More than just Drinking Water... :
Whilst effort and technology can purify almost any source of water, people in a crisis will want to find sources as pure as possible before having to arrange treatment. This section outlines the likely sources available to the ordinary householder in a crisis. The householder may initially drain down domestic water systems, which can hold 20 to 200 gallons in pipework, hot water storage tanks and cold water header tanks. Collection of water in quantity for personal washing, washing up in the kitchen and cleaning clothes, justifies lookinf for extra water at an early stage.
Main Crisis Sources of Water :
There are several possible water sources in a crisis. These are in order of purity and effort in their obtaining and treatment :-
- Rainwater : One can divert rainwater from an outside downspout into barrels, tanks or buckets. In a drought, the writer once collected water from a cloudburst. It was stored in a tank made from bricks stacked around a cardboard box, with two bin-liners inside. Settled, filtered and sterilised, it would have been just about drinkable. Main contaminants are soot and bird dung, but straining through a clay filter would remove most of those. Chlorine sterilisation is considered essential.
- Springs : During water contamination in Cheshire, the springs of Little Budworth were used to provide drinking water. Old maps can be helpful. The writer now lives in Crocketford in Scotland. He reminded a nearby farmer of the existence of an old flowing well on farmland during a drought; The farmer re-opened this spring as a source for his livestock when the stream almost dried up. Many springs give excellent water untreated, but any water liable to be polluted by animals or the seepage of surface water should be filtered and sterilised.
- Wells : Many old wells in towns and on farms are now contaminated with sewage, but filtration of the water and sterilisation may make the water safe to drink. A better solution is to dig a new well; in clayey soils and sandstones, the ground will serve as a filter. Treatment of sewage contamination may be difficult, but it is suggested that first lime treatment and then chlorination may help.
- Streams and Rivers : Upland streamwater can be very clear, but may be contaminated by liver-fluke and other water-borne parasites and bacteria. However, all are killed by chlorination or boiling. Lowland streamwater, flowing through cultivated (arable) farmland is often contaminated to a worse extent by nitrates and nitrites from fertilisers and cattle-slurry sprayed onto the land. In that circumstance, it is safer to sink a shallow well (an 'infiltration well') a few metres away from the stream, using the land to filter the water seeping out of the stream. The same can be said about rivers, as many can be seriously affected by industrial pollution and may be unsafe without using an infiltration well. Treatment of sewage contamination may be difficult, but it is suggested that first lime treatment and then chlorination may help.
- Swimming Pools : Where regularly serviced and chlorinated, an apparently good source, but overchlorinated so unsafe to drink. Unfortunately, human users may have urinated in the water and treatment of the water to remove the resultant chloramines is necessary. Treat with clay filtration and lime.
- Ponds : The rules for these often-stagnant areas of water are the same as those for rivers - filtration and sterilisation are essential.
- Evaporation Systems : Any source of 'raw' water can be evaporated and the vapour condensed and collected. Evaporation can be done by boiling the water with some heat source, or - more effectively - by constructing a simple solar still from clear glass or plastic sheeting. The water may need a little lime or chlorination treatment as a safeguard, and can be aerated by pouring from one container into another.
Improvised Pumps :
Few things are more frustrating than having water within fifty or sixty feet and being unable to collect it. Here are a few solutions :-
The Shaduf :
Still used in Egypt to raise water up to 20 feet from rivers or wells into drainage channels. It consists of no more than a bucket on a rope fastened to one end of a strong beam or pipe, pivoted half-way along. The other end of the beam carries a heavy counter-weight of metal or stone, so arranged that it is able to lift the bucket even when part-full. The user stands to the side of the shaduf, pulling the rope down until the bucket enters the water, then lifts it so that the bucket rises to the top, to be swung sideways and poured into a tank.
The Bore-Well Bail-Can :
Take an ordinary aluminium drinks-can, bore a 25 mm hole in the bottom and use a tin opener to take off the top. Take the bottom off a second drinks-can, making it a few millimeters narrower than the inside of the first can, and put the removed can-bottom bottom-down into the first can. Next take a couple of screws or nails and drive them through the sides of the first drinks-can about 25 mm above the base, so there is a gap above the now-captive bottom of the second can. Finally fix a handle of strong wire to the top of the can, and tie a length of cord to it, long enough to go down the well - then tie the other end of the cord to a stake or strong nail in the well-head.
If you drop the can down the well, the water will leak in through the base, lift the valve and fill the can. After about a minute, lift the can and the valve should be forced down to seal the hole, allowing you to haul most of the water in the can to the surface.
Empty the can into your bucket or water-carrier, then drop the can down again and repeat the operation.
The seal can be made more efficient by covering the underside of the valve with plastic or rubber, held in place by a nut and bolt. The head of the nut has to be centered to go through the bottom hole.
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