It you thought turning off the power was bad...

[Crazy Dane]

The people in the United States have absolutely no idea what real struggles are.

They should spend some time where everything is not handed to their entitled asses.

Here is a pic I took years back.

The picture below is of a father and son sifting through an empty lot filled with garbage in the middle of Iraq looking for something to eat and gathering scrap metal. It is already a dirt poor province, so it is not like the poor people there are going to throw much away in the first place.



And running water/indoor plumbing is simply not happening.

Same deal here.


We left these little girls a couple flats of water, as they were drinking from a sewage filled ditch.



Frigging Americans have a few days of without some basic item and they think the world will end. GMAFB

I have seen what you have seen and did the same things. It is amazing to see what a few bottles of water can do. My wife learned really quick that I have zero tolerance for bitching about losing a basic amenity. Power is out, light an oil lamp I have several. Need to flush the toilet, carry a bucket of water from the pond.

Any idea on what caused the breaks? Aging infrastructure or what? If you don't have water, you ain't got nothing.

Aging pipes plus extreme cold for our area is the main cause. Add in the local government that has misguided ideas along with challenges to steal the water department from city control has left maintenance of the system in bad shape.

[QUOTE=4RNR;1433335]So instead of demanding water from fire trucks go to the store and buy several cases of bottled water. It not that big of a deal unless you're going on month 3 without an end in sight."

Local stores are out of bottled water, a lot of hoarding took place early. The calls that I know of was for us to fill buckets to flush toilets. I'm sure some idiot would want to drink fire truck water too.

[4RNR]

When 40,000 people lose water at the same time, getting bottles from the store only works for a day. Not even HEB can react quickly enough to supply 40k people.

When my town of a similar size lost water and then had a boil alert for a week after the power freeze fiaso, a local bottler stepped up with tankers of water and we had folks come out to city hall for a few gallons at a time. Took the major grocers a few days to catch up.

We had a freeze issue as well as a contamination issue similar to the one going on at the Marine base. I don't know who gives this stuff out or where to even start looking. I simply have water. Not for bathing but im not going to die either. I always have food, water and basic medicine and it's not a prepper thing.

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[BobM]

I gave my brothers Scepter 5 gallon water jugs for Christmas along with the Creek Stewart disaster prep book. It’s not well known but in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike the city water treatment plant was on backup power so long it was down to less than 24 hours of fuel left. I have over a dozen cans myself.

[Lost River]

By the way Crazy Dane,

I can't recall if anyone has said it. But working that incredibly long stretch you did is rough. Thank You for that. People don't appreciate what others do for their community.

[blues]

Yet another reason to avoid Asheville, as if we needed any more. Be careful @Crazy Dane

Maybe we need to set up a border wall to keep Buncombe out.

[Suvorov]

I can’t top @Lost Rivers post but this always comes to mind when I hear my fellow Americans (and myself sometimes to be honest) bitching when the luxury of the hyper-civilized first world is temporarily suspended.



I do often wonder however if we are witnessing the slow time collapse of our civilization at times.

[RoyGBiv]

We had a freeze issue as well as a contamination issue similar to the one going on at the Marine base. I don't know who gives this stuff out or where to even start looking. I simply have water. Not for bathing but im not going to die either. I always have food, water and basic medicine and it's not a prepper thing.

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You may not think you're prepping, but, you're prepping Certainly relative to GenPop.
We call it common sense, but, most folks assume the water and food supply will always be available at the local market without interruption.
The pandemic woke a few folks up, but, not most.

In addition to a few cases of water always on hand we have some of the LifeStraw products, including the high volume gravity bag version... We can carry buckets of water from the pool for the toilets... Not sure I'd want to drink even filtered pool water if I could avoid it..

[Shoresy]

You may not think you're prepping, but, you're prepping Certainly relative to GenPop.

Yep... "prepping" doesn't always mean Burt Gummer.

We lost power semi-regularly when I was growing up. Suck factor was mild, especially if it didn't go past 36 hours. I very distinctly remember when we lost water for about 3 days - it wasn't that the suck factor was that much higher, it was a) how often during an average day I had taken it for granted and b) how tied into daily life it was.

[Crazy Dane]

By the way Crazy Dane,

I can't recall if anyone has said it. But working that incredibly long stretch you did is rough. Thank You for that. People don't appreciate what others do for their community.

Thanks. I'm one of the "old guys" now and had planned on working through Christmas anyhow so some of the younger guys with kids could be off.

[TGS]

If the current state of aging infrastructure or cyber attacks on infrastructure have you rethinking "prepping", but you don't know what to do beyond buying bottled water from the store or using your hot-water heater, here's a quick primer. The best plan is a mix of the below....just some ideas to think about.

Water Bricks: https://www.waterbrick.org/

Pros: Robust and stackable, these can fit nearly anywhere such as under or behind furniture, or stacked underneath stairs if you can cut-in an access panel to that small space below stairs which is typically blocked off and empty. They're smaller and easier to handle. These are my favorite.

Cons: Expensive to have a large amount of water when compared to other bulk storage methods.

Aqua-Tainer: https://relianceoutdoors.com/product...-tainer-4g-15l

Pros: Slightly larger and more affordable to store large amounts of water compared to Water Bricks. Pretty heavy, but still able to be handled easily by an able bodied adult male. Come with a pour spout for easy use. These are generally the largest container you can have on hand and still handle. I have some, but prefer the Water Bricks.

Cons: Not as robust and tend to leak more often than Water Bricks. You can not stack them, and they can't be stored in as creative places as the Water Bricks. Heavy enough that they will be a struggle to handle for a typical female, child, elderly, or someone that is otherwise impaired/physically limited. Still relatively expensive to store a large amount of water for a family if you're going to do it entirely with this sole container type.

Common 15 gallon, 30 gallon, and 55 gallon BPA-free drum: https://www.uline.com/BL_8154/Plastic-Drums

Pros: Most people can easily store these in a two car+ garage, or even a 15 or 30 gallon in the corner of a small 1-car garage. They offer a very economical way to store large amounts of water compared to the smaller containers. If you have basic skills and tools, you can screw some 2x4s together to make a shelving unit for these to stack two of them horizontally.

Cons: They are not easily handled or mobile. They may or may not come with pour spouts, meaning you need to consider a way to easily get the water out of them beyond dual-purposing their kitchen's sauce ladle. You need a lot of room for them, and you're unlikely to find them amenable to water storage in apartments, condos, and even small houses.

275+ gallon IBC tote: https://www.ibctanks.com/275gallon-new

Pros: Most economical way to store a large amount of water for a family, you can actually find these for free from industrial suppliers once they're used as it costs them money to dispose of them...just make sure you get a BPA-free food grade one that wasn't used for chemicals(!).

Cons: Significant space requirement, storing these in most urban or suburban settings is unlikely as they will take up a significant piece of a garage and HOA rules will often prohibit their open display in your back yard. You also need the means of transporting it to your house. Lastly, they're entirely immobile once set in place and filled.