Keeping water cool?

In Mediterranean countries, one can find ceramic containers that look unfinished to me. Where's the glaze covering? Won't it leak without some kind of outer seal over the ceramic?

The best known example is the Spanish 'botijo' and it is unglazed and leaky by design. Water slowly seeps through the ceramic and evaporates on the outside and this evaporation cools the contents within; up to 30 degrees F cooler in optimal conditions. We humans use the same technique to keep cool when sweat evaporates on our skin.

The botijo "jar" usually has a wide, spherical belly with two openings on top, a wide opening for pouring water in and a smaller opening as a drinking spout. The jar may also have one or two handles to carry it and tilt it. Traditionally people drink from a botijo by lifting it and tilting the spout to pour water into their mouth (but not touch the lips, that's considered very bad manners).

The evaporating-cooling trick can be applied in other clever ways. Most Army/Boy Scout canteens have a cloth outer cover or carrying bag. That cloth should be soaked when you fill the canteen and it will cool the contents as it dries. For water bottles you can make your own instant covering by placing the water bottle inside a thick, wet sock. If you try this I'd keep the bottle/sock strapped outside your backpack, not inside it.

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.

Storing Water

An average person needs to drink two quarts of water each day, even more for children, nursing mothers and ill people. Hot environments or intense activity can double the daily requirement. Since you'll also need water for food preparation and hygiene, plan on storing one gallon of water per person, per day. Store enough water for 3 days (2 weeks if you can) for the family and pets.

When storing water you may buy it or, more cheaply, bottle your own. Store tap water in carefully cleaned, non-corrosive, tightly covered containers in a cool, dark place, far away from stored gasoline or pesticides. 2-liter soda bottles work great; you'll need two 2-liter bottles per person per day. Avoid milk jugs as the plastic becomes brittle with time. Some people like glass containers while others find them heavy and fragile.

Before storing tap water, remove plastic lid liners and clean containers and lids with hot soapy water & rinse. Sanitize with a solution of 1 tablespoon chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Let sit wet for two minutes, then rinse again with water. Fill containers with tap water, add 1-2 drops of chlorine bleach per quart/liter, cap it and shake to mix. Label with the date and use before 6 months to 1 year. When water goes past 1 year I'd pour it on the house plants, resanitze the bottle and refill it.

A freezer is a great space to store a bottle or two of water. If you lose electricity, the icy bottles will help keep foods frozen until the power is restored. Be sure to leave 2 to 3 inches of space in containers because water expands as it freezes.

Bottom Line

For more information check out
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/safewater/
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/water.shtm
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/emergwatersuppl.html

Medical Myths

“Fire, water and government know nothing of mercy.”
- unknown

I just started a new lecture series on CD titled, Medical Myths, Lies, and Half Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us. So far I've enjoyed the first disc. Much better than the prior series on the Dead Sea Scrolls which used a lot of words to say very little.

Amusingly the first topic on the Medical Myths was hiccups which I discussed two days ago in this blog. Dr. Novella dismisses all the folk remidies and says medical research only endorses three drugs and direct neural stimulation or blocking for serious cases of hiccups which won't stop.

His second lecture covers hydration - do we really need to drink 8 cups of water a day? No. An old government guideline recommended 64-80 oz of water a day. But 20% of this will come from the food you eat. This leaves 6 1/2 cups which most people will drink normally.

Does coffee and caffinated sodas count as water? Many say no, but the professor says yes. The caffine will cause more peeing but not enough to cancel out all the water in the beverage. So perhaps it can count as 80% of a cup?

Another tidbit. The higher the elevation, the drier the air. At 6000 ft you exhale twice as much moisture as normal. At 10,000 ft, three times as much. This explains why people who fly experience thirst and why dehyration is serious for hikers and climbers in the mountains.

Bottom Line

For more information see my earlier blog:
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-much-water-is-enough.html

Good, Better, Best

"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.
So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.
"This porridge is too cold," she said
So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.
"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up.
- from Goldilocks and the Three Bears

After three days of introspection and the inability of some to accurately "know thyself" let's return to an actual preparedness topic.

SurvivalBlog.com has a post called Preparedness Provisioning (Good, Better, Best), by Bill L.  It captures an idea that I have long struggled with - the ideal list. Everyone wants a list. This month at church we are handing out a list for making your own first aid kit. We thought long and hard over what to include; it should be more than bandaids but less than a "professional" kit. It was not easy creating a list that was "just right."

What the SurvivalBlog posts suggests is that there is not one list that is a perfect fit for everyone.

"When beginning ... it can be overwhelming as to what and how much would be needed to provide for simple survival. ... Without a plan you will be tempted to start gathering an unorganized pile of “stuff” that has value, but does not ensure that you are prepared."

The author breaks planning into three necessities with three phases. The three necessities are food, water and shelter. The three phases are Good, Better, and Best. It does not make sense to buy the world's best food storage system and then have no heat and no water. Instead families should obtain a Good stockpile of all basic necessities. Then move on to Better for all three. And then if so motivated, try to assemble the Best.

The Good level of preparedness used to be called the 72-hr kit but now everyone recommends one week of supplies for local disasters:

FOOD:

• A one week supply of usable non-perishable nutritious food
• A means of cooking without power or natural gas, i.e. propane stove, wood, etc
• A grab and go kit of food in case you have to evacuate

WATER:

• Clean stored water equivalent to 2 gallons/day per person to last one week
• Knowledge of secondary water sources (e.g. your 40 gal water heater)
• Means of water purification (pump, chemical, or UV light)

SHELTER:

• Keep your home warm and lit when the grid is down
• Quality tent and sleeping bag ( as part of your grab and go kit)

If you've at the Good level and want to do Better, check out the full post at http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/01/preparedness_provisioning_good.html

Bottom Line

Next time I'll apply this concept when I create a list. There will be a Good section that everyone should have. Some Better items for those who want to go further, and a Best section for the super dedicated.

Not everyone desires or sees the need for the Best. And some never get started when the goal is set at Better or above. So think of Goldilocks and remember that there are different preferences for what is "just right".

Beverage Secrets

“The materials don't even have the guts to urge kids to drink less soda pop, or eat less candy.” - Michael Jacobson on the new Food Pyramid for Kids

Did you know that the average American drinks 1/5th his daily calories? Many of us drink more than 400 calories every single day, 21% of the daily recommended limit, which is twice as much as we drank 30 years ago. What changed? Women's Health magazine has the answers in 12 Secrets the Beverage Industry Doesn't Want You to Know.

1. How bad can a milk shake be? The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake at Baskin-Robbins requires 50 ingredients and packs 1,690 calories and 46 grams of saturated fat. That's just about an entire day's limit in one drink. Shakes at the ice cream parlors of yore used just 5 ingredients and had fewer calories.

2. Everyone knows ice cream is caloric so I'll consume a healthy fruit drink instead. But the article claims that many of Ocean Spray's drinks contain as little as 20% real juice with 73-85 of the calories from added sugar to sweeten the cranberries. "That amounts to about as much sugar as two scoops of ice cream stuffed into each 8-ounce cup of juice."

3. When you drink a beverage that is "100 percent juice" know that very little of that juice is cranberry or pomegranate or whatever is pictured on the label. Most of the juice is cheaper apple or grape juice and is not much better for you than sugar water.

4. So I'll drink something 100% natural like milk. There are some reasonable fears over the use of bovine growth hormone that makes cows produce more milk. It adds an insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1, to the milk which may cause cancer and other side effects in humans.

5. OK, how about diet soda? It's calorie free and no hormones. Yet there are theories that diet soda makes you hungrier. The body is revved up with a sugar high but there's no calories to burn so the body demands content with hunger cravings.

6. Is soda natural? 7Up claims it is "all natural" but the natural ingredients are subjected to some serious chemistry and centrifuges to turn corn into corn sugar. "A 20-ounce bottle of 7Up has nearly as much sugar as five Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches."

7. Cocktails are loaded with sugar. Tom Collins, Whiskey sour, Pina colada and other popular mixes contain twice the sugar as regular soda.

8. "Glaceau doesn't want you to know that a bottle of Vitaminwater has more sugar than a Snickers bar."

9. "The bottled water industry doesn't want you to know that its product isn't any better than the water that comes from your tap, which has passed strict state, federal, and local guidelines."

10. Many of the fruit smoothies you buy come spiked with sugar. Order your smoothie "skinny" and save about 100 calories per 20 oz.

11. "The coffee industry doesn't want you to know that the average latte is worse than a double-scoop ice cream cone."

12.  "The beer and soda industries don't want you to know that aluminum cans are lined with a toxic plastic. Bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA, that has been identified as a threat to your health."

Bottom Line

For more information see
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/04/caffeine.html  Caffeine levels in drinks
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2009/04/things-you-pay-too-much-for.html  Cost of drinks

Bottled Water

"Water is the only drink for a wise man."
-Henry David Thoreau

http://www.onlineeducation.net/bottled_water/water_full.jpg

Bottom Line

Should a wise man drink bottled water?

Boston without Water

Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

With abundant water at the turn of a faucet we don't appreciate it until it's gone.

Early yesterday a ten-foot watermain leading to Boston sprung a leak, pouring 8 million gallons of water per hour into the Charles River. Over 2 million people in 38 Boston communities may be without potable water for 2 or 3 days. There is water in the faucets but it must be boiled before consuming. Within 90 minutes local grocery stores were emptied of bottled water.

Bottom Line

One of the unrecognized blessings of living in America is easy and cheap access to clean drinking water. In other countries (Mexico for example) visitors often get sick from drinking local water. Ironically health paranoid Americans who buy "bottled" water are unaware that their own tap water is sometimes purer than the pricey bottled water which is less regulated by health codes.

Become prepared by storing your tap water for emergencies. See

http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/02/bottled-water.html
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2009/06/collecting-rainwater.html
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2009/05/water-storage.html
http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2008/10/storing-water.html

Bottled Water?

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”-Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Hungarian Biochemist, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine)

When creating food storage, the 800-pound gorilla is not the 800 lbs of wheat. That is fairly easy to buy and maintain. The real difficulty is the 800+ pounds of water you’ll need. The bare minimum amount of water for survival is one quart or liter per day. This is clean drinking water and does not include teeth brushing, washing, toilet flushing, etc. Many sites recommend 2 quarts per day per person. FEMA recommends a gallon a day per person – rightly assuming that most of us are not used to strict water rationing.

Assume a family of 4 and FEMA guidelines – so 4 gallons a day for the family. A one week supply, 28 gallons, would weigh 28 * 8.35 lbs = 234 lbs. A water supply for one month is just over 1000 lbs.

How can you store this much water? A friend of ours had a clever idea. Just like the song, “99 bottles of beer on the wall”, the wall of their garage was filled with 2-liter soda bottles that had been emptied, cleaned and filled with water. The plastic in these bottles is extremely durable, unlike gallon milk jugs that start to degrade and leak within a year. Keep the bottle out of direct sunlight and discourage bacteria growth by adding a few drops of bleach; 2-3 drops per liter so 4-6 drops in a soda bottle.

Another obvious solution is buying bottled water. But you’re actually better off saving tap water as described above. Bottled water costs four times as much as gasoline and is just as safe as spinach, hamburger, peanut butter, and other foods “regulated” by the FDA. There has been safely recalls of bottled water in the past. Your local drinking water is frequently tested and heavily regulated by stake and federal regulations.

Bottom Line

Here are some resources for more information on water storage.
http://www.theepicenter.com/tow02236.html
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/safewater/
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/food.asp
http://chemistry.about.com/b/2010/01/27/does-tap-water-go-bad.htm
http://chemistry.about.com/b/2010/01/25/does-bottled-water-go-bad.htm

Sports Drinks

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”
-John Wooden

Are Sports Drinks helpful for children? Perhaps.

According to a story in the New York Times, the University of Connecticut’s Department of Kinesiology examined youth at summer soccer and football camps. They found that the young athletes, aged 9-16, didn’t drink enough water. While the campers thought they were drinking enough, by the end of the camp between 50 and 75 percent of the 128 kids studied were at least “significantly” dehydrated.

In a Canadian laboratory cycling study, kids voluntarily drank 45% more when offered grape-flavored water instead of plain water. When offered a sports drink (6 percent carbohydrates and electrolytes) they downed 91% more than water alone.

Since sports drinks are not cheap, the Times provides this recipe:

Sports drink recipe from “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook”

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 1/2 cups cold water

In a quart pitcher, dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot water. Add the remaining ingredients and the cold water. The drink contains about 50 calories and 110 mg of sodium per 8 ounces, approximately the same as for most sports drinks.

Bottom Line

Sugary water, juice, and sports drinks may encourage more drinking and prevent dehydration but they also pack on calories. Sports drinks are intended only for active individuals who are sweating from sports or exercise. If you’re a couch potato or glued to a computer screen, these drinks will only make you fat.

8 Tools and Gadgets to Prepare Your Home

"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams."

Today’s recommended reading is Popular Mechanics, “8 Tools and Gadgets to Prepare Your Home For Any Disaster”

The tools are:

1. Power Generator
2. Fire Extinguisher
3. First Aid Kit
4. Hand crank radio with NOAA weather alerts
5. Power converter to plug appliances into the car’s cigarette lighter
6. Water bladder
7. Water Filter
8. 4-in-1 Emergency Emergency Wrench

Bottom Line

Since the cost of these items is not cheap, don’t rush out and buy all of them at top dollar right now. Buy one at a time as holiday gifts. Or look for sales.

Water damage

“Seventy-five percent of our planet is water - can you swim?” - unknown

If your house is damaged by water, how you respond and cleanup is determined by whether the water is clean or contaminated. Clean water accidents include rain through a hole in the roof, a water tank leaking, a burst pipe, a burst swimming pool or water bed, etc. Contaminated water is typically floodwater. You have no idea what the floodwater may have mixed with before entering your house – sewage, dead animals, toxic chemicals, and so forth.

For dirty water damage the CDC recommends:

• Keep children and pets out of the affected area until it is cleaned
• Wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles while cleaning
• Clean all hard surfaces (such as flooring, concrete, molding, wood and metal furniture,
  countertops, appliances, sinks, and other plumbing fixtures) with hot water and laundry or dish detergent. Some sites recommend using bleach.
• Discard anything absorbent that got wet and cannot be disinfected (mattresses, carpeting, carpet padding, rugs, upholstered furniture, cosmetics, stuffed animals, baby toys, pillows, foam rubber items, books, wall coverings, drywall, insulation, and paper products).
• Affected clothing can be saved by washing in hot water and detergent.
• Do not eat, drink or smoke while cleaning. Don’t let the germs into your mouth.
• After cleanup, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and CLEAN water.

For clean water damage, here are some housecleaning tips from “Servpro”, a professional Fire & Water – Cleanup and Restoration company.

• Remove excess water by mopping and blotting
• Wipe water from wood
• Remove cushions and pillows for drying
• Place foil or wood between furniture and wet carpet to prevent water seeping up the furniture legs
• Remove oriental and throw rugs to dry. Don’t try to remove a wall-to-wall carpet.
• Move artwork and painting to a dry location
• Don’t leave wet fabric in place. Dry them as soon as possible.
• Don’t leave books, newspapers, or magazines on wet floors. The ink may run and stain the floor.
• Don’t use a regular vacuum to remove water. You need a special wet-vac.
• Have wet appliances checked for safety. Don’t turn one on while standing on a wet carpet! Shock!
• Don’t work in a room if the ceiling is sagging from water. It may fall at any time.

Bottom Line

Save what you can but be prepared to toss a lot of stuff. In college I had to toss most of my vinyl record collect when my basement apartment was flooded by an inch of water. I might have saved the records if I had acted quickly but by the time I got to them, there was mold all over the jackets and on the albums.

Healthy Swimming Pools

“If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do all the rest have to drown too?”~Steven Wright

One of the joys of summer is swimming in the town pool. But after reading the CDC site on Healthy Pools I’m not sure I want to go into the water. “Be afraid, be very afraid.”

The past two decades have seen a rise in Recreational Water Illness (RWI). RWIs are illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water in pools or lakes. The cause may be germs, bacteria or viruses and the most frequent symptom is diarrhea.

Diarrhea is also the most likely cause of RWI. If someone has “an accident” in the pool, millions of germs are released. Chlorine (assuming the proper level has been maintained) will kill most germs in under 30 minutes but some, like Crypto, can survive for days in pool water. Another source of germs is dirty bottoms – how many people wash their butt when taking the mandatory pre-pool shower? Yet another source is dirty diapers from infants in the pool or diapers changed at poolside and the germs carried into the water on someone’s feet.

Here are the CDC’s recommendations to prevent RWIs:

• Don’t swim if you have diarrhea (especially children & infants)
• Takes kids to the bathroom frequently. Change diapers in the bathroom.
• Don’t swallow pool water
• Wash your child’s behind in the shower and practice good hygiene.

Bottom Line

How can you tell if a pool is clean and safe? Here are some signs of pool cleanliness:

• Sight: Clean water is clear and blue. You should be able to see the drain and painted stripes at the bottom of the pool. Dirty water is cloudy.
• Touch: Tiles should not feel sticky or slimy or slippery. The water should not stick to your fingers.
• Smell: If you detect a strong “chlorine” smell then the pool is full of chloramines and the actual chlorine level may be low (i.e. used up). The smelly chloramines are created when chlorine combines with body oil, urine, sweat and other contaminants brought in by swimmers. This indicates that the water is not circulating quickly enough for the volume of swimmers in the pool.
• Sound: Ask your pool operator how often the chlorine and pH levels are checked.

Collecting Rainwater

“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.” - William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

A rain barrel or two may seem like the perfect solution for watering the garden without waste or adding to your water bill. But before you build your rainwater harvesting system, you should make sure that it’s legal to do so. “There are three states that say the water that falls from the sky belongs to them, not to just anyone.”
See [ExpertSure.com] and [Popular Mechanics] In Utah any diversion and retention of rainwater requires a “water rights” permit. “You don’t have a right to divert and use the waters in streams, springs, groundwater or any other source [i.e. rain] just because they are on your land, like they do back east. In Utah, a water right (right to use the waters of the public) is obtained by application to, and approval of the application by the State Engineer.” [Utah.gov]


Rain barrels are illegal in Colorado. “Colorado Water Law requires that precipitation fall to the ground, run off and into the river of the watershed where it fell. Because rights to water are legally allocated in this state, an individual may not capture and use water to which he/she does not have a right.” [Colorado Water Law] In addition, “Denver water customers are not permitted to take their bath or laundry water (commonly referred to as gray water) and dump it on their outdoor plants or garden.” [Colorado State Board of Health Guidelines]


Rain collecting is illegal in Washington state BUT legal in the city of Seattle. “The City of Seattle, … obtained a citywide water-right permit to ensure the legality of water harvesting efforts.” [epa.gov]
In contrast, rain collecting will be REQUIRED in Tucson, Arizona. Beginning June 1, 2010,
50% of a commercial property’s irrigation water for landscaping must be supplied from rainwater harvesting.


We use a lot of water on our yards and gardens. Even Americans, who live in the middle of deserts, want green lawns! I recall flying into Dallas, Texas and noticing the color change from the pale yellow of desert scrub brush to suburb bright green grass. Arizona was once the destination of choice for asthma and allergy suffers for its dry, pollen free air. But now the vast expanse of residential pools, lawns and gardens has increased the humidity and the pollen count of major cities.


Bottom Line
If you don’t live in Utah, Colorado, or Washington (outside of Seattle) then collecting rainwater can save you money and help conserve water resources. According to the EPA, “The U.S. uses more water per capita than any other country.”
The easiest collection system is putting a rain barrel beneath your rain gutter downspout. See 3 Cheap DIY Rain Barrels That Actually Look Nice!
Or How to Build a Rainwater Collection System
Or Poor Man’s Guide to Rain Barrels
We tried this at home but encountered some problems:

1. If not tightly sealed, mosquitoes and other bugs will breed in the water
2. If not drained for the winter, the water may freeze, expand and burst the container.
3. You need a plan for using the water or it just sits until #1 or #2 above occurs

Post Script
If you travel to NYC you may notice water tanks on the tops of many buildings. This is not rainwater collecting. Since the 1800s, to prevent loss of water pressure for fighting building fires, New York City has required that all buildings higher than 6 stories [now 80 feet] be equipped with a rooftop water tower. See New York Rooftop Water Tanks for photos and a history.

Water Storage

“Water is the only drink for a wise man.” - Henry David Thoreau

As discussed in the blog Insufficient Water Storage, water is often the Achille's heel in any preparedness plan. A person needs a gallon a day to drink plus extra water for washing clothes, dishes, teeth, body, etc. If your food storage consists of dehydrated foods, then you'll need water to rehydrate the foods. A gallon is about two 2-liter soda bottles. For a family of 4 you'll need 24 "soda" bottles of drinking water for a 72-hour "kit" push optional water for washing. That's a bit much to carry in back packs.

In our kits we pack iodine and water filters to purify any water we might find. We also have fire making supplies (matches, flint/steel) and a metal cup to boil water. We carry perhaps a liter a person and hope to find the rest.

As the blog Insufficient Water Storage points out, you can use some clever tricks to store water at home. For example the liquid in canned food counts as drinking water and can be used for cooking. Canned soups (no extra liquid required) are useful. And why not stock up on actual sodas, juice drinks and other beverages that you like to drink.

Bottom Line

Plan ahead to have adequate water. Stock what you can and purify the rest.

Espionage & Passwords

“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody” - Mark Twain

Here is an unsettling story published in the Wall Street Journal, Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies.

Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and
former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

As a computer programmer I understand that hackers would try to break into our infrastructure systems. But what concerns me is that they succeeded and could leave behind sleeping programs waiting for activation. “Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said.”

The WSJ reports, “Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.” I cannot for the life of me understand why a nuclear power plant should be accessible via the Internet. Perhaps workers want to push buttons from far away in case the plant starts to meltdown? I’ve worked at several companies with restricted Internet access. At one, there was no access, period. At two others they used VPN (Virtual Private Networks) to restrict access. VPN uses a token that displays a new “random” number every minute. To login I need my password and the current number on the token registered to me.

Sadly in many secure systems the weakest link is the human element. At one of my internships, the top executives (with the most data access) hated to memorize long passwords and asked for an exception so they could use two letter passwords. One hacker trick I’ve read about includes getting inside a company and then sitting down at computers where workers have left for lunch but left the PC logged on and connected to the company network. (Screen savers with passwords help protect against this). Another clever hacker passed out a survey to workers asking for names of pets, children, spouse, etc. He then checked to see if any worker had used a family name as their password; very common unfortunately. (A solution to this is requiring numbers and or special symbols in the password.)

Now it would be nice to think espionage would never happened but the WSJ describes two recent cases outside the US:

• In 2000, a disgruntled employee rigged a computerized control system at a water-treatment plant in Australia, releasing more than 200,000 gallons of sewage into parks and rivers.
• Last year the CIA told utility company representatives that a cyberattack had taken out power equipment in multiple regions outside the U.S. The outage was followed with extortion demands.

Bottom LineTwo points I’d like to emphasize here.
1. Water or electricity could fail at a moments notice with a hostile attack. Do you have backup water and a power generator or means to cook/light without electricity? ABC News did a follow-up story called What if Russia or China Cut Off Your Electricity? It goes through a typical day showing how pervasive electricity is...

• Your alarm clock
• Your laptop (when the batter dies) & wireless router
• Your landline phone perhaps work but not VOIP
• Your hot water heater (if not gas)
• Your gas oven (most have an electric starter instead of a pilot light)
• Traffic lights
• Gas station pumps
• Frozen/refrigerated food at the grocery store
• Cash Registers, Credit Cards

2. Always use a strong password. Studies have shown that longer is better. Password hackers are well aware of L33T, the trick of substituting letters with symbols like 9ary or G@ry for Gary. So don’t think you are safe with a short but clever password. One easy password method is to use the letters from a favorite hymn, bible verse, poem, etc. For example “tbontbtitq” for “To be or not to be, that is the question” (but please choose something less obvious). You can strengthen this by creating a personal pattern where you always capitalize the same letters (say 2nd and 3rd) “tBOntbtitq”

A Solar Powered Water Purifier

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.” - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Hungarian Nobel winning Biochemist)

There is something new in the realm of water purification. A Swedish company called Solvatten is trying to market a solar powered device that uses solar heat, UV rays and a filter to create safe drinking water. It looks like a suitcase that opens up to expose solar panels. Water is poured into both side of the suitcase through a “dirty” black cap and 3-5 hours later “clean” water is poured out of the white cap. It works with sun or clouds but not with rain. There is also an indicator inside the device that informs you when the water becomes “safe”.

Bottom Line

I know only what I’ve read online about this device but the inventors appear to have a great idea. Solvatten pitches this as a “green” device that will save wood that might have been used to heat up water for purification. The device is supposed to last 5 years and the filter can be replaced with cloth fabric like a sari. If true, this makes the device practical for isolated areas of the world. (imagine trying to ordering a replacement filter and have it shipped to a desert region of Africa). More details can be found on their FAQ page.

Storing Water

"It’s water that creates the biggest problem. We cannot live without it. [But] water weighs over eight pounds a gallon!" - the Arnass blog

The most difficult item to store for emergency preparedness is water because it is so darn heavy. The preparedness rule of thumb for clean water is one gallon per person per day for drinking and cooking. On top of that you'll need a second gallon of water (not necessarily clean) for flushing toilets and bathing. For a family of five with a pet that means 88 pounds of water per day, 264 pounds (33 gallons) for 3-days/72 hours.
Where do you keep all this water? There are several options:
1. Store it dispersed: in new/unopened water bottles that you buy on sale when the price is low, in cleaned soda bottle, in small camping containers that are 3-5 gallons in size. Do not reuse milk/cider gallon jugs. There are often biodegradable and will leak over time. We tried this and yes, they did leak. Soda Pop bottles use a heavier plastic.
2. Store it large: you can buy 55-gallon food-grade barrels but once filled don't plan on moving it! It will weigh over 400 pounds so find a strong floor space. You may also need a special wrench to open the container and a syphon to empty it.
3 Store it outside: for gray (dirty) water consider your swimming pool or large trash barrels. This only for external use, not for drinking! A plastic trash barrel worked well for us but split and broke in the winter when the water froze and the ice expanded.

Bottom Line
Clean water in a sterile container kept in a dark location will be safe for six months. Beyond that the risk of bacteria growth increases. If your stored water is old, boil it first, or filter it or use iodine. If your old water tastes flat, pour it between two clean buckets to put air back into the water.

Flood water contamination

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. - Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Contrary to Mark Twain's clever quote, water, even a little, can be quite dangerous. Flood water, be it from storm surges or overflowing rivers, is always assumed to be contaminated. There may be raw sewage, toxic soil, dead animals, and other undesirable extras that were picked up by the flood.

When cleaning up after a flood it's important to keep in mind that even after the water has gone and items have dried out, the germs and toxins carried by the flood water still remain. Food items that came in contact with water should be disposed of. The exception is commercially sealed cans which are undented, free of rust, etc.

To disinfect undamaged cans, remove paper labels (paper can harbor bacteria) and
re-label with a permanent marker. Wash the containers in warm, soapy water and use a brush to scrub surfaces. Rinse well in clean water. Immerse the clean, rinsed containers in a household bleach solution (two tablespoons bleach per one gallon of water) for 15 minutes. Air-dry cans before opening or storing. Use foods from disinfected containers as soon as possible because cans may rust. Commercially canned foods can also be boiled for 10 minutes as a disinfection treatment, but avoid this treatment for carbonated beverage cans. - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Bottom Line
Treat flood water as filth and assume everything it touches is contaminated. You have just two choices for items that were soaked by flood water: disinfect or dispose.

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.