Aren’t you glad you’re not me? Your Survival Guy’s in a boil water advisory. It’s not great. I’ll let you decide how a boil water advisory might run through your family. I’ll just say I live with teenagers and leave it at that. But there’s a silver lining here (and later on in this piece) so stick around and read on. Yesterday, while Your Survival Guy (YSG) was on the phone (I forget if it was with you) I got a text from home “no water pressure.” Now this isn’t something YSG can solve from his desk. But, rest assured, the despair felt by the rest of my family was going to be felt by me come … [Read more...]
Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Let There Be Water
In thinking about water storage for you and your family, I’ve been fascinated by how Israel solved their water problem. In his book, Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World, Seth M. Siegel tells how Israel, which is 60% desert became a water superpower.
One point that stood out to me was getting residents to “buy in” to the importance of cherishing a most valuable resource. Real market pricing took care of that in a way that subsidized water never could. If something like water was free or cheap, then why not use as much of it as you could? Whereas, when charged a market price on par with costs, consumers became much more conscious about their water usage.
Next, there’s the work Israel has done on desalination, which provides “the equivalent of ninety-four percent of Israel’s household water,” Siegel points out.
A lot of Israel’s success, like anything, came from need or survival. Need motivates. I want you to think about your family’s water needs. In a disaster, you’re dealing with uncomfortable scenarios. Taking a minute to think about water usage and where it comes from, like Israel had to do, will help you discover ways to improve your water situation when you need it most.
Seth Siegel - The Imminent Global Water Crisis & Israel's Solution
Small Towns vs. Big Business?
Small towns in America are often blessed with vast natural resources. When big businesses come into town to utilize those resources, it can be a boon to residents looking for good paying jobs, but it can also have surprising effects on the town. In The Wall Street Journal, Scott Patterson details the story of a major string cheese operation coming to the small Upstate New York town of Lowville. He writes: When the Philadelphia Cream Cheese factory here started making string cheese, too, in the summer of 2017, it brought scores of new jobs to town. It also boosted the facility’s water usage … [Read more...]
Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Let There Be Water
In thinking about water storage for you and your family, I’ve been fascinated by how Israel solved their water problem. In his book, Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World, Seth M. Siegel tells how Israel, which is 60% desert became a water superpower. One point that stood out to me was getting residents to “buy in” to the importance of cherishing a most valuable resource. Real market pricing took care of that in a way that subsidized water never could. If something like water was free or cheap, then why not use as much of it as you could? Whereas, when charged a … [Read more...]
Storing Water for the Winter
The official start of winter is coming soon. Make sure you read my post from November 9, 2018 before creating your water storage plan. You don’t have to be crazy to store water. Over the weekend I completed my winter water storage. Below is a great video on how you can do it with 55-gallon barrels. I too bought mine at Walmart.com because it was the lowest price and they delivered the barrels to my doorstep. They arrived in boxes which was a plus because that kept what I was doing less conspicuous. The boxes also provide good cover so the entire neighborhood doesn’t know what’s in your … [Read more...]
Is Your Water Zero Water?
This is not a promotion. Becky and I have a Zero Water 10 Cup Pitcher. Even with a whole house filter, there tends to be an uncomfortably high reading of total dissolved solids (TDS)—minerals, salts, metals, cations or anions dissolved in our water. For example, last night I poured a glass of tap water, put in the provided reader and it showed 170 TDS. Then, I poured a glass from Zero Water and, no surprise, it read zero. If you’re concerned about the water your family is drinking, this is a way to make sure your water is clean. I hesitate from saying “an easy” way to do it because what’s … [Read more...]
Water You’ve Already Stored for the Next Disaster
I continue to believe this is vital intelligence for all of us today and as when I originally posted it on October 6, 2017. The first thing you want to do when it comes down to your water supply is to figure out your water sources. For example, we have town water and we live near a fresh water reservoir, but it’s at the bottom of a steep hill. It will be extremely difficult to gather water and carry it up the hill. But it can be done in small batches. Next, you want to determine how much water you have on hand right now. The first place to look is your hot water heater capacity. Go … [Read more...]
World Water Day 2018: Is Your Water Source Secure?
Today is World Water Day. Each year World Water Day is used to highlight the plight of the billions of people in the world with poor access to water. It is also a good day to check up on your own water security. How secure is your water supply? Where would you get your water if your well or town water source were shut down for some reason? Would that water be clean? If your power shut off, would you be put in the same situation as the 2.3 billion people living without access to improved sanitation, or the 844 million who don't have access to safe water at all? Here are some facts … [Read more...]
These 6 Water Purification Methods will Blow Your Mind
I've discussed making use of your local water resources for survival before here on Richardcyoung.com, and there are a number of water focused pieces of gear in the Richardcyoung.com "Navy SEAL Survival Kit." Now take a look as Mike Jones, writing for LoadoutRoom.com, details methods for purifying water that he learned as a military survival instructor. Pre-filtering you water: This is important, if your water is full of particulate matter and other disgusting crap you might want to consider doing a pre filter. I typically do this by putting a shirt over the mouth of my canteen and pouring … [Read more...]
Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Water Purification
As I wrote to you in my five-part series on water storage here, here, here, here and here, there are plenty of ways for you to store potable water. But how can you turn stored water into great tasting water? I’ve learned that taste can be an issue if water has been sitting in a plastic container for perhaps five years. Who wants to drink water that tastes like plastic or Clorox? I don’t. The best solution I’ve come up with is to use a water purifier. But, as one survivalist points out, storing treated water and then purifying it with a filter is like wearing a belt and suspenders, it’s … [Read more...]
Preparing Yourself for the Next Disaster: Water Storage Part V
Your final goal in storing water is: To have water when you need it most. To do that, you need to determine what containers work best for your situation. Once you have your container(s), you want to make sure they are rinsed and disinfected before filling them up. Most come ready to go out of the box, but you want to make sure. You can watch how to disinfect containers on YouTube. I like rinsing with plain old Clorox and letting them sit for about a half hour. Then let them stand overnight before filling with water using an RV potable water hose. Next, you want to treat the water for … [Read more...]