Water Purification: "Just In Case…" Y2K Survival Tips

What would you do if you didn’t have clean water to drink? As I was looking for information on water purification, I ran across this web page written by Y2K Survive. This is what the writer, Cody, had to say about water purification incase the Y2K situation is bad:

"…If you do not have a definite source of clean water, you will need to treat it yourself. The oldest and simplest method is to boil it for ten minutes or so, which will kill any bacteria that may be present. After boiling the water, pour it back and forth from one container to another, which will add oxygen and improve the taste. Another way to purify water is to add iodine tablets (available from various food storage companies) to it. Be careful with iodine because it can be harmful to people with thyroid problems. You can also add a small amount of ordinary chlorine bleach as another option. A better option is to buy a gravity fed water filter that will purify any water you put into it.

The two top quality, best-known water filters are the British Berkefeld and the Katadyn. They are both excellent products of equal cost but I recommend the Berkefeld for several reasons: First, it's made of stainless steel rather than plastic; second, it filters 30 gallons a day as opposed to the 14 gallon capacity of the Katadyn, and third, the replacement filters cost about half of those for the Katadyn. The best source of British Berkefeld water filters (they have the shortest delivery time I know of) is Safe-Water.com. You can click on the link here and order directly from their website. They're good people with a good product and I give them my full recommendation.

If you cannot secure a constant and reliable Y2K survival source of water and for some reason you cannot move to a place with good water, the only option left is to start storing your own water now.

The best way to store water is in plastic 55 gallon drums such as those available from Watertanks. You can sometimes get food grade drums or other containers from beverage distributors but the taste of whatever liquid was stored in the drums previously may have leached into the plastic, and despite your best efforts at getting it out, it may sneak into your water. This won't harm your water but it may taste funny.

You will need to pick a permanent spot for the 55 gallon drums. A full drum weighs 440 lbs. so you won't be moving it around to redecorate. One option is to buy one of those metal toolsheds for the backyard and stuff it with drums of water. Another possibility is to put some drums in your attic and run a hose down to the kitchen. If you do this, remember that water is heavy; you don't want to place too great a load of weight on your house. You may want to get some smaller containers (5 to 15 gallons) for transporting the water from the drums to wherever it's needed.

If you can't do the drums, start saving empty 2 liter soft drink containers. Wash them thoroughly in hot water and allow them to dry completely before adding drinking water. Empty one gallon milk containers are not recommended because they are designed to be biodegradable and they may break down in a few months.

Ordinary tap water should be suitable for long term storage with no purification needed. If you have doubts, try the iodine or bleach treatments mentioned above. For the best tasting water, label each container with the date you filled it and then drink it in the same order. If the container is clean, older water should be perfectly healthful but it may not taste as good as fresher water.

In order to have the freshest possible Y2k survival water, a good plan is to acquire as many storage containers as you can now and in the first half of 1999, but only fill a few of them before then. When you sense that Y2K things are starting to look a bit desperate (check this website; I'll be monitoring events closely), it's time to fill the containers, even if it's six months before 2000 rolls around. As you probably know, 1999 may foul up a lot of computer systems for reasons that are similar and related to Year 2000 foulups."

This web page rates more on the extreme side but is interesting and worth considering. The information given above was taken from:

Y2K Survive. [cody@y2ksurvive.com]. "Y2K Survive: Personal and Family Resources for Y2K Survival/Water." [http://www.y2ksurvive.com/water.html]. 1998.

(Note: All information given above does not necessarily reflect the opinions and thoughts of the office of Fred J. Becker, Architect.)

Fred J. Becker, Architect's E-mail

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