For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6374 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:06 pm Post subject:
I believe in a pinch and worried about chemicals you could build a makeshift charcoal filter from crushed briquettes you have stored for emergency cooking or the next bbq.
Possibly cut a length of PVC pipe, fill with charcoal and put a coffee filter on the end?
{Disclaimer: Peakoil.com makes no representations as to the accurateness, validity or appropriateness of anything Pops says, as he is no expert – on anything.} _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Last edited by Pops on Fri Jul 16, 2004 7:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Why not just catch the rain? Make sure you use some sort of mosquito netting.
If you are asking about drinking it, the reason why you should not direcly drink it is because of the same reason you wouldn't go down to a pond with a straw and start drinking. Although you would not have to worry about biological contaminates as much, you would still be presented with the issue of chemical contamination.
The water should be more than clean enough for general washing etc, though? You wouldn't want to waste drinking water by washing your hands in it.
Joined: Jul 07, 2004 Posts: 434 Location: Berkeley CA
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:32 am Post subject:
Another method of water treatment is the chemical Ozone. Ozone is made by passing oxygen through a high voltage of electric sparks. It is very effective at killing microbes,and removing color, and bad taste, the problem with ozone is making it requires alot of electrical energy. The good thing ozone decomposes back into oxygen.
Joined: Jul 09, 2004 Posts: 71 Location: Sunny San Diego
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:33 am Post subject:
Pops, you mentioned water storage in the 5 gallon BLUE plastic containers. I was wondering why specifically, the blue containers? Im guessing because they do not degrade like softer plastics might?
Joined: Jul 07, 2004 Posts: 434 Location: Berkeley CA
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:02 pm Post subject:
Another thing to think about is flouride, this chemical prevents tooth decay, it is also found in toothpaste, but toothpaste to petroleum based. If you get a water supply likely there isn't going to be floride in it. Todays water supply contains small quanties of floride in it. You may want to stock up on floride based chemicals for water treatment.
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:23 pm Post subject: Just say no to briquettes.....
Pops wrote:
I believe in a pinch and worried about chemicals you could build a makeshift charcoal filter from crushed briquettes you have stored for emergency cooking or the next bbq.
Briquettes used for bar-b-queing have petroleum distillates in them to encourage lighting. POISON!
Here is a sight on how to make it the old fashioned way. This type is usable for purification and burning.
I've got this plan in my mind to harvest rainwater (Just ordered my second rainbarrel) and distill it. There are plans to build solar stills on the Net, and with a bit of practice my hubby and I could build one. If it is not sunny then water could be pasteurised on my bamboo-burning stove (which I'm still looking for!), or better still (pardon the pun) distilled on it.
Without a doubt, drinking water is of paramount importance, and it was one of the first things I thought about when first trying to cope with the idea of Peak Oil.
Joined: May 24, 2004 Posts: 3428 Location: California, USA
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:02 am Post subject:
Laurasia, I'm not sure you mean distillation. Boiling water, yes, absolutely. Distillation via a still, no no no, you don't want to drink that, it will leach minerals out of your body and could cause a heart attack via disruption of the calcium/magnesium levels.
Also if you're doing outdoor rain catchment: beware mosquitos, especially with west nile virus around. Rain barrels are notorious for breeding 'skeeters. Ponds ditto, though you can introduce natural predators such as amphibians and certain types of fish.
Water storage can also work as energy storage. In a rural area, have a pond downhill and a pond uphill. Connected by two pipes: one with a pump driven by your solar panels; the other, with a turbine generator. Sunlight pumps water uphill, gravity brings it back down via the turbine, and ideally you have sufficient spare capacity to run a few days in the event of no sunlight. And then in worst case you can always get that water uphill via manual means, to provide a few hours of electricity at a time, if your PVs go down for whatever reason.
Joined: Jul 18, 2004 Posts: 198 Location: S. Yorkshire, UK
Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:17 am Post subject:
Dustin wrote:
Awesome. Hey guys, I just read what I wrote. I said it kinda bad. I just wanted to remind everyone the more you prepare, the more you have to lose.
Nonsence. Distilled water is excellent for drinking. Natural fresh water contains virtually no minerals anyway - if it contained significant quantities of the body's major minerals (sodium and potassium) it would be undrinkably salty.
Apart from not getting your daily dose of calcium, magnesium and fluoride distilled water won't do you any harm. And even then, most people have 'soft' water which doesn't contain the above minerals anyway.
Guess since I live in the suburbs of LA where all my water comes from another STATE, and around here gets less than 14" of rain per year... I guess I'm SOOL.
Any ideas for the poor souls like me who really dont have any chance besides to get the heck out of Dodge? (Which is - unfortunately - not an option for me at the moment)
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