Category Archives: WATER

All things water go here. water procurement, treatment, water storage, sanitation systems. Sanitation systems MAY also go under medical.

Heat-related related injuries

Heat-related related injuries

Last week a friend sent picture of his thermometer in his vehicle…. 118 degrees in California … same day we had 97 degrees in Wyoming. Yesterday it was 99 just a little north of us. Last week there were reports of a young dad who ‘forgot’ hiw 15 month old twins in the car….. baked. ;[ Never leave young OR old folks [nor your dog] in a vehicle unattended.

‘Extreme’ heat is especially hard on the young, old and infirm of our population. The best way of treating heat injuries is to PREVENT them. This is best accomplished by drinking plain water. How much water do you need to drink a day to prevent and treat heat related injuries? It is NOT the oft stated 8 – 8 oz containers of water which adds up to 64 ounces or 2 quarts a day. You need a lot more water than that on a normal day. Cross ref http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/ and http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/fluid-electrolytes/

stay in side or at least in the shade during the heat of the day. An example of this custom is known as the Siesta. typically after a light lunch folks would nap or only do light activities. I personally like to take naps after lunch, especially if I can nap in a hammock, I would highly recommend this system even in the North lands.

How to treat heat injuries ==

Drink extra water,, even more than you think you need.

Wet them down with water, if possible have a misting device going in their area to help cool them. Fans help this effect.

If there is air conditioning get the victim into it. That is sometimes easier said than done, especially in a grid down situation. There is a low tech way around this. Hold that thought for a few minutes. In today’s throw away world there are large numbers of 2 L Coke bottles available for re-purposing. The thumbnail picture of this is that the bottles are cut in half reserving the bottom* for other uses. The top will now look like a funnel. When constructed and installed the wind is compressed and cooled as the air moves through. The actual plans with video are located at www.eco-cooler.com which is open source. They have a templates for free downloading.

I suspect that the actual mode of action for this device is that it shades the inside of the house while still letting the air move and carry away some of the heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRHuZlFnys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRHuZlFnys


Homemade Air Conditioner 2016 EcoCooler-Homemade Air Conditioner hot against not electric-EcoCooler

*The bottom of the coke bottle will make a great planter. Cross ref [[ http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/grow-you-garden-in-pots/ ]]
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In a related story reporting 4 deaths https://www.yahoo.com/gma/4-dead-heat-intensifies-southwest-states-millions-under-125807094–abc-news-topstories.html

4 Dead in Arizona as Southwest Endures Record-Breaking Heat
EMILY SHAPIRO and BRIAN MCBRIDE,Good Morning America 2 hours 28 minutes ago 

Four people are dead in Arizona amid a dangerous heat wave that’s extending to several Southwest states.
Two hikers died Sunday in Pima County, Arizona, from heat-related illnesses, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said. A 28-year-old trainer died from heat exhaustion Sunday after mountain biking at the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, according to the Phoenix Fire Department. A man died of heat exposure after hiking the Superstition Mountains on Saturday, the Pinal County Sheriff said.
Temperature records were shattered Sunday in dozens of cities in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.
Yuma, Arizona, hit 120 degrees; Phoenix hit 118 degrees; Palm Springs, California, reached 118 degrees; and Burbank, California, reached 109 degrees.
Previous records were hit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 103 degrees, and North Las Vegas, 109 degrees.
Monday is expected to be the hottest day of the week, with temperatures in some areas topping 120 degrees. Utah, Nevada, California and Arizona are facing excessive heat warnings and advisories.
The extreme heat is hindering firefighters who are trying to contain large blazes in New Mexico, Arizona and California.
The record heat has affected plane travel. A United Airlines flight operated by Mesa Airlines departed Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Sunday afternoon and was minutes away from landing at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix when the flight crew notified passengers it would be turning back; because of excessive heat’s effects on aircraft equipment, it is against the law for planes to take off or land in temperatures of 120 degrees or higher. [[Interesting! Safety point]]

NO room

Don’t tell me that you don’t have enough room to store food and water.

This is the most used excuse that I have heard over the years. The come back to that excuse is that if something is important to you, like being able to feed your children, then you will find a way to accomplish that task.

One of the first times we taught preparedness I thought if I heard this excuse one more time I would pull my hair out. At that time of our lives we lived in a 2 bedroom trailer with 2 pre-teens and we had a year and a half worth of food inside the trailer with us. Now, our home was not out of Better Homes and Gardens but we could take care of ourselves and others. We had homemade storage shelves that we could take apart and move easily and our bed was built up on a platform and we had storage underneath. We used the closets and stored food and water in there on the floor and put shoes on top of the boxes. The kids had bunk beds with their desk underneath. We put boxes against the walls and then their stuff went on top of the boxes.

We partitioned off part of the living room and made another bedroom for the other child. And his room also had a bunk bed with the desk underneath and storage boxes along the walls with his things on top of the boxes. With our bed built up we could put the roll a way rubber-made garbage cans underneath to be able to get them out easier. We stored our camping supplies in these. And we had homemade storage shelves along our walls. We built all of the shelving and the beds with bolts so we could take them apart and move them easily.

At this time we taught a class on how to make furniture out of storage boxes and how to disguise them to look and function as furniture. We took 3 boxes and placed a board on top of them and then placed a table cloth and had an end table. And if you make them 4 high and 2 wide with a little larger board on top and then a table cloth you have a kitchen table. We put 4 high boxes against the wall and then 3 high against that and and board over the 3 stack and a board against the 4 high. Then we made cushions to sit on and to put against the 4 high and we had and covered the boxes with cloth and we had a couch. We put 3 high boxes with a board over them and had a coffee table. We even made an entertainment center to put the TV on, and then covered the whole thing with sheets to make it look nicer. Of course it is easier if all of the storage boxes are the same size. Ours had #10 cans of dried food so they were sturdy enough to sit on. When we moved, everything was easy to take apart and set back up at the next place. No large pieces of furniture to move.

This will solve 2 problems: one if you don’t have much furniture you can build it, two takes care of how to store your food and with a bonus of it is easier to move than a traditional home move. The smaller cans and the water were put on the shelves that we made. So, now you will have a come back when someone tells you that they don’t have enough room to store food and water.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/food-formula/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/to-start-a-food-storage-program/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/breakfast-cereal-wheat/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/how-to-store-food-safely-part-1/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us

Apartment Water Storage

Water Storage in an Apartment

We live in an apartment, so space is premium. We were worried about water storage and found a solution. The closet floor is wasted space, so we placed plastic pop carriers upside down on the floor. This provides air circulation, especially since we have carpet in the closet. Then we put water in 2 liter bottles on top of the carriers. Depending on how much space you have between the floor and the clothes will depend upon how high to stack the pop bottles.

We take empty boxes and break them down and place these on top of the carriers. Then we can place a second layer of pop bottles filled with water on top of the first layer. We then place a second layer of empty boxes on top of the second layer of bottles. Then we place our shoes which are normally on the closet floor onto the bottles which makes them easier to get to and you will have water storage, too.

If you do this with each of the closets in your apartment or home you will have at least a start of water storage. We have 2 closets in our 1 bedroom apartment and have 64 two-liter pop bottles of water stored just in the closets. With 2 of us in the apartment that will be enough for 16 days of water. If we had a disaster in our town having 16 days of water saved up would be a difference between life and death in some cases. Also not having to depend on others to help us gives us self-sufficiency.

We also have put an industrial 5 wire shelf in, where we keep extra food and store water on the bottom shelf. There is another 20 two-liter bottles of water along with quite a bit of food. It is located in the bedroom and we have placed sheets covering the shelf which covers up what is on the shelf. The shelf takes up about the space of a large dresser. The shelf was around $100 and gives us much security in knowing that we have food and water enough to sustain us in case of an emergency.

If you do not drink pop or juice in the 2 liter bottles, ask your family, friends or neighbors if they have empty bottles. Usually they will be glad to give them to you. All you have to do is to wash them out with dish soap and water, rinse well and place tap water in them. Tap water from city water supply already has chlorine in it, so no need to put more in. Also, no need to change out the water every 6 months like many people think because it already has chlorine in it. When you get to the point of needing to use it, if you are not sure about the water then you can put bleach into the bottles. No need to make things more difficult than it has to be.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/

Trips 19

19 **************

Back to planning and packing.
Water bottle – There are lots of options here. There are collapsible ones, metal ones, hard plastic ones – and many of them have a carabineer on them so you can hook them to your belt or daypack. There are also carabineers made specifically to hold a regular water bottle (or soda bottle). They are very inexpensive and you just replace the bottle with a fresh one when it is empty. Many backpacks and belly bags also have a water bottle holder, too. If you are going to be doing a lot of walking or if it’s hot, it’s best to stay hydrated.

I might add a note here about flavoring. If you get tired of “plain old water”, several companies including MIO, Crystal Light, Dasani and Kool-Aid make a small bottle of concentrated liquid flavoring. Just squirt it into your bottle of water until you find the right strength and shake. They are small, convenient, and relatively cheap and will flavor many bottles of water from one small bottle. They even come in dozens of flavors.
[also see the re-0hydration drink in the first aid section- R] Depending on your preference for caffeine, check the bottle closely. Some are considered “energy” or “sports” drinks and have more caffeine and some don’t have much (or any) at all. Maybe high caffeine to get your engine started in the morning and the other for later on. You could take two or three of the little bottles in different flavors in your backpack and not take up much space or add much weight. There are also powdered packets of flavoring (Crystal Light) but they are pre-measured so if you like yours stronger or have a larger bottle, you might need a pack and a half – wasting the other half pack. They are lighter to carry, however.

BOL idea

There are many places that may make a good Bug Out Location or at least a way point to some place else. One such place that I visited several years ago looked ideal [except that I am sure that others have the same idea and would most likely get there sooner than I would now.] I list it as an example to look for. This ‘park’ was about 45 miles from home at the time and was along the route that I would have traveled during a bug out. ;]

The park is a natural rock bridge that had been carved over the centuries by a large creek.

The park portion had several hiking trails and there were those standing BBQ cook areas with picnic tables that were comfortable for the lunch we had packed.

The site was / is very beautiful and has a rich history as an oasis for the local American Indians. One of the pluses is that it is well protected from the wind. Some of the other features included more than enough fresh water for the tribe and their animals. There are several apple trees which are reputed to have been planted by the Indians. Game such as fish, deer, rabbits and birds are plentiful. I didn’t have time to search very hard but there were many edible plants such as Purslane, plantain, cattails, milkweed and burdock.

I can really see why the Indians would tarry there and perhaps even a good place to settle in the general area.

Water

Water is the single most important item to plan for in your 72- hour Kit. Allow a minimum of 3 Liters (preferably one full gallon), per person per day. This is absolutely essential. The body can live without food for extended periods of time, up to 2.5 months [BOBBY SANDS of the IRA early 1970s]; but can live only about three or four days without water. This is at rest, not considering people in active, stressful or emergency situations.

Be sure that all family members know how/where to find safe water and how to purify it.

Carry your water inside your backpack (or other container) or strapped to the outside. Use canteens; empty one or two liter Coke bottles work great too.

NEVER use milk jugs because they are designed to self-destruct. Be sure that all water containers are clean and free of defects. Check them from time to time, at least every six months, to insure that they have not developed any leaks and to verify that the water is still usable. You should consider having six two liter Coke bottles per person. That will give you three days supply. If you don’t have adequate water, DON’T eat as this will de-hydrate you even faster. Remember that the BEST way to store and carry water is inside of you. NEVER ration drinking water!

In addition to the water you actually carry with you, be sure to carry supplies to purify more water. Liquid chlorine bleach, iodine tablets and iodine crystals are good disinfecting agents. Learn how to use them and rotate them properly to insure maximum shelf life (See chapter on Water Storage and purification for further details). Nevertheless, be sure to include in your kit any one of the above-mentioned items to disinfect water because in times of emergency you may not be able to build a fire or have access to other heat sources to boil water.

Personal Hygiene

Personal Hygiene

 

Personal Hygiene is a difficult situation during a disaster. If you are sheltering in place you can still use the tub and have the luxury of taking a bath of course in smaller amounts of water and not as much soap as usual. You can heat water up however you are doing that and put some cold water with it and just wash up. You do not need to take a bath every day or you will use your water supply up. And you can wash your hair the same way, and have someone pour water slowly over your hair as you get the soap out. Your hair does not need to be washed every day either. In between you can use any kind of personal powder or baking soda. Just sprinkle either on your hair rub into hair and comb as usual. This dries up the oil that gets into hair and causes it to look dirty. This is what we use in healthcare as waterless shampoo, For the men maybe this would be that special time that you get to grow a mustache and a beard. But you can still shave if you have a straight razor or a safety razor and a non-breakable mirror (look in the camping section). You can use just soap on your face instead of shaving cream. A straight razor is great for camping because you do not have to worry about extra blades, the straight razor can be sharpened like a knife.

 

In case you need to bug out everyone should have a washcloth and a towel.

Kneel down with the bowl of water in front of you. Take your shirt off and take your washcloth and get it wet and a very small amount of soap and wash your face and neck and upper body. Rinse and dry off, then put your shirt back on. Take your pants off and lay them on the ground and kneel down on them. Wash your lower body, rinse and dry off, then put your pants back on. It is better to have a look out and be up against a group of trees or rocks. This way if someone comes upon you, you’re not completely undressed. This should be done as fast as you can and following these directions will be safer. To wash your hair especially longer hair kneel down as before having someone pour water over your hair, use little shampoo, lather up and have someone pour water slowly over your hair as you rinse out the soap. A comb takes up less room than a brush. Also if anyone has long hair it is a good idea to have something to put the hair up with or braid it would be even better. Deodorant is also a good idea. Some insect repellent and sun protection and a few chap sticks would be good. Some medicated powder would be a good idea especially to use at first until your body gets use to walking a lot.

 

For the women in your group who have the monthly visit of nature some extra hand towels or premade cloth pads that can be washed out and reused. This may not seem like a good idea, but how many disposable pads can you carry. Of course you can start with the disposable but you probably will have to go to the reusable at some date, depending upon how long the disaster lasts.

 

For babies and toddlers the same thing applies. How many disposable diapers can you carry or save up. They still sell cloth diapers and rubber pants. And you can wash them out and reuse them.

 

As far as soap to use, it would be easier to use only 1 type of soap for washing dishes, clothes and the body. Whether to use like dawn liquid you would have to be careful that it did not spill in your pack. Bar soap lasts longer and would not spill, you could use something like Ivory [or Grannies’ Lye soap] for everything.

We must Prepare to Survive & Thrive.

Ready? or not

a bit taken from the book

Ready-Not-Things-WILL-Happen Quick start survival guide.

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Not-Things-WILL-Happen/dp/1496022947/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395604161&sr=1-1&keywords=Richard+Calton

FIRST AID KIT TO INCLUDE:

  • Olive Oil,
  • First Aid Manual, or NOLS First Aid Handbook,
  • Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia,
  • Water Purification Tablets,
  • Table Salt,
  • Baking Soda,
  • K+ (Potassium),
  • Aspirin or ibuprofen (for both children and adults),
  • Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline),
  • Diarrhea medication,
  • Laxative (mom or colace),
  • 30 days of Prescriptions,
  • Safety Pins,
  • Adhesive and/or paper tape,
  • betadine,
  • Bandages,
  • Gauze Roll,
  • Coban elastic bandage (or Ace Bandage),
  • Heavy String,
  • And you may need Tetanus immunization every five years.

see also www.preparesurvivethrive.us

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-time-for-travel-the-christmas-project/

fluid & electrolyte balance

Fluid & electrolytes

 

“DON’T DRINK TOO MUCH WATER.”

 

We all know that dehydration can be dangerous, leading to dizziness, seizures and death, but drinking too much water can be just as bad. In 2002, 28 year old Cynthia Lucero collapsed midway through the Boston marathon. Rushed to a hospital, she fell into a coma and died.  In the aftermath it emerged that she had drunk large amounts of water along the run. The excess liquid in her system induced a syndrome called ‘exercise-associated hyponatremia’ or EAH for short. In which an imbalance in the body’s sodium levels creates a dangerous swelling of the brain.

 

STATS up to one third of endurance athletes who collapse during events suffer from EAH. Between 1989 and 1996, when the US army mandated heavy fluid intake during exercise in high heat. EAH caused at least 6 deaths. [Statistically that is not very many.]

[And the Israelis have used the ‘over-drink’ plans for decades with good results]

DON”T drink more than 1.5 quarts of water per hour during sustained, intense exercise. But do consume plenty of salt along with your fluids.

 

BEAT THE HEAT

A rock formation in Utah called The Wave is remote and beautiful, but also arid and sweltering. This past July, a couple hiking the area was found dead after the afternoon heat overwhelmed them while hiking. Scarcely three weeks later, a 27 year old woman collapsed while hiking the wave with her husband and died before he could get help.

STAT an average of 675 people die each year in the US from heat related complications.

DO: carry lots of fluids, hike in the morning and let people know where you are going when trekking in the desert.

 

Both of these paragraphs were in the October 2013 issue of Popular Mechanics which is overall a great publication. I transcribed them both and may not be exactly as it was in the magazine.  As far as they go they make good teasers for greater research.

 

My observations & comments also make good teasers for further research on your part. ;]

 

The topic of fluid and electrolyte balance is broad enough that literally volumes of books have been written about it. Sodium Chloride [NaCl or table salt] is only 1 of the major electrolytes and if you eat a modern diet you are getting WAY more sodium than you need, in fact most cardiologists recommend LIMITING your sodium intake to generally less than 2,000 mg [2 grams] a day. It was interesting a few years ago when I was trained [and FDA certified] to run a wet pack food cannery. Each 14 to 16 ounce can of product we add more than half a teaspoon of table salt. Potassium chloride [KCl or salt substitute]  is another very important electrolyte which when most people think of bananas as ‘the’ source. Potatoes are actually a better source of potassium. Salt substitute [aka No-Salt or NU-salt brand names] is considered by some a VERY dangerous item, because this ONE person that they know got into [medical] trouble using it. Well yes, some people do get into trouble with it. There IS such a thing as over use or abuse of anything and table salt [NaCl] overload causes problems to large portions of the population. People get into trouble with too much table salt [NaCl]. Other electrolytes include magnesium, calcium, zinc, chloride and bicarbonate. EVERYTHING in moderation aka, don’t be stupid with your consumption.

 

Basically most of us get TOO much sodium in our diets and we don’t consume enough plain water to flush all the waste products from your system.

 

An interesting side note on potassium – it is a vital nutrient and it is one of the 3 ‘drugs’ used during lethal injection when the state kills someone.

 

See an earlier post on re-hydration drink.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/

 

Cold weather at home. WATER

Cold weather at home. WATER

 

Last week it got down to minus 22 degrees F actual temperature, I do not know what the wind chill was. to large extent that information did not matter because IF you outside without shelter which includes proper clothing, you can die in less than an hour.

 

There were several structures with fire suppression systems [automatic sprinkler systems] that had those pipes in the ceilings freeze and break. I am sure that was a big mess.

 

The other thing about very low temperatures is that the frost line goes deeper. Our town had several water mains that burst. This is not good even during calm summer times. The cold weather made it much worse. Depending on how and where the main breaks it takes at least 8 hours to dig down to it and then repair the problem. I am not sure exactly how many people were without water nor how long it actually took to restore service to them. Even after the break is fixed, the water pipes must be flushed out to clear any contamination issues. Some of the citizens were VERY mad over the water outage. They had no showers before going to work and they had no way to clean, flush or do dishes nor water for cooking.

 

The sadly amusing thing about this is that the city water department has over the years reminded us all that we should store at least one gallon of water per person per day for at least 3 days to get them through things like this.

 

What would those people do if this had happened later during a total grid down situation? What if it had taken a week or more to restore water service?

 

Being prepared is not only about when the ‘big one’ hits.

 

Several years ago when some of us worked at the local hospital we were awakened at about 0200 one morning to the sounds of heavy machinery digging up our street. The water main had broken and the water that escaped had flooded the people’s basement next to us. It had not bothered us as we didn’t have a basement. Anyway we both had to be to work at the hospital that morning on the heart floor [tele] and the mother baby floor [OB]. We set the alarms for about 15 minutes earlier than normal as we needed showers before work. [the water was out for about 9 hours that morning]. We did get our showers and we did get to work on time.

 

How did we manage that with the water main turned off?

 

We used our water storage and alternative shower system which was a brand new 2 gallon pump sprayer tank. You know the kind they sell in lawn and garden section that you use to spray weed killer and insecticides. We poured a couple of 2 L coke bottles into a pot on the stove and heated it. When it was the right temperature we filled the sprayer and got in the shower. One of use sprayed the other to get them wet –and yes that WAS fun! ;] The first one soaped up and was sprayed down to remove the soap. We then switched places. This was just as good as a ‘real’ shower, used less water than normal AND was way more fun. One of our co-workers lived down the street from us and did not know about the water issue until she went to take her shower and NO water. We discussed it at work that day. I told her how we had handled the situation. She seemed to listen and asked where & how to get ready ‘IF’ it happened again.

 

Cross ref http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/water-storage-…coke-bottles-2/