LOCATING WATER SOURCES IN YOUR HOME
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The point of this post is to make aware all of the places that water can be acquired
in your own home once the sirens blare, the people panic and the water pressure
drops and the last few drops of precious life giving water drops into your drain.
What now? I didn't store any water, what do I do to get water if I don't live next
to a river? I will give you a list of where you can get water in your home but chances are your not going to like most of them. Just remember that the water that comes out of your sink faucet, is the same water that's in your toilet
1) The first one, take a guess, that's right, your toilet bowl,(just syphon it out
as you would a gas tank)
2) The toilet reservoir,(just syphon it out as you would a gas tank)
3) The hot water heater (there is a release valve on the water heater that will
allow you release the water into a basin which usually drains away from your
house, just clog the drain)
4) The elbow joints of sinks (most are made of PVC so use a simple steak knife
twisting back and forth at the lowest point in one spot scraping a hole into the
joint, make sure to have a bucket or bowl to catch the water.
5) Once the power has gone out, remove the food from the fridge before it begins
to spoil and place much of it in the trash after the first couple of days.
Meats, you will need to start eating them once the power goes out till they have
thawed on their own. They will remain frozen for a couple days after the power
goes out as long as it stays in the freezer with all the other frozen items. Once
the freezer is thawed though all the water will flow into a reservoir which is
usually a tray located above the compressor towards the back and bottom of the
fridge. Collect this water but filter and biologically purify it before drinking
as it will have blood from the meats and possible chemical contaminates from the
refrigerants.
6) Next go to your garage to get to your car, the windshield wiper fluid reservoir and
your radiators hold water. Do not drink radiator fluid as it is fatal. The
water will have to be separated from these fluids. Place these fluids in a trash
can or bucket, get a cup and some string or dental floss and a trash bag or some
plastic wrap. Now tie the cup right side up to the center of the plastic but
giving it about 3 inches of space between the cup and the plastic. Secure it by
placing a small object in the plastic and tying the cup around the object in the
plastic. Cover the bucket or trashcan with the plastic and secure it around the
top somehow, tape it or tie it down. Now place the can or bucket outside in the
sun. As the water evaporates it collects on the plastic and rolls down to drip
into the cup.
7) This will sound disgusting but may become necessary, you ready? You can drink
your own urine, doesn't taste great but it may mean the difference between life
and death. The method above is a system that can be used to recycle water from
your urine as well on a regular basis.
8) You can also redirect your rain gutters by cutting or breaking off the bottom
section and placing your trash cans under the gutters to create cisterns to catch
the rain water. Once again rain water may be soft water but it is not
biologically safe so filter it and purify it before drinking.
9) Another option is recapturing water trapped by pressure in your house's water
lines by first making holes in the pipes at their lowest levels then opening the
faucets at the highest levels.
10) If you have a garden hose and it is spooled then there is water trapped in the
wraps so cap the end, unravel it in a straight line and place something at the
end to catch the water then uncap it and starting at the water spigot where the
hose is attached at the house, lift the hose so that gravity will force the
water to travel to the lowest point walking it down the line until the water
dumps into your bucket or bowl.
11) If you have bushes in your yard you can place trash bags over sections making
sure one of the corners is a low point so that collected plant respiration can
puddle, then you just place something to catch the water at the bottom where the
bag opening is and tilt the bag until gravity feeds the water into you
container. The same can be done with tree branches as well.
12) Some items in your cupboard or fridge may have water such as a jar of olives and
pickles, cans of vegetables and tuna, frozen juice concentrates when combined
with water will act as food as far as providing calories.
**NOTE**
Treat all water sources, especially water from the toilet bowl, toilet reservoir, freezer drain basin, hot water heater, outside hose pipe, interior water pipes and collected rain water as biologically and or chemically unsafe. Water from these locations tend to carry bacteria that can make a survival situation even worse if not treated first. For all but the collected rain water and the freezer drain basin, adding bleach as directed in the article "Long Term Water Storage" should do the trick. Collected rain water tends to have heavy metals and other carcinogens from vehicle exhaust or other petrol by-products from road and or roof run-off and should be distilled instead. Freezer drain basins are very biologically unsafe without treatment as bacteria from rotting meat juices and the like are amongst the water and chemically unsafe from refrigerates and such. It will need to be distilled as well. There are several different distillation methods, please refer to the article "Emergency Water Distillation".
And that's it folks! Just remember not to drink severe diuretics such as alcohol while struggling through a water shortage survival situation as they will greatly dehydrate you, save it for when the power is back on or to use as a trade item, disinfectant or fuel source.