Chapter 3 - #2 Need - Potable Water

The second need I mentioned was your need for clean, purified water. The technical term is "potable

water." The average American uses a bit over 100 gallons of water per day. Of that, we only drink

about 1/2 gallon. The rest is used for watering our lawns, cleaning our clothes, flushing our toilets,

taking our baths and cooking our food. The way the system works, all the water we receive is

potable water, even though the only uses we have which require potable water is for drinking and

cooking.

Most of us receive this water from our municipal water system. They pump the water out of the

ground, reservoirs or rivers and purify that water for our use. There are several stages to this

purification process, to remove sediment and dangerous microscopic pathogens. The same city

department is responsible for cleaning waste water and returning it to the environment.

In the aftermath of a disaster, there's a good chance that city water and sanitation will be out of

order. Both depend on considerable amounts of electricity, mostly to operate pumps and monitoring

equipment. Since power outages are common in the aftermath of most disasters, there's a good

chance that they won't be able to supply water. There's also a possibility that city water sources will

become contaminated, especially if there is flooding. In that case, the water will be out until they

can clean and purify the entire system.

Of course, that doesn't eliminate our need for water. We can only live for about three days without

water; less in hot climates. So, we need a strategy for supplying ourselves with water, in the case

that city water is unreliable.

With water being such an important need, it is good to have more than one strategy for providing

your family with water, so we are going to discuss water purification, water storage and places you

can harvest water.

To start with, we need to come up with an idea of how much water you need in a survival situation.

Most survival instructors will say that you need one gallon of purified water per person, per day, for

drinking and cooking. That's sufficient in most cases, for those uses; but if you live in a hot climate,

such as the Southwest in the summertime, you'll need to drink more than a gallon of water per day,

just to keep up with the water your body will be sweating out.

But there's a fallacy in that statement about a gallon of water per person per day. That is, you'll need

water for much more than just drinking and cooking. Even if you stop watering your lawn, bathe

with minimal water and use an outhouse so that you don't need to flush your toilets, you're still

going to need some water. You'll need to wash your dishes, wash your bodies, wash your clothes

and water your vegetable garden. So, you'll need more than one gallon per person per day.

If you learn how to be very good at conserving water, you'll still need a minimum of about five

gallons of water per person per day. That's a whole lot less than 100 gallons, but it still means that

you will need to come up with 20 gallons per day, for a family of four.

Now, there are many things that can be done to reduce water usage. First of all, our appliances are

huge water users. Washing machines and dish washers don't even think about conserving water. You

can wash by hand using much less. Likewise, you can bathe by taking a sponge bath, rather than

taking a shower or full bath, washing yourself with less than a gallon of water. That includes washing

your hair.

The next thing you can do is to take all that water you use for washing and reuse it. That water is

called grey water. It can be recycled. The two best ways to recycle it are for flushing toilets and

watering your vegetable garden. Careful use of your grey water for these purposes will greatly

reduce your water consumption.

Storing Water for Long-Term Needs

Most preppers have trouble with storing water for long-term needs. Part of this problem is the huge

amount of water that they need to store. Even if you just look at the gallon per person per day

figure, a month's supply of water for a family of four is 120 gallons. But if you up it to the five gallon

figure, which I believe to be much more accurate, you end up with 600 gallons. However, one

month's supply of water probably isn't enough. You should probably have more; say a three month

supply of water. That's 1,800 gallons of water.

Fortunately, water is cheap... that is, it's cheap if you buy it right. The worst thing you can do is to go

out and buy 1,800 gallons of water in half liter bottles. That would work out to something like

14,400 bottles of water. I'd hate to see the bill for that.

The cheapest way of getting clean water is of course to use tap water. If you don't trust your tap

water for some reason, or you live in an area which has a high mineral content in the water, like I do,

you might want to consider buying purified water from one of the corner water purification places,

where you bring your own containers.

That brings up the next issue of storing water; what are you going to store it in? Bottles are actually

the most inefficient way of storing large quantities of water. You lose a lot to the air space between

the bottles. Even so, I'd store up some water in bottles, just for their convenience. I'd also plan on

saving and refilling those bottles when you use them.

One popular option within the prepping community is to use gallon milk containers. These are free,

assuming your family drinks milk, store well and are convenient to work with. Some people like to

store these under the beds, as water stores best if keep in a cool, dark place. Water stored where

sunlight can get to it will tend to grow algae. While algae isn't dangerous to your health, many

people are uncomfortable drinking water that has algae growing in it. But storing water in milk

containers really isn't all that good an idea, as they are hard to clean out thoroughly.

Going up from gallon milk containers, you can store milk well in 55 gallon drums as well. White 55

gallon plastic drums are "food grade." That means they are safe for putting food in and are only used

for that purpose. If you can find them used, all you need to do is clean them out from their previous

contents and they are safe for storing water in.

Many people use 55 gallon blue plastic drums, rather than the white ones. These are not considered

food grade. While they are still safe for water, you must check what was in them previously. If that

can be cleaned out thoroughly, you're good to go. But don't take any chances with strange

chemicals!

The larger the containers used, the more efficiently the water can be stored. What I mean by that is

there will be less space wasted by air, so your water supplies will fit in less space. I store my water

supply in 750 liter (just over 200 gallon) plastic water tanks, which I buy in Mexico. Being built for

water, I know they are safe and strong enough to support the weight of the water. To make it easy

to get the water out of them, I put them on a base of cement blocks, so that the water outlet is high

enough to get a five gallon bucket under.

Not all my water tanks store potable water. I actually only have one with what I would call potable

water. The rest have our tap water, which is so high in mineral contents that I won't drink it. But the

water in those tanks is fine for washing and other uses.

We were talking about OPSEC before. Hiding a lot of water isn't easy. Those water tanks can become

very obvious to your neighbors, especially if they're sitting on your back patio. However, there is one

very easy way to put in a stealthy water supply; that will hold enough water to take care of your

family's needs for a few months, that's to put in an above ground swimming pool for the kids.

If you have kids, having a swimming pool won't seem unusual to the neighbors. The water is

normally kept clean by the addition of chlorine, the same chemical that your city water system adds

to the water to ensure that it is drinkable. So, by taking care of your pool, you are also taking care of

your water supply.

Chlorine is also commonly known by the name "bleach." That's right, the same thing that is used for

whitening clothing is also used for purifying water. Eight drops of bleach per gallon will purify it of all

microscopic pathogens. So, if you want to be absolutely sure of your stored water supply, add eight

drops per gallon when storing it. For larger containers, there are 20 drops per cubic centimeter, so

you can add it in cc, rather than standing there forever with an eye dropper. A 55 gallon drum of

water needs only 22 cc. My 750 liter tanks only need 80 cc of bleach. Be sure to use the unscented

bleach and not the color safe kind.

When Your Water Supply Runs Out

No matter how much water you have stored, you're not going to have enough. Eventually you'll run

out. So, your survival plan for water must include some means of getting more water. This means

having a source for water, as well as a means of purifying it.

Look around your home for available water sources. You have a few in your home and probably

some that are nearby. You'll want to identify all these before you need them, so that you can use

them if you have to.

In your home, you should be able to find water:

In the hot water heater - the hot water heater will have a drain valve near the bottom.

In the toilet tanks (not the toilet bowls)

In a fish tank or pond

In a fountain

In the pipes in the walls - drain it from the lowest faucet in your home, which will be the

water inlet for the toilet in the basement or on the first floor.

In your neighborhood or town, you should look for water in:

Ponds and lakes

Rivers and streams

Irrigation canals

Public fountains

Water towers and tanks

Public swimming pools

Make a map of all these places, so that in a time of emergency, you will

know where you can find water. You should also have some way of

hauling water to your home, if you can't use your car. This can be in five

gallon buckets, hauled with a hand truck, a children's wagon, or just

about anything else that has wheels on it.

Purifying Water; at Home or on the Run

Unless water has come from a source where you know for sure that it is

purified, don't trust it. Waterborne bacteria and other pathogens can

cause dysentery, a serious disease and even death. You should always

purify your water, especially in a survival situation.

I used to spend a lot of time high up in the Rocky Mountains. At one time, it was safe to drink the

water right out of the mountain streams; but I wouldn't do it today. Even those mountain streams,

which look like they are filled with fresh, cold water, can be contaminated. You don't know who

might be upstream of you, using that stream as a toilet or dumping chemicals into it, not realizing

the damage they are doing.

The time it takes to purify your water is insurance for the health of your family. There are four basic

ways of purifying it: mechanical filtration, chemical purification, heat purification and distillation.

Water purification is so important, that you should have more than one means of purifying water,

both at home and as part of your bug out bag. That way, you'll always have a way of purifying water,

even if your primary means of purifying it gets damaged in some way.

Mechanical Filtration

This is the most popular and easiest way of purifying water. All mechanical filters are porous and

work by allowing the water to flow through them, while blocking out larger particles. Depending

upon the size of the pores in the filter, the particles that are blocked out can be sediment, bacteria

or even some viruses.

Not all mechanical filters are the same by any means. Many of the "whole house filters" you

encounter are only intended to take sediment out of the water. They are rated at 5 or 10 microns,

which is actually fairly large. This won't work for purifying your water. You need a filter that filters

out things that are 0.2 microns in size. That actually limits your options to only a few filters on the

market.

The most popular water filter in prepping circles is the Berkley filter. This uses an extremely complex,

multi-stage filter element. It is not a whole house filter that is put into the house's plumbing lines,

but rather a countertop unit that consists of two tanks. Water is put into the upper tank and filters

down into the lower tank. Depending upon the model of the Berkley filter, they could use two or

four filter elements.

While the Berkley filter is expensive to buy, it filters water so well that it ends up being cheaper per

gallon to use than many less costly models. The filter elements for the Berkley unit last some 3,000

gallons each, compared to only about 500 gallons that the less expensive units last.

Another excellent filter unit is the Sawyer filter. This is a totally different type of filter than the

Berkley. It is a hollow fiber filter, which filters down to 0.2 microns. The construction of the filter

means that it can be back-flushed with clean water, cleaning out the filter and allowing it to continue

being used. The Sawyer filter is guaranteed by the manufacturer to be good for one million gallons, if

back-flushed regularly.

Sawyer also makes a portable version of their filter for backpacking, which also means it is perfect

for bugging out. This uses the same type of filter element, with a plastic pouch. The pouch is filled

with water and squeezed, forcing the water through the filter.

The other type of mechanical filter is specifically designed for backpacking or bugging out. These are

straw-type filters which are used to drink through. Their design is very compact, which is ideal for a

bug out bag or survival kit. The best amongst these filters is the Lifestraw, which was originally

designed to provide safe drinking water in third-world countries.

Chemical Purification

I've already alluded to chemical purification in talking about using bleach to keep your water

stockpile from going bad. Chlorine bleach is about the best chemical purifier you can find and is

quite inexpensive. For the purposes of using it as a purifier in a survival situation, liquid bleach, such

as is used for whitening clothes, is the easiest to use. In a pinch, pool chlorine can be used as well,

but it is not as easy to work with for small quantities of water.

To purify water, add eight drops of chlorine bleach to each gallon of water and mix it. You will need

to allow it to sit for 20 minutes, in order to allow the chlorine time to kill any pathogens. If you don't

like the taste or smell of the chlorine, you can allow the container to sit open for 24 hours for the

chlorine to evaporate. Cover the mouth of the container with a paper towel, napkin or piece of

fabric to act as a simple filter while the chlorine is evaporating.

Iodine can also be used as a means of purifying water, in much the same way as chlorine. There are

many third-world and emerging countries in the world where iodine is used in this manner.

However, you need more iodine than chlorine and the iodine is more expensive. When using iodine

rather than chlorine bleach, use 10 drops per gallon of water, unless the water is cloudy, in which

case you should double the chlorine.

There are also "halzone" water purification tablets available. These are a chlorine derivative in a

tablet form. They are much easier to carry, but do take a longer to dissolve in the water. Halzone

tablets are excellent for an emergency water purifier to carry in a survival kit or get home bag.

However, I would not recommend using them regularly, as they leave the water tasting bad.

Heat Purification

Pretty much everyone knows that you can purify water by boiling it. This is true, but you don't

actually have to get the water to boiling temperature in order to purify the water. Louis Pasteur

discovered that pathogens uniformly die at 158oF. So, all you have to do is get the water hotter than

160oF to purify it. This sort of purification process is called "pasteurization" after the inventor of this

method.

When you buy milk in the supermarket, it is pasteurized. This is done to kill any pathogens that

might be in the milk from the cows. If the milk was boiled, rather than pasteurizing it, it would spoil

the milk. By pasteurizing it and then chilling it once again, the milk is kept fine, while purifying it.

If you have a good candy or meat thermometer, a pot and a fire, you have what you need for

pasteurizing water. If you don't have a good thermometer, I'd recommend getting a Water

Pasteurization Indicator or WAPI for short.

The WAPI consists of a plastic capsule with a green wax bead in it. This bead will melt at 160oF. There

are two versions of the WAPI available, the one shown is the original WAPI. The plastic container for

the WAPI capsule has a hole in the bottom, which the WAPI can be installed in. This makes it so that

the cases can be used to float the WAPI in the water. The other type has a stainless steel wire for

suspending the WAPI in the water.

To use the WAPI one needs to put it in the water with the wax bead up, as shown in the photo.

When the water reaches the necessary temperature to pasteurize it, the wax bead will melt and fall

to the bottom, indicating that the water is ready. After cooling, the WAPI can be reused indefinitely.

It is also possible to pasteurize water using solar heat, rather than using heat from a fire. To do so, all

you need to do is put the water into clear soda bottles or water bottles that the labels have been

removed from. Then, place the bottles on a dark surface or the corrugated metal roof of a building,

in the bright sunlight. The sunlight will heat the water, purifying it. If a WAPI is available, it can be

placed in one of the bottles to verify purification.

Distillation

The final and most perfect method of water purification is by distillation. The reason I say it is the

most perfect method is that it removes more impurities from the water than any other method,

including most chemicals. However, distillation is also the most complicated method of purification

there is.

Distillation consists of heating water to a boiling point and allowing it to form steam. The steam

naturally rises, is collected and passes through a condenser. The condenser is cooler than the

necessary temperature for the water to turn to steam, allowing the water to condensate inside it.

For simplicity sake, a condenser is usually nothing more than a coil of copper tubing. To allow the

condensed water to be collected, the coil is extended, so that the water has an unimpeded pathway

downwards through it, once it has condensed inside the tubing.

Water drips out of the condenser tubing and is captured in a container, as purified water.

Water can also be distilled in a solar still. There are a couple of types of solar stills that one can

make, one for use at home and another for a survival situation in the wild. In both cases, it is the

power of the sun which provides the heat to evaporate the water, rather than fire. Other than that,

it works by the same principle as the simple still shown in the diagram above.

This sort of a solar still is intended for use in a fixed location. It has to face south, where the most

sun will hit it. Sun entering through the glass collector will hit the inside of the box, where it is

absorbed and converted to heat. This provides the heat to cause the water to evaporate, condensing

on the bottom side of the glass collector and running down the glass to be captured.

The most important single factor is the angle of the glass collector. It needs to be a high enough

angle so that the water condensed on the bottom side of the glass runs down it to the drip edge and

catch tube. To calculate the ideal angle for your location:

If the latitude is below 25o, the latitude needs to be multiplied by 0.87.

If the latitude is above 25o, the latitude needs to be multiplied by 0.76, plus 3.1 degrees.

The solar still can be made out of plywood, as long as it is well sealed against the weather. I like to

cover the edges of plywood entirely with caulking, to prevent moisture from getting into it. Paint

alone is enough for the top and bottom surfaces of the plywood, but the greater danger is water

seeping in through the edges.

The catch tube needs to run out of the solar still needs to extend out through the wall of the solar

still and into a container to collect and store the water.

This sort of solar distiller is a bit difficult to carry around in a backpack, but you can still purify water

with a solar still in the wild. One great advantage of this is that it also allows you to get water out of

other substances that contain water, such as cut open cactus plants, urine and the coolant from a

car. It will even draw water out of the ground.

All you need to have, in order to make this sort of solar still is a sheet of clear plastic, a small stone, a

piece of rubber or plastic flexible tubing and a small saucepan or even a cleaned out can.

To make the solar still, start by digging a hole in the ground. It needs to be deep enough for your

container to fit in it and have room between the plastic sheeting and the container. Eighteen inches

to two feet should be enough.

Place the container in the bottom of the hole and make sure it is stable. Run a piece of hose or

tubing out past where the end of the plastic will be, anchoring it at both ends, so it can't slip. Place

whatever other materials you want to get water out of in the pit and cover it with clear plastic film,

holding the edges down with rocks or dirt. The last step is to put a small rock on the plastic, directly

over the container, causing the plastic to dip down into the hole, but not touch anything.

The light of the sun will enter the hole through the plastic, warming everything inside. This will cause

water to evaporate out of the ground, s well as anything else you've put in the hole. When that

water vapor hits the plastic, it will condense, running down the plastic and dripping into the

container. You can drink it out of the container by sucking on the hose or tubing.

Building a Bio-Filter

The Bio Filter is a simple filter that you can make at home, which will filter out about 99% of all

bacteria, as well as sediment in the water. While not perfect, it does a very good job and your

autoimmune system should be able to handle the few bacteria that are left.

A bio filter works in essentially the same way that a water treatment plant does, albeit simplified. It

is made out of naturally occurring materials, making it possible to make one either at home or on

the run. Developed for use in third-world countries, it does a good job of making water taken from

streams and ponds drinkable.

The bio filter uses three layers of materials to filter the water in successively more stringent stages.

These materials are:

Pea Gravel

Sand

Activated Charcoal

You can either make the bio-filter in one container, such as a five gallon bucket or three stacked

containers. I prefer three containers, as the more filter medium you can have the water pass

through, the better a job it will do of filtering impurities out of the water.

Some people add additional layers to their bio-filters, putting another layer of sand and gravel below

the layer of activated charcoal. As the charcoal is the most stringent filtering medium used in the

filter, adding those layers is a waste of time and resources. You're better off having thicker layers

above the charcoal.

The picture shows a bio-filter that I made and have co-located with one of my 750 liter water tanks.

The clear vertical tube on the water tank is a water level gauge that I made out of clear, flexible

tubing. It is backed up by a piece of PVC pipe that has been cut in half lengthwise, giving it stiffness.

The two are held together with wire ties.

Each of the buckets contains one of the filter mediums, as shown by the legend hand written on the

side of the bucket. These are food grade buckets, which you can buy at your local home

improvement center.

The filtering medium needs to be rinsed thoroughly before the filter can be used. Gravel and sand

will contain some amount of dirt and dust, mixed in. Rinsing it several times, will remove this.

Continue rinsing until the water coming back out of the bucket is clear. Likewise, the activated

charcoal will have charcoal dust which needs to be rinsed out.

In order for the water to flow between the buckets, a hole has to be drilled in the bottom of one

bucket and in the lid of the bucket below. However, a simple hole is not enough, as that will allow

the sand and gravel to pass through as well. So, a fitting is put in the hole, with screening over it.

The fittings shown are 3/4" PVC. The fitting above the

hole is a female coupler, threaded on one end and a

slip fitting, for gluing, on the other end. The bottom

fitting is a male to female adapter, with male threads

on one end. It threads through the bottom of the

bucket into the other fitting. An O-ring is placed

between the two to act as a seal.

As you can see in the picture, the upper end of the top

fitting has screening glued onto it with epoxy. This is

to prevent the sand and gravel from going through the

fitting. I did the same thing on the fitting in the

bottom bucket, to keep the charcoal from passing out

of the bucket.

To protect the screen from the weight of the sand and

gravel (50 pounds each), a small plastic cup is glued in

place, upside-down, over it. A few small holes are

made around the rim of the cup for the water to flow

through.

This filter will process three gallons of water at a time, taking about 30 minutes for the water to

percolate through the layers and come out purified at the other end. From there, it is moved to the

storage tank for later use.

Harvesting Water at Home

Even though there are probably existing water sources around your home, you may still have

problems getting enough water. You have to remember that everyone else is going to need water as

well, and they aren't going to be as well prepared as you. Some may try to take over local water

sources as their own, especially if the water source abuts their property.

Your best solution is to have a water source on your own property, that can't be claimed by others.

Even if you have a stream on your property, others who are upstream of you may try to dam that

stream. So, you need something that is limited to your property and under your control.

Unfortunately, most of us don't have enough land to build a pond on our property and even if we

did, doing so opens us up to a lot of problems with the EPA. So don't do that, unless you are sure

that you have all the paperwork in order.

However, this doesn't mean that you can't harvest water on your own property. There are two

means of harvesting water on your property that you should take into consideration; collecting

rainwater and putting in a well.

Rainwater Collection System

Your home probably already has part of a rainwater collection system installed. If you have gutters

and downspouts on your home, you are already collecting rainwater. The only problem is that you

are dumping that collected rainwater on the ground. All you need is something to catch it in. This

means adding a tank or plastic barrel for the downspouts to dump the rainwater you capture into.

Most people use 55 gallon plastic drums for this. You can use the larger chemical shipping containers

as well or connect several 55 gallon plastic drums together. Either way, you want to make sure that

the interior of the container is free of any chemicals and cleaned out, before using it.

If you are using multiple barrels, you'll need to connect them together. This is best done at the

bottom, making the connections and the output valve as one assembly, as shown in the picture

below.

In this setup, a two inch shower drain is installed in the bottom of each of two plastic barrels. They

are connected together at a "T", allowing for the installation of a smaller diameter 3/4" ball valve.

This size was selected to save money over a larger valve and because a standard garden hose

connector would be put at the output, so that the water collected could be used for the garden, if it

wasn't going to be used in the house.

Remember, that this water will not be purified water, even though it is rainwater. Birds use your

roof for their bathroom, so you will want to purify the water coming out of this system, before using

it as drinking water.

You will also want to install lids on your rain barrels, if they do not have them. This will help keep out

foreign objects, such as falling leaves, as well as keeping mosquitoes from laying eggs in your rain

barrels. Mosquitoes will lay eggs in all open water containers, so you need to protect your rain

barrels from them.

Putting in a Well

If you hire a professional well contractor to put in a well, it will probably cost you several thousand

dollars. However, in many parts of the country, you can put in your own well. You may have to get a

permit for it, depending upon local laws. Check your state laws for well drilling, before taking any

action.

Let me tell you a secret about wells, before we go any farther. If you hire a well contractor, they'll

tell you that you need to put your well in 250 feet deep or some such. Part of that is because they

get paid by the foot and so they want to put in a deeper well. The other part is that the deeper the

well, the better the water quality. Since they want satisfied customers, they're of course going to go

for a deep well. But, and again I say but, you can often find water much shallower, as shallow as 20

feet below the surface.

There are a lot of factors which will affect how shallow you can find water. The first of these is the

climate where you live. The more rain you have, the higher the water table will be. The water won't

have as much time to sink down through the layers of the ground, so you will be able to find it close

to the surface.

The second factor is your altitude; actually, your altitude above or below the nearest sizeable body

of water. If you are at sea level, the water table is going to be high. That's why homes built in places

like New Orleans don't have basements. If they did, the basements would be flooding all the time.

Finally, the underground strata of dirt, sand, rock and gravel will make a difference in where you can

find water.

For a well, you have to find an underground strata of sand or permeable rock. Sand will have the

highest concentration of water in it of any type of ground you can find. When people talk about

aquifers, that's usually what they are referring to.

There are several different ways of putting in a well, but there are really only two practical ones.

Digging a well by hand, using a shovel may be possible, but I seriously doubt you want to do that,

unless you absolutely have to. That leaves driving a well or drilling a well as the only viable options

to consider.

A driven well is actually the easiest type of well to put in. It is literally pounded into the ground, like a

big nail. To start, you'll need a well point, such as is pictured here. This is a galvanized iron pipe,

which has been cut so that it can act as a well screen. One end has a hardened point on it and the

other end is threaded for pipe.

To drive the well, a cap needs to be put on the threaded end, to protect the threads. The point is

then pounded into the ground, either with a sledge hammer or with a fence stake driving tool.

When the well point is almost all the way into the ground, the threaded cap is removed, another

section of iron pipe is added on and the cap is placed on that section of pipe, so that

it can be driven in. This continues until the well reaches the desired depth. The

maximum depth that a well can be driven is about 25 feet. This limitation is created

by the pump, as these types of wells use a surface mounted pump.

The other limitation on driven wells is the type of soil you have to work with. Driven

wells work well with sandy loam, sand and earth. They do not work well with rock,

gravel or clay. These materials will stop you from driving the well, requiring that you

start all over in another spot. If you can't pull the drill point back out, you'll need a

new one for that second attempt.

While drill points are easy for a shallow well, the most common means of putting in

a well is drilling a well. Doing this requires having or renting a well drilling rig. The

rig consists of a motor on a frame, which drives the pipe down into the earth.

Regular iron pipe is used as the drill rod and an actual drill bit is required.

Drilled wells are larger in diameter than driven wells, so a 4" plastic well casing can

be installed and a deep well pump installed in the well. This allows the well to be

drilled deeper, allowing you to reach water in places where the water table is

deeper, as well as reaching better quality water.

Well drilling rigs vary considerably, with larger units available for drilling to deeper depth and for

drilling through rock. However, the larger the rig, the more expensive it is to rent or buy.

There is one company in Texas which sells a very inexpensive well drill, which is air powered. This

has been developed specifically for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to drill a well. Their kit consists of

an air motor that is modified and mounted into a piece of PVC pipe, a drill bit and many of the other

tools you will need to use with it. It comes with an instructional video, showing you how to drill with

their system. In addition to the kit, you will also have to buy some plastic pipe, rope and other

materials to use along with the drill. You will also need to rent a large air compressor that is able to

supply 11 CFM of air to the drill motor.

Overall, putting in a well with this system will cost about $1,000 and take a few days of work. That

makes it the cheapest option around for drilling your own well. This well drill kit can be found at:

www.howtodrillawell.com. I've used this kit and it works well in soil and sand, but does not work

well in clay or stone.

Regardless of the type of well you put in, you'll have to have electricity for the pump to operate. So,

check the electrical ratings of the pump you buy, looking for the most energy efficient pump

possible. We will be talking about ways to get off-the-grid electrical power later in this book.

Water Conservation in a Survival Situation

Finding and purifying water is only part of the battle; you also need to conserve water as well. I've

mentioned this briefly, but we need to talk about it more thoroughly. As I mentioned, the average

family of four uses about 400 gallons of water per day. Seventy percent of that is used indoors,

divided into:

Toilet - 26.7%

Clothes washer - 21.7%

Shower - 16.8%

Kitchen and bathroom sinks - 15.7%

Leaks - 13.7% (this is mostly underground leaks)

Other uses - 5.3%

If we are shooting for using only five gallons per person per day, we're going to have to make some

major changes in the way that we use water. To start with, if the city water is down, then we

probably don't have city sewer either. Unless you are on a septic tank, you won't be able to use your

home's toilets. That means using an outhouse or making a bucket toilet.

If you have a septic tank, you can still use your toilet, but you should only use grey water for flushing

it. That will drastically reduce your water usage. Don't flush it every time you urinate, but only when

you defecate to save water.

Personal hygiene is an important part of avoiding infections and maintaining your health. So, you

don't want to avoid bathing or washing your clothes during a survival situation. However, you might

want to consider wearing your clothes a little longer between washings and bathing a little less

frequently. In the frontier days, people bathed once a week, and they didn't die from it.

Bathing can be done out of a bucket, like they do in third-world countries. Take a gallon of water in a

bucket into the tub or shower and sponge bathe with it. Take along a small plastic container, to use

as a scoop for rinsing yourself and washing your hair. When washing your hair, use the minimal

water possible to get it wet, shampoo and use the majority of the water for rinsing.

To avoid wasting water for conditioner, you can mix conditioner with water (1 part conditioner to 5

parts water) and put it in a spray bottle. Spray this in the hair as a detangler, after getting out of the

tub.

Dishes can be washed in minimal water as well. Fill a basin with a couple of gallons of soapy water

and wash everything individually in it, without rinsing it. It's best to use an anti-bacterial soap, as you

will be using the same water for many dishes. If you don't have an anti-bacterial soap, add a capful

of chlorine bleach to the water.

Don't allow the soapy water to dry on the dishes, before rinsing them. Otherwise, you'll need to use

more water for rinsing. But if the dishes are clean, it takes very little water to rinse off the soap. A

trickle of water is actually enough.

The easiest way to wash clothing is to use a five-gallon bucket with a clean toilet plunger as an

agitator. If you drill a hole in the bucket's lid, slightly larger than the diameter of the plunger's

handle, it will allow you to keep from splashing the water all over. Put some soapy water in the

bucket, along with a few articles of clothing. Agitate it for a minute, then wring the water out of the

clothes. Reuse the water for more clothes. When you are done, the soapy water can be dumped out

and clean water put in the bucket for rinsing.

When washing clothing with minimal water like this, the order you wash things is important. Start

with whites, then pastels and then darks. Clothing that has a lot of dirt or mud on it should be saved

for last, as the water will have to be dumped after that.

Remember, every gallon of water that you use is a gallon that your family has to get from

somewhere, so you want to be careful not to waste any. While these methods may not seem like

they will get your bodies, clothes and dishes as clean as what you are used to, they will be clean. If

you try to do things like normal, you'll kill yourself trying to get enough water.