Thursday, March 18, 2021

PLANNING FOR WATER IN A CRISIS

 Water...

We literally can't live without it and yet many of us don't realize how quickly it can become something you can't find anywhere.  We found this out during the recent epic freeze event.  This is some of what we saw:

You were limited to how many you could get...


The racks were empty...even the ice was gone...


And the shelves at all the stores were empty.  Notice the sign above; they were limiting water to two packages per customer...then it was changed to one...and then there was none...

The city (and most around Houston) shut down the water, we were under a boil water notice.  People drove out of town to try to find water but the power failure was so widespread, everyone was the same. 

We were fairly well prepared but honestly, there was more we could have done and will do for the next time.


One thing we've found when prepping for a storm is that people always forget about flavored sparkling waters.  We happen to love them.  No sweeteners, no sugar, just carbonated water with random fruit flavors.  It's water.  Sure you can't cook with it or wash with it but it fulfills the body's need for water.  I picked up these two cases of La Croix when everyone else was looking for plain water; they had plenty and for some reason, the store didn't limit these.  On the plus side, we got to try two new flavors; key lime and hibiscus.

We have a cabinet in our dining room that has the Keurig machine on top.  We call it our drink center.  There are two drawers at the top, one is for 2nd Man's coffee and the other is for my tea.

Then there are two cabinets in the lower section:


On the left side, we regularly try to keep four 1 gallon containers of water for the Keurig machine (we use distilled for that)...and then on the shelf above that, some soft drinks for 2nd Man and some various boxes of tea bags for both of us.


And this is the cabinet on the right side.  We keep it stocked with those sparking waters on the top shelf (easily holds a couple dozen) and then we fill the bottom shelf with plain bottled water (also about two dozen).  We don't use the bottled water that often, it's there more for backup (situations like we just had) or to grab a bottle if we're walking to the park or taking a long drive somewhere.

For most of our drinking and kitchen usage...


...we use this.  This is one of those 5 gallon water dispensers.  We had this one at the farm for a few years.  It wasn't used as often out there as it could be here and so a couple of months ago, I brought it back into town (fortuitous, ha).  This one is what they call a bottom loading dispenser.  No more lifting big bottles up and flipping them upside down while pouring water all over the floor, ha.  You open the bottom door, there is a pump device that goes into the bottle and then you slide it into the machine and close the door.  It pulls water up into the reservoirs.  No heavy lifting (except getting it TO your machine but we use a dolly for that).  We love it for instant cold water to drink and instant hot water for cooking, tea, instant soups etc.  It has room temp as well.  As fate would have it, before our recent water outage, I had refilled our spare 5 gallon container and we had just put a new one inside the machine.  That gave us plenty of water for the duration.

This most recent boil water event however has made us make some changes...we are going to keep a third filled 5 gallon bottle in the closet at all times.  Just in case.  And since I pay close attention to the weather and news, the first hint of a storm that might come this way, I'll make sure our supply is topped off.

But without power, the dispenser above won't work.  We'd still have the water bottle that's inside of it, but how would we pump it out?  We just bought one of these cool items to keep in our emergency kit:


It's this awesome 5 Gallon Water Pump (affiliate link to Amazon).  It charges up via USB like a cell phone and when you need it, it just sits on top of a 5 gallon bottle with a hose into the water, you touch the button on top and it dispenses water!  We tried it out and it worked great.  It worked so great, I even bought a couple for two of my dear coworkers who were out of water and power for days as well.

For toilet flushing, we can still go down to the pool and scoop up water like we did this last time so a new bucket with a sturdy handle for carrying water and a snap on lid is all we need to have in order to upgrade our backup supplies.

Of course, for now, this applies to us here in town at the apartment.  The farm has well water so there shouldn't be too many situations where we would run out or even have a boil water notice but that doesn't mean we won't plan for needing water when we are out there and have our own well.  2nd Family has a manual pump for the well if there is an extended power outage.  When we have our own well dug, we'll make sure we have a manual pump too. 

It's not just hurricane season that we have to worry about, now it's year round.

Anyone have any other water prepping suggestions?


29 comments:

  1. Unbelievable that you are showing bare shelves down your way and yet we don't have that here up our way.
    I know that when Home Depot gets pallets of water in that it is sold out rather quickly but then as of yesterday there was no limit on how many you buy.
    The ice machines have been moved out but that is only because they are redoing all the flooring in the WalMart store and moving and rearranging All the departments so now it takes me longer buying groceries because I have to hunt & seek to find the items I want. I like to go in; get what I need and get out.
    Sam's Club Usually have bottled water pretty well stocked; except when everyone's water was shut off all over. During the summer months we may buy 3 or more cases and take up to our local fire department so that they have some to put in a cooler when going to fires.

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    1. Oh these pictures were from the aftermath of the freeze. Everything was gone everywhere but now, while still low in places we are seeing things back to normal. Ha, I'm like you I just like to go in, get what we need and get out as quickly as possible. No longer roam around taking my time. And what a sweet idea to take to the fireman. We might have to do that here and especially at the volunteer fire dept out by the farm.

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    2. We all know how hot it can get here in Texas and then having to go out to fight grass fires or whatever with all their fire gear on; the fresh bottled water is much appreciated by our small (pop. of 100 - 150 if that) country volunteer fire department. It has become a monthly thing for us to donate a few cases.
      I do hope others will consider donating bottled water to their local fire department.

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  2. I used to fill clean juice jugs with water, add a few drops of bleach, leave open for 30 minutes then cap & store. I also use a Berkey water filtration canister. The filters last a long time and you can run pretty much any type water through it and it will be fine for drinking. And no more nasty tasting tap water if you have issues with that.

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    1. What a good idea about the juice jugs. Thanks for that tip. We've heard about Berkey's will have to check them out. Thank you!!!

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  3. Our well froze even though we wrapped it well. We had to turn power off to it and weren’t able to get it fixed for 6 days. We always thought no power would be our only issue with the well (and have taken care of that with the standby generac) but even though you are a little further south of us you may think about an insulated well house too when drawing up your building plans. That’s top of our list once we get our ceiling fixed. I think we need to look into a 5 gal dispenser too.

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    1. Oh wow! Somehow 2nd Family kept the well from freezing. Of course that thing was wrapped with things I've never seen used. Luck was probably it. Thanks for the tip. We have been thinking about a small well house building (plus it can look like the barn and mower shed, ha). You know, if your water is filtered you could use it to fill empty 5 gallon bottles and then you have those as back up too. Thanks for the tips.

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  4. I want a Big Berkey filter that purifies water for drinking. We keep bottled water. And, we both want to keep 2 liter bottles filled for flushing. We also keep Coke and Pepsi for consumption...lol.

    When we had a pump house, it was larger than the dinkey things we see now. It was a tall building, tall enough for a tall man the stand it and room to get in out of weather for whatever a person did in there. (I was a child, so don't remember much. It was insulated and had a peaked roof. It had a regular door on it.

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    1. Another vote for Berkey, ha. Between you and Deb we'll be going down the rabbit hole of looking at well pump houses, ha. Thanks for the tip!!!

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  5. We have a Berkey filter. We filter it over night and then I put it in the fridge and into a couple of botttles ready for the kettle. We used to have a well at our last house and although we had a UV filter and another filter we still put it through the Berkey. Well worth the money. I think when I last read it one filter does 11,000 litres. We had a couple of solar panels to bring the water up from the well, they failed when it snowed and we had the Beast from the East cold snap. We had no running water for 1 week. The panels failed as it was too cold. Due to our auto pump we would have had problems attaching a manual pump. It was a real pain at the time. If we had of stayed we would of had to of invested in a secondary pump and pipes which would have cost us quite a bit

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    1. Another Berkey suggestion, wow, we are definitely going to look into these for the redone farmhouse at some point. Hmm, good things to think about on the pump and well. Thanks for all the tips we appreciate them!!!

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  6. You have made great preparations for your water supply. You’re right, we now have to plan for this situation at all times. Very good idea about the flavored sparkling water.
    I always keep some bottled water for these situations but now I am going to increase that amount. Since the Big Freeze in February, I’ve saved some large juice bottles and have now filled them with water for an emergency. I have a large Igloo water container that I fill up before each hurricane; now I’m going to fill it before each winter storm.
    After reading your preparations, I think I’m not doing enough and I need to implement some of your ideas.

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    1. Thanks, yep and as I was reading through this again, I forgot that last year (before the pandemic) part of 2020 going downhill was when almost the entire city of Houston had no water because of some huge ruptured main somewhere. That was just a regular day, no bad weather. Then of course we have our regular thunderstorms that can cause flooding and shut down water treatment plants, and then hurricanes and tropical storms of course and now Winter! I like the idea of the Igloo idea too. Yep we're going to have to pretty much be prepared year round. Thanks!!!

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  7. Oh my you have such good supplied and great ideas. I've never see that pump. I usually try to keep a 5 gallon bottle filled just in the back of my closet and while I've never had to use it I always wondered how to easily get it out. I will be heading to Amazon to get one. thanks. Janie V

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    1. by easily get it out I meant the water out of the bottle, ha. Not the bottle out of the closet. I have a cart for that, haha.

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    2. Thank you! Yes, the pump is a neat idea. It's not that expensive either and you don't have to worry about batteries. It seems we always have a way to charge our phones even in a power failure. And yep, figured you meant the water from the bottle but we're with ya, those bottles are heavy and unwieldy. Thanks for sharing!!

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  8. We bought a Berkey last year and I'm so glad we did. It feels so good not to have to purchase plastic water bottles anymore. We also have rain barrels in the garden, so if hard-pressed, we could filter that water through the Berkey. We live in NC now, but spent over 40 years in Florida, dealing with hurricane preparedness. We are used to being well stocked for seasonal emergencies.
    Blessings to you both!

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    1. Another vote for Berkey!! Yay! We will look into that. And gosh rain barrels have been on my wish list of ra few years now. I need to dust off those plans and figure out the best way. Yep, we've always tried to be well prepared for hurricane season but now it looks like Winter storms might be a second thing to prepare for. Thanks for stopping by and sharing!!!

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  9. We spent 3 winters in Mexico living in our RV without electric or water hookups. We had a generator that we ran just enough to charge our batteries and hauled potable water from a source 5 kilometers away. For everything else, (washing clothes, bathing, etc.) we dipped water out of the lake in 5 gallon buckets. Before this, I would have said that electricity was more important, but potable running water wins hands down. That was more than 20 years ago, but I still think about it and am thankful every time I turn on a faucet.

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    1. Wow, what a great thing to share, thank you for that. Yes, this is our second "water scare" and it's amazing how quickly things can go south like that. And how much we take it for granted. Thanks again!!!

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  10. I use vinegar for cleaning, so when a gallon jug is emptied, I refill it with water and store in a spare bedroom. They seem to be quite sturdy. It can be used for washing, cleaning, flushing (probably would not taste very good). When we had a top-loading washer, I would fill it before storms, or very cold weather.

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    1. Good idea! Those vinegar jugs are pretty sturdy. And it's smart to have them like you said for washing, cleaning and flushing the toilets. Heck it would save us from going to the pool and then when we're at the house all the time someday good method to just have a backup. And never even thought about a top loading washer. Our apartment has front loading but wow, that's a great way to "store" water when a storm is imminent Thank you!!!

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  11. Our electric company sent a notice after your storm saying the climate of Jacksonville is quite similar to that of Houston and they're preparing ways to deal with a similar catastrophe, which I hope never happens. Before hurricanes I fill every pitcher and Tupperware bowl in the house with water. I also bought a plug for my bathtub so I can start filling it. A blogger suggested filling big outdoor containers. We can never be too prepared.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I think a lot of normally more "temperate" climates are rethinking what's going on and what could happen in the future. You know, if a storm is about to make landfall in our area, you are right, good idea to fill up things. And a plug for the bathtub is a great idea. Thank you!

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  12. You're in hurricane country. Go to amazon or a good camping store and invest in some 2 and 5-gallon water jugs (I like the square ones with the spigots on the side.) When you know a storm is coming, instead of going to the store, fill those up from your sink for your drinking and cooking water. Another trick folks do in Florida is they don't throw out one-gallon jugs during storm season. They clean them and set them aside. When a storm is brewing, they fill them. Not lovely, but effective and the price is right. All that stuff about filling the bathtub - that's for flushing the toilet. You really want to be able to do that! Hanging onto 5 gallon buckets will give you water for that, too. Another trick I have is when we're in the Cone of Uncertainty, I make a cold-brew coffee tincture. I have a camp stove that lets me boil water; as long as I can have hot coffee in the morning, I can face about anything.

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    1. Oooh 2 gallon water jugs is a great idea. We didn't know they had those. Will check it out. And you're right we throw away a couple of those per month. Will have to remember that. Yes the toilet thing is something we never even considered, until we had to lug buckets of pool water up in order to flush. I don't drink coffee but I know 2nd Man loves his and if he's happy we're all happy, LOL! What a good idea to use the cone as a gauge of when to do things. Thanks for that will remember it this year. You're awesome, thanks for sharing!

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  13. And still some people won’t get prepared for another event. What a great find the flavoured water was.

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