water water everywhere

(please note, I am camping this weekend, and the next few posts are all scheduled in advance. Odd posts may appear between as I write them.).

Well, if’n ya live in appalachia, you would know that water is one thing this place doesn’t lack,,,more often than not, we have more than enough to give away to the Saharan’s and still be pretty damp. Its why our rivers flashflood at least twice a year. and seeing river flows go from a couple hundred feet per second to tens of thousand feet per second in less than 12 hours is pretty common. I read somewhere that Appalachia is something like 1″ shy of annual rainfall to qualify as a rain forest area.

BUT, drinking water is a different matter. There is that whole bug thing in the water,,, Rainfall collection may suffice, but getting water after it has been run-off,,, notsomuch,,, Giardia is a thing: and if you have beaver in an area, you have giardia in the water supply. Period dot end debate, its there. Molds and fungus are a thing when the humidity levels get to a certain level and remain there for long periods. Here in the hills, ii’s why a tree hitting the forest floor is a soggy lump in less than three years. that mold and fungus goes to town fast and reduces that log to mush in no time. A red oak may become soft and mushy in less than one, where a cedar may take ten years, but soft and mushy is the end game for them all (unless Da is out with a chainsaw,,,,LOL). Molds and fungus can have adverse effects too, depending on allergies, but in the fungus department, there can be poisons that have nothing to do with allergy but everything to do with killing a body.

And I think everyone has heard the story of drinking from a ‘fresh stream’, then finding a rotting animal upstream from where the person had just had a sip. May not have hurt the person, but I am sure they were not on a good mental footing the next 72 hours either.

The point though, water is essential to our living,,, it makes up 80% of our body, and when that ratio starts to drop off, our bodies start doing really badly, and our brains start behaving even worse: Palsy like reactions at the body, uncontrolled heat/cooling ability, distorted vision, hallucinations, delusional thoughts, and eventually death. But all of those can be mitigated quickly just by drinking water (a little salt and sugar in the water can help too, but the further down you are, the slower you have to go about it, and an IV might do better in some cases,)

Clean water is essential. Look on the sidebar for options to clean potable water in less than ideal circumstances. (and yes, I make a dime or two on any purchase you make through those links)

NOW: for those with the means, there is an excellent filter that can be made by you. The original Berkie filter. Dunno how much clean clay you will need, but its a lot. Enough to cover the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket 2 inches thick. For best results, and anti-microbial factor, get a quart of (non-ionic) colloidal silver. Thin out the clay with the entire quart. Add in wood flour; basically wood dust, but fine saw dust will work just as well (maybe better). mix the whole mess up to a consistent ‘goop’ and let it form to the bottom of the bucket and dry. When it’s very dry (shoudn’t be cracking up on you, but dry to the touch, not cool damp.) Remove from the bucket and allow it to dry the rest of the way… You may want to mark ‘this end to water’ or sumsuch. If it starts to crack up, you’ll need to re-wet it and start over. No cracks!!!

Once dry, take it to a potter, with a good kiln and have them fire your filter. The silver will stay embedded in the clay, and kill off any microbes in the water, and the sawdust will convert to charcoal and is the medium of your filter. The entire thing can be back flushed with clean water, but should be good for several thousand gallons. The best setup is to have it in one 5 gallon bucket with several small holes drilled into the bottom of the bucket, and that bucket will ride over another that collects the filtered water. A small bead of silicone around the top edge of the filter and the side of the bucket will stop any seepage around the filter.

This set-up has a fast turn-over for gallons of clean water,,, enough that a family should be able to load the bucket 2 or 3 times a day and get good drinking water out the other side. When adding new water, if there is any sediment from the old, its best to rinse it out first before adding the new in. This filter system WILL filter dirty pond water to drinkable water and with the silver added in, shouldn’t need boiling or ‘treatments’ like idodine or bleach. Obviously, you may want to make this and have the water tested prior for microbes before trusting your life and gastro-intestinal tract to it, but as always, IF IN DOUBT>BOIL!!!

And the other option, especially if fuel is not a factor (wood is plentiful,,,) a simple still will clean water just as easy as make alcohol. It may not ‘taste’ right, but distilled water is completely neutral in pH, minerals, and electrolytes: it doesn’t have anything to ‘taste’, so tastes funny to most people.

Don’t become a refugee,,, and don’t be dependent on infrastructure that has little to no backline any longer. Water and sewage systems will be one of the first casualties if our government collapses. (when the dollar is waste paper, the chems needed for water treatment will stop flowing, and soon after, so will the “clean” water.)