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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

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Clean drinking water...not self-evident for ev...Image via Wikipedia
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The GOM oil spill got me thinking.If it rains oil and chemicals along the Gulf there will be a die off.Most folks will die of thirst or poisening. FEMA can't provide fresh drinking water for millions of people,DUH.So if you live north of the Gulf you can expect refugees.I hope those FEMA camps really do exist.Martial Law will be declared. Travel will be restricted and you better expect road blocks.Better hide your food and supplies,I wouldn't take any cross country road trips either,you might not make it home.Buy more food now before the event happens and hunker down.If we're lucky and it doesn't rain chemicals,you can still expect thousands of unemployed angry southerners looking for work, possibly in your area. You think uncle Obammy will increase taxes to help the poor unemployed Gulf State residents? TEOTWAWKI here we come.
The loyal minions living near the Gulf should store as much water as possible.Enough to last them on their bug out adventure.If they stay put,they will die.Fill every container that is available with water.The freezer should already be filled with frozen water in plastic pop bottles.Refugees will not be met with open arms.It's going to get ugly.It would be a good idea to make some arrangements with family members that live up north right now instead of waiting for TSHTF event.Folks living up north better expect family members coming for an extended visit.Got enough gasoline to get you to your bug out location?
I wonder if those expensive water filters will remove all the oil and chemicals from GOM contaminated water? I think the oil would clog up the filters and possibly ruin them.Who knows how agressive the chemicals are that BP is dumping into the Gulf? I don't think the commercial water filter manufacturers have tested their products using the chemicals that are in the Gulf. Nobody knows for sure how much oil is on the bottom of the Gulf,will the oil stay there? Yes,I'm paranoid!
I'd suggest filtering contaminated water in a homemade water filter before running it through an expensive commercial water filter.I did some research(surfing the web) and found out that human hair can be used to remove oil from water. Stuff human hair in some panty hose,tie off the end and throw it into a container with contaminated water,stir it with a stick,after a while the oil will cling to the hair ball,remove hair ball and then sprinkle some hair on the top of the water to get the remaining oil.Maybe using a spoon to remove the hair? That would be the first thing to do. I would go ahead and make a homemade water filter from 6 inch wide PVC pipe.The longer a contaminant has contact with the filter medium the more contaminant is removed,so I'd use a 5 or 6 foot long PVC pipe,maybe an old sewer pipe would work too.I read that sand doesn't do a good job of filtering oil,so that sucks,I'd still use sand in the filter to remove other unwanted crud.So a homemade water filter has,starting from the bottom:charcoal,sand,pea sized gravel,grass clippings or some type of fabric(maybe old bed sheets),you have to put something in between the layers to keep them seperated,old bed sheets would work.Each layer should be about a foot long,the bed sheets layer could be two feet long.The bed sheets layer could easily be removed and replaced,they'll probably get dirty real quick. Pack the layers tight to reduce the flow rate.You'll have to glue a cap on the bottom and drill some small holes in the cap.I'd have several homemade water filters all ready to go if I lived near the GOM.After that I'd use the Rabbit Water filter,that you recommended in a previous post. If that works,then I'd use the commercial water filter.
The Rabbit Water Filter:

http://pottersforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/ide-filter-user-guide.pdf

Use the Rabbit Filter to see if the oil clogs up the ceramic pores of the ceramic pot before you run the water through the store bought filter.When you use the PVC pipe water filter you shouldn't dump all the water in at once,you want it to filter slowly.It is going to be a slow process.If water runs through the PVC filter immediatly,something is wrong.You should test the PVC water filter with tap water first,to make sure the water flow is slow.I'd dump a cup of water in the filter then wait a minute and dump the next cup of water and so on.

This is really a last ditch effort.The best plan is to store enough clean water.

Everybody needs to think about water storage,even if they don't live near the GOM. When the grid goes down and folks are stuck in the burbs they are going to have to collect rain water. The best way would be with a cistern,that costs too much so they need to be creative.Old bath tubs covered with a sheet of plywood can be used to store water.You can dig a hole about the size of a bath tub near the rain gutter downspout of your home and spread a plastic tarp over it to collect water.If you have some tent pegs and tarps you can harvest water in your yard.
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