Greetings, Noggers.
Following on from out post about simple preparations for
Power Outages, we’re going to look at prepping for short-term disruption to the
water grid:
The water supply is probably the most important aspect of
‘the grid’ in terms of essentials for your survival. In our last post, we
looked at how you can prepare your household for a short-term disruption to the
power grid with ease, and at relatively little cost.
This time, we’ll look at how to prepare for twenty-four to
forty-eight hours without a mains water supply. Again, we will start small and
initially look at the preparations for a short-term disruption that can easily
be put in place by a normal household, whether you live in a house or a small
flat.
Although disruption for any extended length of time to the
water supply is quite rare, it can happen. The usual cause of our taps drying
up is through essential works by the utilities companies. In the vast majority
of cases, especially in the UK, you will be informed by letter about any
planned, or foreseeable, break in service so that you can make preparations.
There may be other reasons for a termination of supply,
however, and it pays to be ready. It is possible that we could face shortages
that may cause water companies to take more drastic action than the regular
hose-pipe bans that seem to be in place nearly every summer.
Indeed, if matters got bad enough in the long term, it is
even possible that we could one day see periods where domestic water is only
supplied through stand-pipes at the end of the street, as some areas of the UK
witnesses back in the 1970’s. Should such a situation ever arise again,
however, both the utilities companies and the main stream media would no doubt
give us plenty of warning.
So again, the most likely scenario, when it comes to
disruption to the water supply in the UK, is a very short-term loss of running
water, and the most likely cause of such an event happening without warning
would be a burst water main.
The simplest and most sensible course of action, therefore,
is to be prepared for at least a short-term supply cut of twenty-four to
forty-eight hours. Any termination of the domestic water supply that lasts
longer than this should be considered a genuine emergency.
How much water do I need to store?
Advice varies as to how much water a person will need for a
set length of time and, of course, all people have slightly differing needs.
For example: The US National Academia of Science,
Engineering and Medicine advises that the adequate daily intake of water for
consumption is: approximately 15.5 cups (3.7 litres) per day for a man, and
approximately 11.5 cups (2.7 litres) per day for a woman.
In the UK, the National Health Service recommends six to
eight cups or glasses of water per person, per day.
Bearing in mind the miniscule cost and inconvenience
involved in storing water for an emergency, and the importance of water to our
survival and comfort, I would recommend the larger amount of 3.7 litres per
person, per day, irrespective of the person’s age or gender.
Remember that the figures given are an estimate of how much
a person needs in order to stay healthy. For the amount of trouble it
takes, it makes sense to have extra for uses other than drinking. After all,
you may well wish to boil vegetables, wash, or even fill a hot-water bottle to
keep warm.
Storing the water:
Pretty much any kind of clean, water-tight, food-safe
container will do to save enough water to get you through a short-term water
outage. The most obvious choice, of course, is to save, (and thoroughly clean),
a few drinks bottles, whether they previously held water, fizzy drinks, or
whatever.
If you plan on storing a little more, you could even use
home-brewers demi-john jugs, as long as you have suitable, rubber bungs. I
mention these items because, being made of glass, they are easy to sterilise,
they are long lasting, and they are one of those items that friends and
relatives are seemingly always happy to give away, because they have ‘had a go’
at home-brewing and then decided that they can’t be bothered with it, but can’t
bring themselves to throw away the equipment. (The demi-johns may also come in
handy for their intended purpose, and we will cover simple home-brewing recipes
at a later date).
Once you have your containers, you need to think about where
you are going to store them. The best option is somewhere cool and dark, whether
that’s a cellar, pantry, an out-house, or a cupboard under the stairs. The most
important thing here is to make sure that the containers are well sealed and
kept in the dark. It is best to never store drinking water in direct sunlight,
to minimise the risk of cultivating bacteria in your containers.
How long can water be stored?
As long as your water is kept in a cool, dark place, you
could safely keep it for months at a time. However, it will be much safer if
you rotate your stored water supply at regular intervals, (every two to four
weeks would be more than sufficient).
Don’t just waste the water, though. Use it to fill the kettle, water the
plants, or whatever, before cleaning and re-filling the container.
Once the container is refreshed, move onto the next one,
until you’ve gone through your entire supply over a period of a few days. If
you keep rotating your supplies in this way, you will have an adequate supply
of fresh water in storage constantly, and will be well prepared for any
short-term disruption to the mains water supply.
At a later date, we will look at longer term disruptions to
the grid, but for now, you should be in a position to survive short-term power
and water outages of twenty-four to forty-eight hours without suffering any
major problems.
It goes without saying, of course, that the solutions that
we have listed in our first two posts will only be of any use if you actually
put them into practice and make your preparations, rather than just reading
about them.
Remember: ‘You’re either a N😊GGER, or you’re N☹T!’
