Nor any drop to drink

If you followed the advice from earlier this week, you'll have stored one gallon of water per person per day for at least 3 days. But what if you didn't and disaster has struck? If water supplies run low, never ration water. Drink the amount you need (1 or 2 quarts) and try to find more for tomorrow. You can minimize the amount of water your body needs by reducing activity and staying cool.

Municipal tap water can become contaminated during floods, power outages, etc. When in doubt follow these two steps: 1. Clarify the water with a filter or fine cloth. 2. Disinfect the water by boiling or adding 2 drops of unscented bleach per liter/quart of water. Wait 30 minutes for bleach to kill bacteria. Never drink water contaminated with toxic chemicals or heavy metals.

Do you know the location of your incoming water valve? You’ll need to shut it off to stop contaminated water from entering your home if you hear reports of broken water or sewage lines. To use the clean water in your pipes, let air into the plumbing by turning on the faucet in your house at the highest level. A small amount of water will trickle out. Then obtain water from the lowest faucet in the house.

Did you know your hot water tank holds 30-60 gallons of water? When desperate for water, turn off the water heater to prevent it from operating empty and let it cool before draining to prevent scalding. Open the drain valve at the bottom tank, discard the first few gallons if they contain rust or sediment. Add 5-7 drops of chlorine bleach per gallon of water, stir, and wait 30 minutes before use.

As a last resort, use the water in the reservoir tank of your toilet (not the toilet bowl!). Be sure to boil it or apply bleach. A more appealing source of water is the liquid in canned fruits & vegetables. Swimming pool/hot tub/water bed water may be used as "gray water' for washing but not drinking due to chemicals they contain.
Bottom Line

Wouldn't you rather have stored bottle water at home rather than some of the desperate choices above?


P.S.
Today's title comes from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

As Idle as a painted ship, upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

Recent Advances in Water Filtration

"Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow."
- Arthur Stringer, "The Silver Poppy"

Several years ago my wife read an article about the LifeStraw, "designed for those unfortunate people in the third world who do not have access to clean drinking water. The pipe is composed of two textile filters, followed by a chamber with beads impregnated with iodine." The pictures showed people drinking directly from dirty water through the fat straw. This is pretty cool we thought but at the time the LifeStraw was not approved for sale in the US. On reason might be that the LifeStraw did not protect against Giardia which is common in the US. Giardia has 5 micron spores which pass through the 15 micron filter and Giardia is resistant to the level of iodine within the straw.

This morning I read about a new water bottle called the "LifeSaver" with built-in filter for easy fill and sip in about 20 seconds. The bottle weighs about 1.5 pounds and can filter one and a half pints of clean drinking water each go. The LifeSaver 4000 can filter up to 4000 liters of dirty water before it has to be replaced and sells for $229. The filter is supposedly 15 nanometers; 1000 times smaller than the original lifestraw and "removes all waterborne pathogens".

Curious, I did some Googling to find out whatever happened to the LifeStraw idea. What I found are several filter straws sold in US camping stores.
The SuckUp Survival Water Filter Straw, weighs 1 oz and sells for $9.97. It claims to filter Giardia. As the article suggests, this could be a great backup when hiking and your primary filter breaks.
The Frontier Filter Straw, has a 2 micron filter (blocks Giardia) and is good for 20 gallons of water. It sells for $9 to $15.
The Aquastraw is good for 50 liters of water, uses Iodine to purify water up to "96%" and sells for $15.

Bottom Line
These straw filters are very affordable and lightweight. There is little excuse now for drinking untreated water and getting sick while outdoors.
Disclaimer
I have not tested any of these products and can not verify the claims made by their web sites. This is provided solely to let you know about new products that are now availble.

Potable Water

"Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink."
- Samuel Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

While recent evidence indicates that there may be frozen water on Mars and the Moon, it is Earth that is unique as the Blue Planet with 71% of the surface covered in water. Sadly very little of this water is potable (meaning safe to drink).

97% of the Earth's water is salt water. NEVER drink salt water no matter how thirsty or near death. It takes twice as much water for your body to process seawater as you get from it.

Of the 3% fresh water, most of it (80%) is tied up in the polar ice caps. There is a survival lesson here too - DO NOT eat snow. Recall the Rule of Threes and how maintaining body temperature (shelter) trumps thirst. Eating snow lowers your core body temperature which can lead to hypothermia or shock.

Of the fresh, non-frozen water about 99.5 percent is not potable due to pollution or it is inaccessible (too deep, trapped in the soil, etc.). This leaves us .03 * .20 * .005 = .003% of the Earth's water available for drinking. If one liter represents all water the world, the useful-potable amount of water is just a one drop.

Say despite the odds, you have found fresh water. Is it safe? Maybe not. Giardiasis (gee-ar-die-a-sis with a soft "G") is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by a parasite that lives in fresh water. Up to 2.5 million cases of giardiasis occur each year in the US. Up to 20% of the world's population is chronically infected with Giardia lamblia.

How to Avoid Giardiasis, e-Coli and other dangers in fresh water

• Do not drink from fresh water streams or lakes without boiling or filtering the water with a pore size of less than 1mm.
• Do not use ice or drink beverages made from water that may be contaminated.
• Do not brush teeth with water that may be contaminated.
• Do not eat uncooked or unpeeled fruits or vegetables grown in conditions in which contamination with Giardia might occur.

Bottom Line
Water contamination is not just limited to mountain streams and ponds. You might get sick swallowing the water in a public swimming pool. The public tap water in many countries is unhealthy by American standards. There's a story about a tourist in Mexico was very careful to avoid tap water by drinking only Coca Cola. However he caught Montezuma's Revenge from the ice cubes in the Coke glass.