How To Keep Water Bottles From Freezing

Lindsey Williams – Warning to prepare for an emergency. Stock up on food, water and supplies now!

Lindsey Williams –Warning to prepare for an emergency. Stock up on food, water and supplies now!

Here is the scenario.  “Government agencies are having difficulty making their payments.  State governments are issuing vouchers to pay their bills.  US Social Security is late in issuing its payments to retirees and the disabled.  Many banks are issuing warnings about liquidity.   The prices of food are escalating by the hour.  Instead of talking about the latest inane reality TV show, everyone is talking about inflation, money, mass layoffs, etc.  It is 5 days before the economic collapse.”   So, what do you do?

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75% Are Chronically Dehydrated And Need To Drink More Water

I have read that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and the lack of hydration is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue. This is a problem that most people don’t realize — sometimes mistaking what they think are hunger pangs for what is actually thirst while older people often do not recognize that they’re thirsty.

I’ve also read that losing just 2% of your body weight in water compromises overall judgment by 25% and severely limits physical endurance. And since water weighs 8-pounds per gallon, it doesn’t take much to lose 2% or to be ‘chronically low’.

Here’s a list of ways that the body loses water as we become dehydrated – and symptoms:

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A Glimpse at Everyday Life Without Running Water

Something I have learned over the years is that my own experience coupled with the anecdotal experience of my peers will always trump the theoretical.  Most assuredly, this also applies to coping skills learned in a disaster or what I like to call a “Disruptive Event”.

Some of you might recall that due to a break at the water meter coming into my home, I was without running water for 12 days.  Because I was prepared, the lack of running water was at most an inconvenience. You might even say that it was a grand adventure as I experienced a real life test of both my water preps and coping skills.

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Bottling and Storing Your Own Water

According to the CDC any water that is not commercially bottled should be discarded after six months (CDC, 2014).

“Commercially Bottled Water”, according to the FDA, “is considered to have an indefinite safety shelf life if it is produced in accordance with CGMP and quality standard regulations and is stored in an unopened, properly sealed container”.

(http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/Manufacturing/ucm169105.htm)

The FDA does not require an expiration date for bottled water. However, long-term storage of bottled water may result in aesthetic defects, such as off-odor and taste. Bottlers may voluntarily put expiration dates on their labels, and most do place an expiration date on the containers (FDA, 2014).

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13 Disorders Caused by Lack of Water

Most people don’t think they need to worry about dehydration. To them, dehydration is something that happens to travelers in the desert when they run out of water.
But there is a chronic form of dehydration that does not have the sudden and intense nature of the acute form.
Chronic dehydration is widespread in the present day and affects everyone who is not drinking enough liquid.
This list of 13 symptoms will inspire you to go get a glass of water, and then another, and another

After each symptom the list below will show how lack of fluid affects the issue.

1. Fatigue, Energy Loss: Dehydration of the tissues causes enzymatic activity to slow down.
2. Premature Aging: The body of a newborn child is composed of 80 percent liquid, but this percentage declines to no more than 70 percent in an adult and continues to decline with age.
3. Excess Weight and Obesity: We may overeat because we crave foods rich in water. Thirst is often confused with hunger.
4. High and Low Blood Pressure: The body’s blood volume is not enough to completely fill the entire set of arteries, veins, and capillaries.
5. Cholesterol: When dehydration causes too much liquid to be drained from inside the cells, the body tries to stop this loss by producing more cholesterol.
6. Constipation: When chewed food enters the colon, it contains too much liquid to allow stools to form properly, and the wall of the colon reduces it. In chronic dehydration, the colon takes too much water to give to other parts of the body.
7. Digestive Disorders: In chronic dehydration, the secretion of digestive juices is less.
8. Gastritis, Stomach Ulcers: To protect its mucous membranes from being destroyed by the acidic digestive fluid it produces, the stomach secretes a layer of mucus.
9. Respiratory Troubles: The mucous membranes of the respiratory region are slightly moist to protect the respiratory tract from substances that might be present in inhaled air.
10. Acid-Alkaline Imbalance: Dehydration activates an enzymatic slowdown producing acidification.
11. Eczema: Your body needs enough moisture to sweat 20 to 24 ounces of water, the amount necessary to dilute toxins so they do not irritate the skin.
12. Cystitis, Urinary Infections: If toxins contained in urine are insufficiently diluted, they attack the urinary mucousmembranes.
13. Rheumatism: Dehydration abnormally increases the concentration of toxins in the blood and cellular fluids, and the pains increase in proportion to the concentration of the toxins.

Recommended Daily Amount:
Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.
So how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need?
The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

http://readynutrition.com/resources/13-disorders-caused-by-lack-of-water_14072015/

There’s Something in the Water in Utah: E Coli

For the second time in as many months, Utah is facing a municipal water crisis. Back in April, the community of Nibley was unable to use the water from the taps due to a chemical spill. This time, the city of Syracuse, Utah has issued a boil order due to E. Coli and Coliform contamination in the water supply.

It seems that across the country, more and more water crises are occurring, underlining the need for all households to possess an emergency water supply.

The contamination was discovered after residents complained that the color of the water coming from their taps was “off.” Testing was performed and the following advisory was issued:

This afternoon (Friday, June 5, 2015), Syracuse City received a confirmed contamination sample from the culinary water system. The sample was obtained from the area of 700 South and 2500 West and tested positive for E-coli and Coliform. The City’s Public Works department has discovered and isolated the source of contamination, which was due to a cross connection of culinary and secondary water lines. The City has isolated the cross connected lines which has eliminated the contamination source, and is currently flushing the water mains. Due to the possibility of residual contamination throughout the system, the City is issuing a water advisory or “Boil Notice” for the entire City until further notice.

E. Coli is one type of Coliform bacteria. These are found in animal and human feces. Consumption of water that contains this bacteria can cause severe gastrointestinal distress that lasts for about a week. In some cases, severe complications can occur, including intestinal bleeding, long term nerve dysfunction, renal failure, and clotting disorders. It’s imperative that a person suffering from an infection with a coliform bacteria not be treated with antidiarrheal medication:

Milder cases of E. coli can be treated at home with oral rehydration therapy. It is vital that the patient not be treated with antidiarrheals, salicylates (aspirin, ibuprofen, or Pepto-Bismol), or antibiotics. Salicylates can increase the risk of intestinal bleeding. If the secondary symptoms listed above occur, this connotes a medical emergency and assistance should be sought if at all possible.
~ from The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide

Once the city of Syracuse has determined the water to be safe, residents will be advised to flush their home systems in order to remove any traces of lingering E. Coli or other Coliform bacteria.

If you don’t yet have a stored water supply, now is the time to start. These types of emergencies occur with no warning whatsoever, and by the time you “run to the store” to pick up water, everyone else in the area will have the same idea. If you never buy a single canned good or bag of pasta for long term food storage, please store water. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the good sense in being prepared for an event that could happen any place, at any time.

- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/theres-something-in-the-water-in-utah-e-coli_062015#sthash.Pcgf2pqg.dpuf 

California governor orders all cities to cut water use by 25 percent in first-ever mandatory restriction, as state's drought worsens

California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered state officials to impose mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history on Wednesday, as the state continues to grapple with a serious drought.

Brown said Wednesday that he had signed an executive order requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to implement measures in cities and towns to cut water usage by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels.

California has been in a drought for four years. 

'We're in a historic drought and that demands unprecedented action,' Brown at a news conference held at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada.  'We have to pull together and save water in every way we can.' 

Scroll down for video  

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Changes: California Gov. Jerry Brown, speaking at the podium, ordered state officials to impose mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history on Wednesday

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Test: Frank Gehrke, left, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, points to a mark on the snow pack measuring pole that was the lowest previous snow pack level as Gov. Brown, center, and Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources, right, look on

State water officials found no snow on the ground at the site for their manual survey of the snowpack.

Brown's order will require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to significantly cut water use; direct local governments to replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought-tolerant landscaping; and create a temporary rebate program for consumers who replace old water-sucking appliances with more efficient ones.

The move will affect residents, businesses, farmers and other users. 

CBS News quoted Brown as saying 'People should realize we're in a new era. The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day, that's going to be a thing of the past.

'We're not going to change everything overnight but we are in a transition period. People have to realize that in many parts of California, they are living in a desert.'

The order calls on local water agencies to implement tiered water pricing that charges higher rates as more water is used and requires agricultural users to report more water use information to state regulators.

Brown's office said that would boost the state's ability to enforce laws against illegal water diversions and water waste.

The order also prohibits new homes and developments from using drinkable water for irrigation if the structures lack water-efficient drip systems. In addition, the watering of decorative grasses on public street medians is banned.

The snowpack has been in decline all year, with electronic measurements in March showing the statewide snow water equivalent at 19 percent of the historical average for that date.

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Resources: Snow supplies about a third of the state's water. A higher snowpack translates to more water in California reservoirs to meet demand in summer and fall (January 2015 file photo) 

Snow supplies about a third of the state's water. A higher snowpack translates to more water in California reservoirs to meet demand in summer and fall.

There was no snow at the site of Wednesday's survey near Echo Summit, about 90 miles east of Sacramento. 

'It is such an unprecedented lack of snow, it is way, way below records,' said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources.

Officials say the snowpack is far below the historic lows of 1977 and 2014, when it was 25 percent of normal on April 1 - the time when the snowpack is generally at its peak.

Brown previously declared a drought emergency in January 2014 and stressed the need for sustained water conservation. 

'I've declared this emergency and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible,' he said in statement at the time. 

But he has come under increasing pressure to be more aggressive as the state enters its fourth year of drought.  

Per CBS News, Brown said Wednesday 'We are embarking on an experiment that no one has ever tried, ever, in the history of mankind. And that is 38 million people with 32 million vehicles living at the level of comfort that we all strive to attain.' 

California issues water restrictions to combat drought

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3021063/Drought-stricken-California-set-measure-snowpack.html#ixzz3W7GkTEV7
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Water Wars Loom Over California As Farmers Lose Thousands of Jobs: “Wrestling Match Over Who Gets the Water”

The announcement that California is rapidly running out of water has put new pressure on our most precious resource that could, in turn, force increased prices and shut down organic food production. Ultimately, it could even threaten the food supply.

The recent warnings from NASA hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, based on satellite data of the groundwater supply as it is threatened by the ongoing drought, is only compounding the issues for farmers who have already been driven to cut back production as water is rerouted to cities and industries. State leaders are embracing a full on crisis, and there is no sign of letting up:

At a news conference on March 19, 2015, California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon warned, “There is no greater crisis facing our state today than our lack of water.”

In fact, there is no contingency plan if California runs out of water. Unless the situation changes, an all out war for water is coming. The first front is economic.

Thousands of farming jobs have already been lost, and many more are likely coming in the state that produces more farm-to-table produce, and in particular more organic fruits and vegetables, than any other in the United States. Many farmers have been forced to stop planting their fields, while others have found it more profitable to sell their water rights to cities than to grow their crops at all.

Some pretty serious water wars have been waged in California for over a century, but the battle is no longer between just big cities like L.A. and the growers who provide the nation’s food. The new wars are being orchestrated and promulgated by the corporate masters of Wall Street and Big Agra.

Attorney Ellen Brown, author of Web of Debt and advocate of banking reform, put together a lengthy article full of some pretty disturbing facts that prove water will become a disruptive commodity bigger enough to strip wealth, assets and rights in California and beyond. It seems that everyone will be fighting for the last drop:

In California’s epic drought, wars over water rights continue, while innovative alternatives for increasing the available water supply go untapped.
Wars over California’s limited water supply have been going on for at least a century… [especially] between farmers and Los Angeles urbanites over water rights.
[...]
Today the water wars continue on a larger scale with new players. It’s no longer just the farmers against the ranchers or the urbanites. It’s the people against the new “water barons”  – Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Monsanto, the Bush family, and their ilk – who are buying up water all over the world at an unprecedented pace.

Indeed, private companies have been buying up water rights, with major firms like Nestle bottling up California’s water and selling it as a premium on the consumer market. Industries and bankers controlling infrastructure are also striking momentous deals in the state and across the globe to redirect water to the highest bidder.

Left behind? The food producers we all depend upon. In particular, California produces more  organic produce than anywhere else around. Brown reports:

Maps indicate that the areas of California hardest hit by the mega-drought are those that grow a large percentage of America’s food. California supplies 50% of the nation’s food and more organic food than any other state. Western Growers estimates that last year 500,000 acres of farmland were left unplanted, an amount that could increase by 40% this year. The trade group pegs farm job losses at 17,000 last year and more in 2015.
Farmers with contracts from the Central Valley Project, a large federal irrigation system, will receive no water for the second consecutive year,according to preliminary forecasts. Cities and industries will get 25 percent of their full contract allocation, to ensure sufficient water for human health and safety. Besides shortages, there is the problem of toxic waste dumped into water supplies by oil company fracking. Economists estimate the cost of the drought in 2014 at $2.2 billion.

What happens if they are driven out of business? Will organic foods still be readily available?

After that, will food be affordable at all?

With an eye trained on the depletion of resources and the swelling populations of megacities, former World Bank executive Ismail Serageldin famously warned the world:

“The wars of the 21st century will be fought over water.”

Those who have peered behind the curtain long enough realize that the major wars of the last few centuries have all been funded on both sides for the enrichment and concentration of power of a handful of Machiavellian elites.

Those who can think beyond these concocted wars to the unconventional wars of the modern era will also be wondering: who is orchestrating these conflicts over resources, and who benefits? Where do the profits go?

Christina Sarich, of NationofChange.org, writes:

Numerous companies are poised to take advantage of the water crisis. Instead of protecting existing water supplies, implementing stricter regulations, and coming up with novel ways to capture rainwater, or desalinizing seawater, the corporate agenda is ready, like a snake coiled, to make trillions off your thirst.

With discussions of vast supplies of “primary water” stored deep in the earth’s mantle and scientifically proven schemes to desalinate ocean water or capture greater amounts of rainfall, Brown charges that major players are ignoring viable solutions to the Great California Thirst, and instead focusing on the concentrated profits made possible by resources scarcity.

The shortages thus far have already made the price of irrigation water jump more than 10-fold in cost, making it more profitable for some farmers with historic water rights to sell it to cities, in fear that it will be taken away if they don’t sell.

Meanwhile, Ellen Brown points out that California is not only set to restrict residential water usage, but is preparing to regulate ground water supplies in an unprecedented way that is causing outrage from farmers:

 In September, a trio of bills were signed establishing a framework for statewide regulation of California’s underground water sources, marking the first time in the state’s history that groundwater will be managed on a large scale. Water has until now been considered a property right. The Los Angeles Times reported:

[M]any agriculture interests remain staunchly opposed to the bill. Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said the bills “may come to be seen as ‘historic’ for all the wrong reasons” by drastically harming food production.
. . . “There’s really going to be a wrestling match over who’s going to get the water,” [Fresno Assemblyman] Patterson said, predicting the regulation plans will bring a rash of lawsuits.

FedGov Moves To Seize Water Rights From 100,000 Montanans: “All Surface Water And Wells”

Greetings and Salutations, readers!  My Nome de Guerre in the battle for truth and objective journalism is Jeremiah Johnson.  I hope to pique your interest with a Montana issue that, regardless of the outcome, will have severe ramifications and set a precedent nationwide.  This article covers the CSKT (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) proposed water-rights compact that threatens to take away the private ownership of water for roughly 100,000 Montanans.  Should this measure pass, it can set a precedent for the courts throughout the United States by the Federal Government to deprive us of our water rights.

The tale of woe begins with the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 that created the Flathead Indian Reservation.  Article III of the Treaty is the point of contention, as it states the Indian tribes have an established “right of taking fish” in waters not on the reservation.  The article has been selectively interpreted and further manipulated to this end: the tribes must be able to ensure water quality of their fishing sites; therefore, the water rights in 11 counties must fall under the Tribal jurisdiction.

Enter the EPA to set standards of water quality, the Water Compact Commission, a board that is relentlessly pushing the compact on the populace, the Department of the Interior, the bureaucracy that will collect and manage revenue “on behalf” of the tribes, and the DHS, the enforcement arm of compliance.  Should the tribes and the aforementioned players win this fight, all surface water and wells (private wells, mind you) within the boundaries imposed by the Compact will be metered and taxed.

The whole thing is a travesty and should be a moot point in reality: Article I of the same treaty ceded, relinquished, and conveyed (by the tribes) all rights or claims to any land and waters except the Reservation.  The State Senate just voted on it a few weeks ago.  The Senate holds 29 Republicans and 21 Democrats; however, 11 Republicans voted for the Compact and the measure passed, 32-18.  The bottom line: there was not one dissenting Democratic vote on the whole measure.

Such actions are not without precedent.  In January of 2014, the EPA declared the town of Riverton, Wyoming to be in the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Other figures in this travesty of law include the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice.  The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes filed an application to receive funding toward the monitoring of air quality via the Clean Air Act.  The EPA magnanimously bypassed Congressional Law of 1905 and granted the tribes the status of “Treatment as a State.”  The town has more than 10,000 people who now fall under the jurisdiction (regarding taxation and law enforcement) of the Reservation.

The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Oklahoma filed a federal lawsuit over water rights in 2011, claiming the “rights to and regulatory authority over Treaty Territory water resources.”  They also claimed their rights override those of Oklahoma.  Once again, the DOJ and the Department of the Interior were involved in this fight that is also unfinished.  The lands that both tribes inhabited had been broken apart by the state of Oklahoma more than a century before.

We can see a pattern developing.  Local and state politicians use the Indian tribes as a tool to pursue a much larger agenda: the removal of private property from the hands of citizens and the transfer of control into the hands of the federal government.  The politicians then receive federal funding to pursue their initiatives.  Now a long line of bureaucrats enters the parade: the EPA to save the environment, the DOJ to save the legal rights of the oppressed, the Department of the Interior to manage the tribes’ revenues, and the DHS as the protector-enforcer.

There are many areas in the United States where water rights are either under assault or threatened by the federal government in this manner: the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the waters of the Colorado River, and the Ogallala Aquifer (used by almost ¼ of the U.S.), to name a few.  The important issue to consider with this is the abrogation of Constitutional Law and private property rights and the federal government making its own laws by bureaucratic edict.

We will keep you informed of what transpires in the Montana House vote and the overall results.  There is a saying in Montana: “Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting.”  The battle over this water compact proves this saying to be true, and this writer would really like to hear from you about similar issues where you reside.

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/fedgov-moves-to-seize-water-rights-from-100000-montanans-all-surface-water-and-wells_03182015

NASA Scientist Warns "California Has One Year Of Water Left"

Authored by NASA Senior Water Scientist Jay Famiglietti, originally posted Op-Ed at The LA Times,

Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this winter, it might be easy to overlook how devastating California's winter was as well.

As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since record-keeping began in 1895. Groundwater and snowpack levels are at all-time lows. We're not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we're losing the creek too.

Data from NASA satellites show that the total amount of water stored in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins — that is, all of the snow, river and reservoir water, water in soils and groundwater combined — was 34 million acre-feet below normal in 2014. That loss is nearly 1.5 times the capacity of Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir.

Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.

As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water — and the problem started before our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began, although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th century.

Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.

In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.

Several steps need be taken right now.

First, immediate mandatory water rationing should be authorized across all of the state's water sectors, from domestic and municipal through agricultural and industrial. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is already considering water rationing by the summer unless conditions improve. There is no need for the rest of the state to hesitate. The public is ready. A recent Field Poll showed that 94% of Californians surveyed believe that the drought is serious, and that one-third support mandatory rationing.

Second, the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 should be accelerated. The law requires the formation of numerous, regional groundwater sustainability agencies by 2017. Then each agency must adopt a plan by 2022 and “achieve sustainability” 20 years after that. At that pace, it will be nearly 30 years before we even know what is working. By then, there may be no groundwater left to sustain.

Third, the state needs a task force of thought leaders that starts, right now, brainstorming to lay the groundwork for long-term water management strategies. Although several state task forces have been formed in response to the drought, none is focused on solving the long-term needs of a drought-prone, perennially water-stressed California.

Our state's water management is complex, but the technology and expertise exist to handle this harrowing future. It will require major changes in policy and infrastructure that could take decades to identify and act upon. Today, not tomorrow, is the time to begin.

Finally, the public must take ownership of this issue. This crisis belongs to all of us — not just to a handful of decision-makers. Water is our most important, commonly owned resource, but the public remains detached from discussions and decisions.

This process works just fine when water is in abundance. In times of crisis, however, we must demand that planning for California's water security be an honest, transparent and forward-looking process. Most important, we must make sure that there is in fact a plan.

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd like to live in a state that has a paddle so that it might also still have a creek.

Bleach – Water Ratio For Drinking Water

If your water source is uncertain, you should treat it first before drinking it.
One way to treat water for drinking is to add a small amount of regular bleach (chlorine). Here’s how much bleach to add, and a way to remember the quantity:


When obtaining water to be purified for drinking, avoid (if possible) water which is cloudy. Perhaps there is another nearby access to the same body of water which may be clear.
If scooping water from a pond, etc., try not to disturb the bottom so as not to disturb and pick up dirt or other debris into your water container.
If the water appears cloudy, if possible filter it before treatment. Use a conventional water filter, or any cloth or such filtering material to catch the floating particles as you pour from one water vessel to another. If you cannot pre-filter a cloudy water source, let it settle in a container for a time, and then gently pour off or scoop the water near the top which will be clearer. This is important because the floating ‘dirt’ particles within the water are tougher (takes longer) to penetrate while purifying with chlorine (bleach).
 

Having said that, one best way to purify water for drinking is to boil it for 1 minute.
Once the water has reached a rolling boil, it has become safe to drink.

Note that if the water source had been contaminated with chemicals, boiling it or otherwise treating it will NOT assure that the chemical is removed.
Know your water source as best you can.

 

Another way to purify water is to use a small amount of regular liquid bleach.
Use regular household bleach, which the only active ingredient is ‘sodium hypochlorite’.
UPDATE: For many years, regular bleach contained a concentration of 5.25% – 6% sodium hypochlorite. Newer ‘regular’ liquid bleach may contain a concentration of approximately 8% sodium hypochlorite (about a third more than the original bleach formula). However the added concentration is still very well within the safety margin for normal drinking water treatment via the original recommendation of 8 drops (bleach) per gallon of water to be treated – given that the maximum allowable ppm (parts per million) of chlorine bleach in drinking water is apparently 4 ppm (sourced from the EPA). In other words, if you use ‘modern’ bleach (~8% sodium hypochlorite) and use the original bleach-water formula (designed around ~6% sodium hypochlorite), the safety margin is so wide for water which has not been treated yet – that it’s hardly worth adjusting the formula, in my opinion. In other words, the equivalent of an extra 2 drops bleach within one gallon of water is fairly insignificant when it comes to the scenario here of purifying water to drink during an excursion or disaster situation, etc.. (the results of which could become deadly if you had not purified the water). Make sense? Just saying…
Note that bleach will lose its potency (fairly quickly) over time. Generally, 6 months to a year after its expiration date may result in half strength.

Having recently determined how much bleach to add to a 50-gallon water tank to purify it for safe drinking, I’ve put together the following chart for your reference.

“You must be 21 to drink”
2 drops bleach per 1 quart water

Mix the following amount of bleach with water, and wait 30 minutes for it to work.
(quantities are rounded for convenience and easier to remember)
 

Water – Bleach Ratio For Purifying Drinking Water

(Teaspoon #’s are safely rounded for convenience)
1 Quart water, 2 drops bleach
1 Gallon water, 8 drops bleach
5 Gallons water, 1/2 teaspoon bleach
10 Gallons water, 1 teaspoon bleach
50 Gallons water, 5 teaspoons bleach

Note: If the water is cloudy, you may double the formula listed below per recommendations from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

Note: There are 76 drops per teaspoon.

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/survival-kitchen/bleach-water-ratio-for-drinking-water/#more-27602

Colorado locks down water supply, promising "not a drop more" to California

(NaturalNews) Recent storms dropped torrential rains across much of California, causing flooding and mudslides across many areas, leaving some residents homeless and killing at least two people. There was even a tornado in Los Angeles. Despite record rainfall on December 10 of between 1.54 inches at Long Beach Airport and 2.36 inches in Oxnard, the amount of rain that fell was a mere drop in the bucket for this drought-stricken state. A milder storm December 12 added to the rainfall total.

These early-winter storms left behind a combined 166 billion gallons of water, which seems like an enormous amount of water, but in reality is only enough water for 2.5 million people for one year. Given that California has been in a drought since 2011, and has a population of over 38 million, it is clear that California is far from done with its water woes. According to an article by the San Jose Mercury News, the California Department of Water Resources estimates that California will need six more major winter storms dropping similar amounts of rain to bring an end to the drought.

1922 Colorado River Compact still the base document for West's water management

James Eklund, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, isn't waiting to find out if those storms occur over the next few months and is working on policies to address the situation now and in the coming decades. About 4.6 trillion gallons of water run down off the Rocky Mountains as the snow melts in spring. Much of the water flows downstream to Arizona, Nevada, Mexico and California.

Two-thirds of the snowmelt-generated water belongs to these downstream regions, also known as the Lower Basin states, while one-third of the water belongs to the Upper Basin states, which include Utah and Wyoming, as well as Colorado, per the 1922 Colorado River Compact. James Eklund does not want to deprive the Lower Basin states of their apportionment; he just wants to ensure that any excess generated in Colorado stays in Colorado.

Looking to water consumption in the future

A number of factors affect decisions such as this. Colorado's population is expected to grow from the current 5.5 million to somewhere near 9 million by 2050. All other factors being the same, Colorado will experience a 60 percent increase in water usage over the next 35 years. Drought can hit anywhere, as happened in Colorado in 2002-2003, which led to development of a new water management plan. The plan doesn't currently address a long-contentious issue in the state that allows 163 billion gallons of water to be transported from west of the Continental Divide to the more heavily populated Front Range that includes cities like Denver and Colorado Springs in the east. The new plan does call for considering conservation and recycling alternatives before building any other pipelines. These are topics all states should be considering.

In California, agriculture accounts for 80 percent of all water used in a given year while accounting for less than 2.5 percent of California's income. Water-intensive crops, such as alfalfa and rice, take up a significant amount of the agricultural use, with alfalfa farmers using fully 20 percent of the water to grow a crop used primarily to feed dairy cows in the state. Alfalfa crops account for only 4 percent of state farming revenue.

California plan only addresses 20 percent of water consumption

Based on these facts, you might think Governor Brown's 2014 California Water Action plan would place a premium on developing water conservation legislation and practices that would concentrate on agricultural water consumption and best practices. Sadly, it does not. Instead, it concentrates primarily on urban water consumption and extends Senate Bill X7-7, a law passed in 2009 which contains the goal of reducing per capita urban water use by 20 percent by December 31, 2020, and suggests holding water consumption at 2000 levels until 2030. Almost as an afterthought, the plan states that "the administration will also work with local and regional entities to develop performance measures to evaluate agricultural water management." No performance measures for agricultural water consumption are given.

The California Water Action Plan leaves little doubt as to why James Eklund and the Colorado Water Conservation Board have adopted such an aggressive posture in the West's war for water. Poor planning on California's part isn't going to constitute an emergency for Coloradans.



http://www.naturalnews.com/048138_California_drought_Colorado_water_wars.html#ixzz3NMxUlgd7

Securing The Home Water Supply With A Simple Rain Barrel Collection System

Water has always been an afterthought for me and my prepping. It’s so easy for me to take it for granted when all I need to do is turn a faucet handle and fresh, clean water is made available. But what if power goes down for a significant amount of time and eventually the water stations with it? So I finally decided to store some water for just such an occasion. The most efficient way I could find to do this was by rain collection in rain barrels. For OPSEC reasons I tell the neighbors it’s for watering the garden and yes we use it for that as well. But if the SHTF I have 220 gallons of water available for my family to use.

That’s right, four 55-gallon, food-grade barrels collect rain water. This was quite a process. I Googled it, YouTubed it, and overall did a lot of research. I combined what I thought to be the best way to do it for what I had available. The first step was to acquire the 55-gallon plastic barrels which I got from a local, large-scale food distributor. You’d also be surprised who has these with just a simple Facebook request. You would also be wise beyond your years to purchase a bung wrench to unscrew the caps on these bad boys. It just makes life a lot easier.

Anyhow, the barrels contained salted vodka (not any good…I tried). So I definitely needed to clean them out. It was a matter of putting some hot water and soap in them and screwing the cap back on. Then just have the kids roll it around the back yard a bunch of times, rinse, and repeat as necessary. Once cleaned I chose to spray paint them a color similar to the siding on my house in the hopes it would blend in a little better than the bright blue plastic it was made of. After they were cleaned and painted I moved on to the deck I would build for the barrels.

I read in my research that the higher up the barrels the greater the flow of water due to an amazing scientific discovery called…gravity. So my deck would end up being high enough off the ground for me to fit a watering can or 5-gallon bucket under the spigot (about 4′ off the ground). Using treated lumber I ended up with six 4×4 posts as the legs. They were cut to the appropriate height. Next I used treated 2x4s and framed out the legs as you see in the pictures. I basically framed a wall around the legs like you might frame a wall in your house (header, footer, studs, etc.). Once the frame was fixed to the legs I put the deck on which consisted of a treated piece of plywood cut to the dimensions of the frame. This is what my barrels would sit on. Since my plumbing would be under the deck I also cut a hole for each barrel to be plumbed underneath.

My deck was basically complete for now, so I turned my attention to the plumbing. Now I either got extremely lucky with these four barrels or all barrels are like this, but you’ll notice that one of the bungs is threaded in the middle. A threaded PVC adapter will fit this perfectly. I planned to store rain in my barrels upside down. Since the hole would be at the bottom of the barrel I was all but assured every last drop of water from the barrels. Water will naturally self-level itself so by plumbing all of the barrels underneath the water would enter the first barrel (from the downspout) go to the bottom of the barrel and into the PVC pipes and then rise up into the other barrels.

That is how I planned to fill all of the barrels without extra holes in the top, just let water and gravity do the work for you. It is VERY important that you dry fit all pipes before permanently affixing them to the barrel and each other. So I set my barrels upside down on the deck and began measuring and cutting the PVC pipes. I planned for a shut off valve at each barrel and another at the spigot (5 total) in case anything needed replacing or isolation it would be easier to shut off the water from that barrel. Once everything was dry-fitted I used some clear, silicone caulking and applied it liberally to the two bungs in the bottom of the barrel.

This is where the bung wrench comes in handy to tighten the bungs completely. Next, I applied the same caulking to the PVC adapter that conveniently threaded inside the one bung. I tightened it all the way thus making a leak-proof seal on all my barrels. I waited to permanently affix the plumbing until everything was in place. So now I had to prepare my yard for the deck and barrels.

With the help of my wonderful wife we dug up the sod in the back yard closest to the downspout we wanted to use. We dug a 32” x 115” section of the sod out, about 4” deep, and filled it with crushed rock. Here is where the hardest part of the project comes in. Using an 8” x 8” tamper I tamped down all of the crushed rock making it about the density of cured concrete. Next I placed six concrete piers on the crushed rock and, with the help of a friend, set the deck in the piers.
It was time to put the plumbing together permanently. I sanded the rough edges off the cut ends of the PVC pipe and applied the purple primer to the end of the pipe and inside the pipe I would attach to.

I went a little farther up the pipe with the primer than what I would need so it would be a complete seal. After applying the primer I put PVC cement on the purple primer. Then you push the pipe in the adapter and twist a quarter turn. Hold this in place for 30 seconds and then test your work. This “twist and hold” method is really important because you’ll notice the pipe wanting to push out of the adapter if not held in place. When done correctly it will be pretty solid. Once I plumbed everything together I used metal, nail-on straps to hold them in place (especially at the spigot). I also angled the spigot down a bit to make sure water wouldn’t sit in one place forever.

Now that the barrels were in place and the plumbing secured I built a small fence around the barrels. If you haven’t noticed by now I did a lot of overkill. The decking, the crushed rock, the concrete piers, etc. I wanted to make sure this much weight would hold (220 gallons of water weighs almost a ton!). So the fence keeps the barrels from blowing off the deck when empty.

At this point I’m almost finished with the project. I used flexible down spout extenders to route the water from the downspout to the top of the far right barrel. Then another flexible down spout was used as an overflow. I put them in place and traced around the end where it met the barrel on one end and the downspout from the house on the other end. I cut the barrel and downspout and installed the flexible downspout to the top of the barrel and the downspout from the house.

Since mosquitos love standing water I placed a cut section of window screen around the opening in the barrel (sealed around the edges with the leak-proof caulking mentioned earlier) and around the end of the flexible downspout (attached with an adjustable ring used for dryer vents) to catch particles that washed off the roof. Now water will enter my barrels! As I mentioned I did a lot of research before attempting this project. Part of that research mentioned drilling a small hole in the top of the barrels because of pressure that may build up in them would reduce the flow of water. I was skeptical about this but it didn’t hurt to drill a small hole in each and place more window screen over them. I sealed these with the same caulking.

The overflow spout is a necessary part of the project. If the barrels continued to fill past capacity then the plumbing could be damaged and that would be a nightmare. So at the very top of the same barrel the water entered, I measured and cut a hole to install another flexible downspout that would return to the original downspout from the house and flow away from the house. This part was tricky because I wanted a water tight fit and not to have water spilling out of the hole down the barrel and all over the deck/ground. So I got a large diameter PVC adapter and put it in the hole I had cut. I made it water tight using a metal flange and some all-purpose bondo to seal it to the barrel. Now the flexible downspout fits perfectly around the PVC adapter and overflows to the original downspout on the house and away from the house.

I failed to mention that I also have a small retention basin in my back yard. I drain the barrels before winter so they won’t turn into huge ice chunks. The plan is to use water from the retention basin during the winter if needed. While doing my research I read that rain water off a roof is not potable. So if the need arises we will be filtering and boiling any water used from the barrels (and retention basin for that matter). Also during the winter I take the piece of downspout from the house that I removed and put a couple adapters on each end, remove the flexible down spouts from the barrels, and place the original downspout back in place. This allows melting snow to flow through the downspout like it’s supposed to.

When spring rolls around I just switch back to my flexible downspouts and I’m refilling the barrels with May showers. It took about 2-3 days to finish the project, a little bit of sweat, and a lot of cuss words, but it was finished. What I like most about the rain barrels is the capability to have 220 gallons of water available to me at almost any time.

A body can survive longer without food than without water so knowing we have this stored away gives me peace of mind. In the meantime, my garden loves the water and occasionally my lawn does too. It’s tucked away behind my house and not many people know it’s there. You could add some lattice fence-work around the deck frame to hide it even more if OPSEC is a concern for you. Hopefully you’ve learned a little bit about how to make a rain barrel system and it’s benefits. And that’s really what this blog and prepping are all about…learning new things to help us stay prepared. Stay classy wolf pack.

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/securing-the-home-water-supply-with-a-simple-rain-barrel-collection-system/