Storing Water May be Your Most Important Prep

Periodically, I try to stress the need for storing water.  Over the last few years, we have seen several incidents that show how easy our infrastructure can fail.  Last Jan the water was cut off to hundreds of thousands of residences of West Virginia due to a chemical spill.  This last weekend there was an order in Toledo Ohio not to drink the water, brush your teeth, wash your dishes, or for the elderly or infirmed to wash with it.

Early this morning I received this question from Pam a reader in Toledo.

“I live in TOLEDO, OHIO. Three days now without water and no end in sight. The City people are not telling us how long it will take to clean up this mess if and when the lake gets back to normal. We, my neighbors and friends are trying to figure out where to get water. Our State is allowing only one gallon per family.

I have a pool. I use chlorine and algaecide weekly as needed. Some people say the plastic liner leaks BPA (not sure that’s what it’s called) into the water. We still have power so my big sand filter runs all day and night. (I don’t know if this would be effective, Howard)

I live with my mother who has Alzheimer’s. so, we don’t need much. I want to help the neighbors out. Can someone please tell me what to do to make the pool water useable and hopefully drinkable. I’m mostly worried about the algaecide I’ve used. Can that be boiled out? What should I buy. Our Mayor just said this is going to be our “New Normal”. We all need some advice.Thank you so much”.

I like Totes they be be stacked three high and each hold 275 gallons of water How to Store Water in a Compact Space

According to this morning’s news the incident in Toledo Ohio has now ended and they have declared the water safe to drink this morning.  The ban on drinking the water had been in effect since Saturday.  The water had been determined to contain microcystin,  a toxin from an algae bloom on Lake Erie. These toxins could cause serious medical problems.

This incident really points to why you need good water storage.  This toxin could not be treated by normal means.  Boiling merely concentrates the toxin.  There are serious question about how effective water filters are on the toxin.  I have checked on the Big Berkey’s and so far they have not made a statement as to whether or not their filter is effective.

Now as far as Pam’s question, I don’t have a better answer than what I posted in the article, Is Swimming Pool Water Safe to Drink?

Between the current drought in the west and incidents like these it reinforces my believe that we need to store water, as well as have the best water filtration and purification equipment that we can afford.

Here are some additional links to information on storing water.

• • • Some Thoughts on Storing Water for Emergencies.

    • Your Best Choice of Small Water Storage Containers for Long term Storage.

The importance of storing water can’t be over emphasized.  Even if you live in an area with lots of surface water and have a good well, situations can occur that prevent you from using them.  Store all the water than you can.

Howard

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