Lately we’ve had more than our share of inclement weather. We started with flooding, then a snowstorm, an incredible typhoon-worthy windstorm, another snowstorm, and now back to heavy rains. All this in a month.
And I thought we were prepared.
There’s nothing like a little dose of Mother-Nature-on-PMS to show you where the holes in your plan are! We’d never seriously considered being without water. Power, sure, but not water. We draw from a community well recently acquired by the county. But two pumps failed and several leaks sprung (hmmm…where does that monthly maintenance fee get spent?), leaving us dry. Completely dry. Well, not completely. We had the one gallon per person per day that Homeland Security recommends. Let me tell you, that’s not enough. That only covers food and drinking. What about “other” needs?
At first, we decided we’d save on flushing except for #2. The old “If it’s yellow, it’s mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down” rule. That lasted until the first time an adult used the bathroom. This wouldn’t do. Decisions, decisions. Do I use half a gallon of our drinking water? Do I grin and bear it? In a global emergency, I suppose I could bear it, but I opted instead to take the 4WD into town and find a spigot and fill up the 5-gallon jug. It’s amazing how many people had to go to the bathroom when I returned, and more than once. Another trip out in the snow.
This was a poor solution, and wouldn’t work if the water outages were more than local or if the roads were impassable. Driving back, various scenarios ran through my mind. I suppose I could have stopped and filled the jug in the ocean, but the thought of wading out into the cold water when it was 21 degrees outside wasn’t a pleasant nor practical one. At least it got me thinking.
What we’re doing that’s better is:
*Keeping an eye on water rotation. Some of our emergency water was more than six months old, and it definitely tasted that way. Also, there’s something about being out of water that makes the kids all of a sudden thirsty. So we’ve tripled what we were storing. It’s just water. When the budget allows, we’ll be getting food grade water storage barrels with pumps (about $50 each). Until then, it’s soda bottles (don’t use thin plastic bottles; they leech).
* Filling the bathtub when there’s a storm coming. In a pinch, it could be used for drinking water, but I’m thinking more of flushing water.
* We already store Grapefruit Seed Extract, which can be used to purify water in an emergency.
I’m sure there are other ways we’ve missed. Do you have ideas to share? I’d love to implement them into my own family’s plan.