an air filter with HEPA filters and keep that sucker running! get one that will clean more square footage than the room, if it has a UV light crank that as well..  IF you know how, create the room to have a negative pressure, if not do what ever you can to keep the air contained to that room. Also remember to properly sterilize your self or anyone else that enters that room. 
  You can also find recipes for Thieves vinegar, which can be used as a disinfectant as well.
 Should anyone get a pandemic flu you will have to react quickly, if its early get them to your Dr, do not go to the emergency room! The place will be full of sick people as well, there is no need to risk your health more than it already is. If your Dr is cool, he might  hopefully get you some extra anti-viral meds. but these will be going quickly so don't count on it. Remember if you can successfully treat the flu symptoms your loved one can make it through.
 Designate 2 people as the contact persons to treat sick ones(Shift work), these folks should be doing an herbal regiment to help prevent them from getting the flu. Have a disinfection station next to the room, make sure everyone follows procedure! The sick person/persons should be monitored and symptoms treated as needed. If you have access and they are having respiratory issues treat them with some oxygen or medicate a steam humidifier or nebulizer. You can also create a tent and use a steam humidifier to add various medicines or herbals to help them breath and remove congestion and mucus. You will want to make sure they don't develop pneumonia. Work hard to make sure keep symptoms under control. This is also why you will want to have a large flu kit! you can use up your meds real quick...
   Trash and refuse that comes out of the room should be double bagged and removed directly to the trash, if it has to be stagged, stage it in the room but remove it as quick as you can.. Get some red colored bags or as close to red as possible to let everyone know not to mess with this waste.
 When this person recovers you will want to quickly sanitize the whole room, to include washing or even destroying bed linens and the cloths they wore. If your lucky you can find some hospital gowns and have extra bed linens on hand for this.
 If your family member doesn't recover you will need to be prepared for this as well. I will cover this at a later date.
  I will add to this as I find info, so check back often.
 Here are a few links for you.
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/coldsandflu/a/fluremedy.htm
http://www.diynatural.com/natural-cold-and-flu-remedies/
http://www.holisticonline.com/remedies/flu/cold_herbal-remedies-for-cold.htm
http://www.cpginteractive.com/sam/faqs.html
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/seeds/seeds.php
https://www.horizonherbs.com/
http://www.medicinalherbfarm.com/

A few more sites on how to deal with poo!

A special thanks to my friend Lesa! for sharing and finding these!
http://www.wormfarm.com.au/

http://milkwood.net/2011/04/18/compost-toilet-specifics-the-bins/

The idea behind all this is to get folks to think outside the box. If there was to be a grid down situation you would be able to successfully handle one issue that will plague us. Without running water you cant flush, if you cant flush, what do you do with your poo... plain and simple. Learn, have a plan and if the worst comes, you execute that plan and then share it with others. ..This could also be easily incorporated into your bug out location and into a future homestead.

Katadyn Hiker water filter

.
I own one of these. It is an excellent filter for your water needs. It has a .3 micron filter which will remove 99.9% of bacteria and parasites from your water, this isze will also remove a few viruses as well. CAUTION! If you are in an area that has viral issues with water you will want to look into addition ways to purify your drinking water. There are some filters that remove them, but I will do those later.
  This filter is light and easy to use, it also comes with a carry bag and an extra bag to help keep cross contamination from occurring.  It has an adjustable float to keep you from sucking mud and bottom debris and mucking up your filter. I will give a caution. If you are in an area that you have really mucky water you might want to prefilter it before you use your water filter. This will save the life of your filter and also possibly save you.

This filter also comes with attachments to make connecting to various bottles and hydration packs easy. This also avoids cross contamination.
It takes a few minutes to fill a 1 liter bottle of water, but the pump action is easy and it self primes which is a big advantage.
  I also carry micropur tablets as well. You should always carry atleast 2 ways to purify water with you. A main and a back up! I think its a good rule..
.
These tablets will kill viruses!
So if your looking for a good water filter and want one on a budget, this is the filter for you!!

Here is a link to a video that discusses the filter. Great video as well
http://www.realitysurvival.com/katadyn-hiker-water-filter-review/

Here is a few links for those looking to buy
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-micropur-micropur-mp1-purification-tablets/micropur-mp1-purification-tablets-package-of-20/

http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-water-filters-backcountry-series-products/katadyn-hiker-microfilter/

You can also find them at Academy, Bass Pro, and Cabela's

OH, here is a kit to upgrade and extend the filter life
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/products/katadynshopconnect/katadyn-water-filters-accessoriespartskits/hiker-field-maintenance-kit/

Sanitation, what to do when you have to poo!

What do you do when the the power is down and your water isnt flowing and you have to well,, poo..it is really something we take for granted. Many third world countries have to deal with this on a regular basis. People just poop where they want,, on the side of the road, in the corner, in a field, just where ever. This will cause the spread of disease sooner or later. It is truly amazing how even civilized people can become filthy even when we have been conditioned to be poopaphobic. So how do you deal with these issues.
   I found and article on Doom and Bloom about this subject.
http://www.doomandbloom.net/emergency-sanitation-basics-part-1/

Here is another good article from them on how to prevent food and water borne illness.. Remember sanitation is the key to health in a grid down situation.
http://www.doomandbloom.net/preventing-food-and-water-borne-illness/

A really good idea is to have a sanitation kit on hand. That could be as simple as having a bottle of bleach, a spray bottle, clean rags/wipes, or if you have the ingredients Thieves Vinegar http://www.herbs-info.com/blog/how-to-make-four-thieves-vinegar-and-oil/. You can also use just plain vinegar as well. Also it is handy to have hydrogen peroxide on hand to use. Make sure you also have anti-diarrhea medicines on hand and electrolytes just in case someone does get sick.  

http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/DR_a/pdf/fm21_10.pdf

http://www.humanurehandbook.com/humanure_toilet.html

http://www.poohsolutions.com/sites/default/files/Pooh-Solutions_Composting-Toilet_%20Construction-Guide.pdf

http://www.greatnorthernprepper.com/pool-shock-making-your-own-bleach/

http://www.truthistreason.net/downloads/Solar-Distillation-Meeting-Small-Scale-Water-Demands-1970.pdf

http://www.yourownhomestore.com/living-without-running-water/

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TXI-50-lb-Hydrated-Lime-5195/202080968#.Unl8R2fCanM

Here is a great page on how to build a septic tank out of 55 gallon drums.
http://www.wikihow.com/Construct-a-Small-Septic-System

This is just to give you some ideas, plus you can always build an outhouse.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Outhouse/
http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/108266.aspx

Quick update to this page! With my fiend Sam's permission I am posting a link to his site and a podcast on field sanitation. Sam is extremely knowledgeable in herbal medicine and is a former member of the special forces. He also has an extensive amount of medical knowledge as well. 

http://thehumanpath.podbean.com/2012/01/25/090-wilderness-first-aid-hygiene/

Here is a list of his other podcast.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-path/id449698140



Hopefully this will spawn some ideas, just in case.

MRE info

I found this pretty cool little website the other day... MRE info, its got some pretty interesting info on MREs and MRE's from other countries. After some reading, I am glad I am not in Russia,, but if I were hungry, I dont think I would be complaining...to much.
http://mreinfo.com/