SOO because my church rocks...we are doing a preparedness exercise this weekend. We weren't told when or what it would be like before hand... then we got the email...We are pretending that all water is contaminated with a bacteria so you can use it but not drink it and then also the water will be off for most of today as the water company tries to fix the contamination. I like to participate in these drills because I believe that if I do, I'll have extra help from on high if/when an actual emergency happens. I am sooo thankful to have a dad that knows everything about water purification because he sells reverse osmosis systems for a living.
Me: Dad, the water has mock bacteria in it. What do I do?
Dad: Well the RO I installed at your house has a micron filter and 3 other filters...it's very safe to drink, I'd drink it, but if you are worried just boil it.
Me: What about the 2 liter pop bottles that have water from 2005, can I drink them?
Dad: Did you put a drop of chlorine in them when you put the lid on?
Me:Yes
Dad: again your safe... If there is anything wrong you'd see it cloudy or it would taste very wrong.
Me: What about water being turned off?
Dad: Make sure you fill up a bucket or two now to dump into the top of the toilet so it can still be used during the day.
Me: Thanks Dad!
It helps that he was once the stake preparedness specialist and is now the ward preparedness dude.
So I just happened to have 2 apple juice bottles that I was going to recycle. 
I decided that in an emergency I know I'd boil the RO water just because with all these kids I would never take ANY chances with bacteria infested water. So I got out my huge pot I got a while back from my friend Jacqui and went to work.
I decided that in an emergency I know I'd boil the RO water just because with all these kids I would never take ANY chances with bacteria infested water. So I got out my huge pot I got a while back from my friend Jacqui and went to work.Accidental blessings:
We thankfully I had just bought 5 one liter canned ready to drink baby formula. She drinks them up in 24 hours but can be stored up to 72 hours in the fridge. I had five of these $5 off coupons making them 80 cents a piece!!! So there are no worries for Melody! 
We also had water bottles on hand because it's soccer season. So far this exercise has been kinda easy... but we'll see when tonight comes and we want a shower!! Yikes! We might be kinda smelly at church! j/k Water comes back tonight at 7pm Yea!
We also had water bottles on hand because it's soccer season. So far this exercise has been kinda easy... but we'll see when tonight comes and we want a shower!! Yikes! We might be kinda smelly at church! j/k Water comes back tonight at 7pm Yea! So here's some thoughts I had while doing this:
1. What about our animals!?
I almost forgot about having enough water for them! 4 chickens, 1 duck & 1 small dog need water too!
2. What about containment?
You really can't bathe or take a shower because if that gets in your eyes or up your nose that's the same as drinking it! I mean, one person leaving the bathroom door open for Kaden or the dog to touch the toilet water would be very dangerous! So we need to be vigilant!
3. Acting quickly!! The second you learn of a contamination use the shutoff valves for everything! All the water in your hot water heater or stored in your RO tank or frozen as ice in your ice maker should all still be good. And NEVER use contaminated water in your garden!!
4. Thinking a head!
Having 14 dusty 2 liter bottles of water from 2005 is better than nothing!! No water is NOT an option!
If you think about getting a big bucket filled for using the potty that's great but store it somewhere away so your kids don't fall in it or touch it! Save all your liquid detergent containers.
If you thoroughly wash them out that you can safely store water to wash hands and what not with. A drop of chlorine makes them safe. (but don't use them to drink from... only plastic rated PETE bottles can store water to drink.) 
I have 4 stored from 2 years ago....still good. I take them camping...great because they have a push spigot. I know you can still use bacteria water but I'd rather wash my body and clothes with clean water... kids do suck on their shirts or weird stuff you can't yet think of... Better safe than sorry when it comes to contamination! Also, don't ever throw away a water bottle when you can fill it 1/4 way up with water and put it in the freezer to store. Just pull it out and fill up the rest with regular water for an instant cold drink for the kids when your running out the door. We do that all the time.
If you thoroughly wash them out that you can safely store water to wash hands and what not with. A drop of chlorine makes them safe. (but don't use them to drink from... only plastic rated PETE bottles can store water to drink.) I have 4 stored from 2 years ago....still good. I take them camping...great because they have a push spigot. I know you can still use bacteria water but I'd rather wash my body and clothes with clean water... kids do suck on their shirts or weird stuff you can't yet think of... Better safe than sorry when it comes to contamination! Also, don't ever throw away a water bottle when you can fill it 1/4 way up with water and put it in the freezer to store. Just pull it out and fill up the rest with regular water for an instant cold drink for the kids when your running out the door. We do that all the time.Ps.
Boiling water would take less time and energy if I only had a pressure cooker...*sigh*!
I hope everyone in our ward was able to do this exercise! If a mom of 5 who is dealing with a newborn, home showings, animals, soccer games, a family reunion and sick kids can do it... you can too!
5 comments:
that was cool!
cool! but in our family (not me, but the other boys) as long as you have some diet coke you can survive ANYTHING!
O.K. question???? Are you sure about that last part using the pressure cooker? Cause I thought that if you were to boil water... it has to be an open kettle? Would you please get back to me on this Roseanne.... thanks...
DJCogdill@msn.com
Oh.... by the way... that was a great post!
Hi there,
About your question. I'm not sure how much you know or don't know so I thought I'd just write a whole ton of stuff and I'll hope that you don't think I'm being condesending or anything as I can use your question to help other readers. :)
So as you probably know "boiling" can happen at any temp. Water in space would boil at a near freezing temp and wouldn't kill so much as a fish. Once water reaches it's "Boil" the temperature can no longer be increased. On earth we are under 14 lbs of pressure and to boil at my elevation the temp of my water needs to be around 208 which is an ok temp to kill off microorganisms under a ten min. rolling boil. BUT a pressure cooker can add an additional 14 lbs of pressure to the already 14 we are under creating a much higher temp for a boil probably somewhere close to 250 degrees. Nothing is as important to killing microorganisms like heat. (So basically pressure and heat are relatively synonimous terms so going to a higher pressure means higher heat.) Because Pressure cookers can reach higher boil temp they shorten the the need for the standard 10 min. boil, thus useing less energy. You take them all the way up and then turn off the stove.
SO now we get to your question:
An open kettle is good if you were cooking to collect clean water out of something like swamp water, salt water, seaweed or even grass but you'd want it still to be covered with a plastic catch to catch the clean steam. HOWEVER water contaminated with something like let's say gasolene which has a higher vapor pressure should most definetely be in an open kettle so as to release that vapor first. But if the contaminate had a lower vapor pressure ...yikes! So if your water has more than a few microorganisms, say like the water in the streets after Katrina... it's safer to not use it at all. (Unless we talk filtration but that's a whole other ball of wax). Water baked out of grass and leafs would be WAY safer.
In the grand scheme of things a glorified pressure cooker is what is used to "Auto clave" surgical instaments and is simply a much better way to clean water that is contaminated with bacteria.
Additionally having an open kettle is less desirable because you loose precious water through steam vapor as well.
So anyhow, Let me know if I over looked anything. Maybe you were thinking about how much longer you have to wait for it to cool down before you can drink it! :)
Water purification is definetly something My dad made sure we understood. I mostly called him to double check or think of something maybe I couldn't.
Hope this is helpful!
Thanks,
~Roseanne S.
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