Pissing in Drinking Water

Disgusting thought, isn't it? Yet we do it every single day!

Municipalities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide safe drinking water to our homes, and what do we do? We urinate and defecate in it, via the porcelain throne. Then, of course, that once-safe drinking water is now "contaminated" and hundreds of thousands more dollars are spent to get rid of it, either by municipal sewage systems or a gazillion home septic systems.

Consider this: the urine and solid matters we eliminate are made up of nutrients including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus that either our bodies haven't used, or that are by-products of our digestive systems. Those liquids and solids contain lots of nutrients, just like the animal manure we put in compost piles. Our urine, in fact, is actually sterile. "Urine can contain up to 90 percent of the N (nitrogen), up to 50 percent of the P (phosphorus) and up to 70 percent of the K (potassium) present in human excreta." (Source)

While we throw away all the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium we have added to our drinking water, we also go out and buy manufactured nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, aka fertilizer, in bags to put on our gardens to grow green plants. HUH?? 

"This waste is particularly worrisome now because the cheaper sources of commercial fertilizer for farming are declining. Competing uses for natural gas, our biggest source of nitrogen fertilizer, is driving up prices. Potash deposits in Canada, our handiest source, are declining, and talk of opening up new mines in the rainforest does not sit well with the environmental community. Some specialized phosphorus fertilizers are very expensive. The day is coming when we must start thinking about scrupulously saving our wastes for fertilizer as humans have done, especially in Asia, for centuries." ~Gene Logsdon

So why do we use our very expensive drinking water as a vehicle to throw away those nutrients?

Simple answer: fear and ignorance... plus a healthy dose of "comfort zone" boundaries coupled with inertia.

When the liquid and/or dry ingredients are collected from home in a safe manner, it can be odorless, cheap and sustainable, both for us and the planet we inhabit. (Please do not confuse the toxic material from public waste treatment plants as acceptable or the same thing. Those waste systems contain many materials dumped in the system like drugs, paints, solvents, cleaning agents, oils, and who knows what else, in addition to human excrement.)

Human waste material can be collected in a fancy composting toilet like the one pictured above made by environlet™ (where the works are hidden), or even in a simple but adequate bucket with a lid. The liquid components can be collected separately or together in the bucket.

"Bucket and Lid" dry matter system (radiator optional!) photo from Sustainable Sanitation

In the bucket method, if waste is covered immediately with a carbon material like sawdust, coconut coir or peat moss, it will have no odor even if it remains in the bathroom until the container is full enough to empty. When enough is collected, it can be put in a dark-colored plastic 55 gallon barrel and allowed to compost in the sun for 9 months to a year, or it can be put in a well-managed garden compost pile... and either way, when it is fully composted is just like the stuff from our regular garden compost piles... FREE, and sustainable!

Liquid waste material, aka urine, can be collected separately and used immediately as fertilizer in the garden, BUT it needs to be diluted about 1:10 with WATER so it doesn't burn plants. It doesn't have to be diluted with the expensive drinking water we buy either (whether from the city, our own electric-powered well pumps, or in bottles from a store). It can be collected rain water, or water from a creek or even a puddle. You just don't want to burn the plants.

Applying Diluted Urine, Phillipines; photo by Sustainable Sanitation

Large-scale Urine Application in Sweden. photo by Sustainable Sanitation

I have read a little about humanure for many years, and always dismissed the concept, but thinking it would fit in a rustic, off-grid situation. I never really looked at the realities of the nutrients we throw away, only to buy the same soil nutrients from a garden store. Nor did I consider the implications of trashing those nutrients in perfectly good drinking water!

However, now that I AM aware, it will boil down to a matter of how far I'm willing exceed my comfort zone to be a better steward and increase my efforts at sustainability.

Realistically, I can't add a composting toilet to my bathroom (space-wise) unless I removed the existing toilet, but that could be a project for next summer when the temps are warmer and I can put up a temporary outdoor "bucket" facility. Another restraining factor is that I co-own this house with my half-sister and she'll balk at the thought, even though she has her own private bathroom.

I just might install a composting toilet to my private bathroom in spring or summer anyway if I can afford it (in spite of any objections my sis may have) because a new porcelain throne could be re-installed later for any potential resale of the property, and the nutrient benefits I would gain are worth it!


I could, however, begin now to collect my urine, and add it diluted for nutrients my garden soil every day... even now during winter since our ground seldom freezes solid for more than a few days. As a matter of fact, I did collect urine for most of 1 day, and added it diluted to a cold compost pile the day after Christmas. Not sure I want to do that every day until I can get a good system.

(I should mention I have not read the books listed below, so I'm not sure of safety measures or procedures of collecting urine inside and keeping it for more than a day.)

Given the increasing shortage and cost of fertilizers, and the expense of clean, potable water almost everywhere, does it make sense to keep pissing in our drinking water?

Notes:
There are some problems in making these nutrients safe when they are just mixed together and dumped in a pit, as was typical in the smelly and probably toxic outhouses of generations past. The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins recommends collecting dry and liquid matter together in a carbon matrix, and adding them to a garden compost bin weekly using some safe guidelines. He also has a website for more information and photos.

Gene Logsdon, a contrary farmer whom I admire, has just written Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind, and it's on my WishList.

Mr. Logsdon has this to say just about the impact of just pet waste products:

What are we throwing away in money? In Holy Shit I use my own way to come up with a figure. Experts say that ten tons of animal manure and bedding per year can adequately fertilize an acre of farmland. Therefore we have enough pet manure in this country to fertilize something like 20 million acres every year. If a farmer is paying out $100 an acre for commercial fertilizer (right now it’s lower than that, last year higher) we’re talking about a value for pet manure of something like two billion bucks.

And the cost of throwing it away in the landfill or sewage treatment system is a whole lot more.

ps...
The conceptual image of "pissing in drinking water" is not an original thought of mine; it came from Nick Ritar in a TEDx talk.

The Thyroid and City Water

Photo from WaterWatch USA

For some of you who have been following this blog a long time, you may remember I have a hypothyroid condition. Last year with a change in diet, I managed to get off the meds, but I have backslid on that diet for months now, with a noticeable drop in energy.

I wrote about the importance of iodine and the thyroid in several posts on this blog recently regarding radiation fallout, and possible contaminated vegetables. I just recently came across something that really made sense to me about iodine, city water and my own thyroid.

"Iodine is an essential trace mineral the body depends on for production of thyroid hormones and normal metabolism of cells. According to Oregon State University, iodine deficiency is a significant problem worldwide. The iodine content of foods produced in the ground depends heavily upon the iodine content of the soil it developed in." (Source)

Photo Source

It turns out iodine is part of the Halogen group, along with fluorine, bromine and chlorine. (I did not take chemistry in school, which I now regret.)  Each chemical has a known atomic weight, listed here:

Fluorine 9

Chlorine 17

Bromine 35

Iodine 53

Now here's the catch: 

"The critical activity of any one of these four halogens is in inverse proportion to its atomic weight. This means that any one of the four can displace the element with a higher atomic weight, but cannot displace an element with a lower atomic weight. For example, fluorine can displace chlorine, bromine and iodine because fluorine has a lower atomic weight than the other three. Similarly, chlorine can displace bromine and iodine because they both have a higher atomic weight. Likewise, bromine can displace iodine from the body because iodine has a higher atomic weight. But a reverse order is not possible. 

A knowledge of this well-known chemical law brings us to a consideration of the addition of chlorine to our drinking water as a purifying agent. We secure a drinking water that is harmful to the body not because of its harmful germ content, but because the chlorine content now causes the body to lose the much-needed iodine." (Source)

While my first source (quoted above) was an old-time Vermont country medical doctor who sometimes urged a few home remedies in favor of more expensive prescription medicines, I did some double-checking and found a lot of full corroboration from online medical sites about the thyroid, and also found many sites verifying the action of the atomic weights of the Halogen group that contains chlorine, fluoride and iodine regarding replacement of one for another.

What it all really means to me is that no matter the condition of my thyroid, nor how much iodine I consume in iodine-rich foods like seafood, dairy products from grass-fed cows, kelp, other seaweeds or even iodized salt (which the government instituted years ago to counteract the lack of iodine in our foods), or taking iodine tablets as protection against nuclear fallout, it is all for nothing if I drink chlorine-containing city water. Chlorine blocks the iodine receptors in the body... and besides, chlorine is not healthy anyway! (The same blocking of iodine holds true for fluoride added to toothpaste and mouthwash.)

"The addition of chlorine to our water began in the late 1800's and by 1904 was the standard in water treatment and for the most part remains that way today.

Chlorine is not used because its the safest or even the most effective means of treatment, its used because it is the cheapest means of treatment. In spite of all our technological advances over the 100 years we still essentially pour bleach into our water before we drink it. The long term effects of chlorinated drinking water have just recently been documented. It is not uncommon to find more chlorine in tap water than is recommended safe for a swimming pool." (Source)

It poses a problem for me because I have sworn off bottled water (for the most part) due to the enormous strain of millions of bottles on our landfills. I was buying Aquafina, which is processed by reverse osmosis, which filters out most things including chlorine. What kind of water do you drink, even if you don't have a thyroid problem?
 

Radiation and Drinking Water

Photo from Topato's Photostream

The disturbing situation of airborne radiation particles and radiation-contaminated water in Japan sure puts a different light on drinking water now. Unfortunately for me (and for perhaps many of us) radiation is both a foreign and complex subject and searches on the internet didn't turn up direct answers to my questions. What I did find in a roundabout way is that there is information available for removing dissolved mineral radioactivity in drinking water, primarily because here in the US there are many areas with hazardous levels of radionuclides in our drinking water.

When some 'authority' figure says any radiation hazard coming from Japan is very low, what kind of radiation are they talking about? There are alpha particle/emitters, beta particle/emitters, gamma rays, neutrons... and are they talking about ionizing radiation or non-ionizing radiation?

I have been slightly biased against nuclear power plants for many years, but after researching nuclear technology for an intensive week or more, I am now standing firmly against nuclear power plants. This is not a knee-jerk, panic reaction, but an educated response (and a hard slap to my own head because of all those years I never made the time to really learn about nuclear technology.)

Sure, "They" say nuclear power may help solve the US dilemma of our voracious power consumption, and that it IS safe, but that's not the answer. How many of those people in Japan even within 50 miles of the Fukushima Reactors do you think would gladly give back most if not all their electrical consumption over the last 40 years if it would erase the nightmare?

In order to understand nuclear technology and its impact on human health, I suggest you read Nuclear Radiation and its Biological Effects because I cannot begin to explain it. I do know the atomic structure of fission fragments produced in nuclear reactors is unstable... which means no more predictable than a crazed crack addict. 

Please note what I've posted below does not constitute professional water filtration advice, nor health/medical advice, and does NOT cover all forms of radiation dangers. It is simply some of what I have gleaned from the literature, and because I don't think the authorities are telling us everything. (I'm not either, but only because I don't know.) It's very confusing and by no means do I understand it all. For one thing, not all radioactive particles are the same, and not all radioactive particles have the same degree of safety or hazards.

Drinking Water:
I've had a survival plan of one sort or another for many years, mostly due to living in hurricane-prone areas, and/or Tornado Alley. Potable water (i.e. safe to drink) has always been in the forefront of my preparations, and I've made several posts on this blog about potable water. You can find them under the label "potable water".

What hasn't been in my plan for potable water is addressing radionuclides, so now that's been my research project, and here (below some technical data) is a bit of what I've found so far, and some suggestions I plan to follow. I am not suggesting you follow them, just do your own research. 

The radioactive Iodine-131 found in the drinking water in Tokyo is a radionuclide produced when atoms of uranium in nuclear reactors (or nuclear weapons) divide into 2 parts. Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days, and I-131 emits gamma rays, similar to x-rays which cause ionization. Examples of ionizing particles are alpha particles, beta particles, neutrons, and cosmic rays.

Gamma rays can be detected by whole-body counters which measure a body's internal exposure whereas dosimeters measure a body's external exposure. Spent fuel rods contain gamma radiation emitters. The spent nuclear fuel rods and liquid reprocessing waste are called `high level radioactive waste'. It must be kept secure for hundreds of thousands of years -- essentially forever. Lower level waste may be equally long-lived, but it is less concentrated.

Half-life is the physical time required for half of a quantity of a radioactive material to undergo a nuclear transformation ("Division"). The chemical resulting from the transformation may be either radioactive or non-radioactive. We should not confuse physical half-life of the chemical with biological half-life which is the time required to eliminate half of the material from the body through exhalation, urine or feces.

Probably the three most worrisome radioactive materials from a health perspective are iodine-131, cesium-137 and strontium-90. I-131 affects the thyroid; cesium-137 affects the whole body (it is chemically similar to potassium) and strontium-90 affects bone (it's chemically similar to calcium).

Although stable cesium and strontium are harmless, radioactive isotopes released by nuclear fission can cause cancer. Cesium-137 and strontium-90 both have half-lives of almost thirty years, but cesium-137 is normally excreted from the body within two years while strontium-90 can be incorporated in our bones for a lifetime.

Radionuclides are often referred to by chemists and physicists, as radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes, and they can also present both real and perceived dangers to health.
Radioactivity is a health risk because the energy emitted by radioactive materials can damage or kill cells. Exposure to radionuclides from drinking water results in increased risk of cancer.  

Alpha radiation is a type of particle emitted through the decay of certain radioactive substances, such as uranium. The level of risk depends on the level of ingested uranium concentration. Alpha particles released by uranium cannot penetrate the skin, so uranium that is outside the body is less harmful than that which is inhaled. David Ozonoff, an environmental health professor and Chair Emeritus of the Boston University School of Public Health called alpha particles the "800-pound gorilla of radioactive particles.

Beta particles can cause serious burns or worse, such as the 3 men in one of the Japanese nuclear plants experienced when contaminated water got in their boots.

Okay, back to drinking water...
There is naturally occurring radioactivity in some of our water, depending on where we live. It occurs irregularly throughout the bedrock, much like other minerals such as iron, arsenic and quartz. A few examples with health importance include the alpha particles in radon, radium 226, and uranium; radium 228 is a beta particle. (Radon is a gas dissolved in water; most other radionuclides are dissolved minerals in water.) Ozonoff says drinking water with any amount of alpha particles, even when consumed in amounts below federal legal limits, raises your risk to develop health problems or in rare cases, cancer. Examples of alpha particles found in water are those from uranium, radium and other minerals.
   

So, what can we do to hopefully assure safe drinking water in the event of either nuclear contamination or higher than normal levels of naturally-occurring radioactivity?

(Source of the water treatment technical data below.)

Obviously one option is buying bottled drinking water (if you can trust your life to it), but that can get very expensive very fast.

In my opinion from all I have read, my own best (and possibly imperfect) option is actually a choice of 2 versions of the same basic thing: a reverse osmosis system. One version is a whole-house unit capable of processing 300-400 gallons a day, enough for a family of 4 for daily activities including showers and laundry as well as drinking water. My personal option would be a P.O.U. (Point of Use) version which would treat 2-5 gallons a day, enough for drinking water.

By the way, the only bottled water I ever buy to drink is Aquafina, which is bottled through a reverse osmosis treatment. I've been buying it for several years, although now I try to avoid adding plastic bottles to our landfills.

Reverse osmosis (RO) treatment addresses all uranium, radium and gross alpha contaminants. In this treatment process, water under pressure is placed against a special membrane. The RO membrane allows water molecules to pass through, but retards the passage of other contaminants, including radionuclides. The rejected contaminants and the water that does not go through the membrane are "wasted" from this device to prevent the overall buildup of the contaminant(s) on the untreated side of the membrane. Typical installation cost of RO is approximately $900-$1,100. The benefits of RO treatment are that it will take out all dissolve mineral radionuclides, whether positive or negative valance, and any other unrecognized contaminants. In addition, there is no concern about the contaminants accumulating within the treatment device. (Note to self: Where do the contaminants go if they don't accumulate in the device??)

Another option is Treatment Equipment for Ion Exchange, which is basically a water softening unit that removes targeted contaminants by exchanging them for other non-hazardous contaminants, typically salt. The contaminants accumulate in the medium, see notice below about disposal. 

It is important to read the fine print on any filtration system to see exactly what they actually filter out. (That also means I need to check the filters stored in my emergency kit and see if they filter radionuclides.)

Radionuclides can also be removed by cartridge size cation and anion exchange medias and certain adsorptive medias. Cation exchange (+) will address all radium contaminants and that portion of the gross alpha which has a positive valance. Anion exchange (-) addresses uranium and the remaining factors contributing to gross alpha. These radionuclides accumulate on the ion exchange cartridge until the cartridge removal capability is equaled; thereafter all contaminants could get through. Most modern devices have a water meter to alert the user when the treatment capability is used up. Initial cost should be lower than RO, but operating cost should be reviewed.

Notice: The spent regeneration solution and concentrated radionuclides are typically discharged to the home's septic system or a separate dry well. Proper disposal of the concentrated radioactivity is an important aspect of any treatment process and should be discussed with the authorities in your area.

Source of the water treatment technical data above. Source for the general radiation information (if not linked) came from here where they reprinted it with permission from No Immediate Danger, Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth by Dr. Rosalie Bertell. I strongly advise anyone to read the radiation link just above; it covers some important things we should read about nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

Links to my other posts regarding this disaster:
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop...
Disaster Preparedness in the wake of Tsunamis
Holistic Radiation Protection Tips
Radiation Dose Chart
Similar Fukushima Reactors in the US
Letter from Sendai, via friend to friend to friend...

Disaster Preparedness in the wake of Tsunamis

The current world news about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan hits home about the importance of having a food and water supply AT HOME. (Assuming one still has a home.) It's been about a day and a half since the disaster first struck, and the top concern after life and death is the already extreme shortage of food and water. Can you imagine what it will be like in a week?

With the collapse of a nuclear reactor and the explosion at the nuclear site, folks nearby are being evacuated. However, those farther away are being advised to stay inside in case of radiation fallout, yet few have any food or water supply to enable survival inside for very long. There are reports of hundreds of people outside grocery stores, drug stores and petrol stations. With roads in shambles, no electricity in many places, and few communication devices working, it will take time to get supplies to those people. Probably as long if not longer than the fiasco in New Orleans following Katrina.

This has put a kink in my own long-time preparedness: the location of many of my supplies. About half the food and most of the water I have stored is in my root cellar, which is a separate building from the house. In the event of a nuclear disaster, it could be unsafe to go outside to collect anything from that building. I have a spring for an alternate water supply, and some filters (or build a fire to boil water), but if it is unsafe to go outside, I'd be mighty thirsty quite soon.

It's something to think about. How prepared are you for an immediate and unexpected disaster?

Is your bottled water safe?

Do you know if your bottled water is safe? Neither does the Food and Drug Administration.

The Wall Street Journal reports on Congressional hearings that are going on about bottled water right now, and apparently the FDA (which oversees the $11.2 billion industry) is pretty forthcoming in its non-tracking of the water.

Currently, the FDA does not monitor bottlers. FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein testified that the agency regulates bottled water as a food, and doesn’t know which companies among registered food firms make bottled water.

Recently (July 8, 2009) consumer advocates testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Panel; they say bottlers should be required to disclose more information to consumers. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the oversight panel, said in the past several years, bottlers have recalled water contaminated with arsenic, cleaning compounds and bacteria.

The good news is that the FDA is tightening some rules. (The industry, which includes PepsiCo Inc.’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co.’s Dasani, currently isn’t required to report tests that turned up contamination.)

Bottlers have until December 2009 to eliminate E. coli from bottled water products, and as early as September they have to report tests that show a “serious health threat” (whatever that means). By contrast, municipal water authorities must report dangerous contaminants within 24 hours.

Water Wars: How much we take for granted

Photo Courtesy of Bev Walker

The news lately about a crack in the strict water laws in the western United States has me thinking about water inequities and assumptions. I take water for granted for the most part, other than my ongoing concerns about having good, potable water.

Occasionally, I may have to water my garden more than I’d prefer, but I know there is enough water available. I ‘know’ there are friends who are lucky to have even an inch of rain in several months… but somehow I just cannot wrap my mind around how that really IS. HOW can they possibly garden and grow food?

It is illegal in some western states like Utah and Colorado to collect rainwater falling on your roof, with fines of $500 a day. The fallen rain belongs to downstream water rights. "All the water was spoken for here [Colorado Springs] in the Arkansas Basin 100 years ago or more," said Kevin Lusk, water supply engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. "If the water falls as rain, that's water that was going to get to the stream system, and somebody already has dibs on it, and if somebody intercepts that, it's the same as stealing."

Colorado has just passed a couple of laws that give a glimmer of hope to folks living in many of the western states. While the changes in the Colorado laws are minor, it could be the beginning of a revolution in water wars. One new water law (SB80) in Colorado allows only the residents on private wells with a recorded well permit to collect precipitation from rooftop areas of up to 3,000 square feet IF they apply and get a collection permit. (I couldn't find any information about the costs involved.) Most of those folks with wells live on the plains where rainwater tends to evaporate, rather than flow into the streams anyway. If you are on a public water supply, rainwater harvesting is still illegal.

The other new Colorado law, HB1129, directs the state to approve 10 pilot projects, new housing or mixed-use developments designed to include rainwater collection. Officials will study the projects through 2020 to see how viable it is to use rain for household irrigation and what impact it has on stream flows.

Water suppliers only agreed to support the bill because developers and residents in the projects must pay for replacement water for every drop collected in the first two years of study. (That means they have to measure and pay for the amount of rainfall collected.) Residents can then ask a water court to lower the augmentation requirement.

Out of curiosity, I looked at some U.S. annual rainfall averages. The average annual rainfall in my county is currently over 41”, and that’s with 3-4 of the most recent years having well below average annual rainfall. The map above shows the rainfall average by color code, dark green is highest, dark red is the lowest.

I’m thankful I live where I do, and I certainly will be more cognizant of the water I have been taking for granted!

Drinking Water

Photo is a Creative Commons License, Some Rights Reserved, by Jenny Downing

From some of my earlier posts, you must know I am passionate about water: cool, clean water. Water pure as Nature intended it. Water that quenches thirst as no other liquid can. Water that not so fouled by our contamination of the environment that it requires adding a toxin to make it drinkable. You can live a long time without food, but only a few days even in optimal conditions without water.

When my sister and I started searching for a small home/stead to purchase, potable water was high on the list of priorities. This house was not advertised as having a spring, or even a spring house; instead they listed as a big selling feature that it had town water! In fact before "town water" was mandated here 15 years ago, this house and an adjacent house used our spring as the sole source of water for drinking, bathing, laundry, and maybe washing the goats.

I have lived where the water was so sulfuric-smelling you could not possibly get it past your nose to drink; I have lived where hurricanes made the water undrinkable for weeks on end; I have lived where my water pipes froze for the winter and I had to haul water for personal use, and break the ice on the trickle of a creek for the horses to drink. Never, never again, given the choice!

Much of my younger adult life I lived where the treated city water seemed passable, at least for what I knew back then. So, I wasn't too upset that this house was no longer using the spring for water. I would buy water for drinking and cooking, only using the town water for washing dishes, showering and laundry until I could figure out how to easily hook up the spring water again. There was no way I wanted to drink the town water anyway... the chlorine smell is as strong as my old sulfur water.

Chlorine is a toxic chemical. Duh. Why else would it kill bacteria in a water supply? Thanks to widespread use of toxic chemicals and airborne pollutants, most water needs some form of treatment to be safe and healthy to drink, even water from some deep wells and springs, depending on the source of the water.

Now that I finally have the spring pump working, I'm planning to use the spring as my source for drinking/cooking water, but not without some filtering for safety and peace of mind. I had the spring water tested for bacteria, but could not afford the costly heavy metals tests (the water does contain some harmless bacteria, much like our intestines do). After considerable research on the Berkey filters mentioned in my post about Emergency Water, along with research into several other systems, I have decided for cost and quality to buy a Berkey stainless steel water filtration system.

With a Berkey system I can have good, filtered water for about 3¢ a gallon, and it works by gravity feed so it doesn’t need electricity or water pressure. (They offer a fluoride filter as well, but it isn’t necessary unless you have a fluoride problem.) I haven’t fully decided between the “Big Berkey” and the “Royal Berkey”; the price difference is just $25 and both have free shipping plus a bonus item. My choice of which bonus item is a no-brainer: the shower filter! (See my post on Red Eye Showers)

In case you are wondering, I do not work for Berkey, nor do I sell their products.

Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Drinking Water and a WAPI

I’ve never lived in Tornado Alley except the year when a tornado leveled Udall, Kansas killing 80 people and injuring hundreds more, about 35 miles from where we lived. However, I grew up in the Land of Hurricanes and have been through perhaps 20 of them from Cat 1’s to Cat 4’s.

So I know only too well the destruction and interruption of services from severe storms. Even now, living in the mountains, hurricanes pose a threat. It’s not the threat of wind damage, but the flooding that brings down mountainsides from rain coming up with a storm from the Gulf of Mexico or coming inland from the Atlantic. 3 inches of rain on relatively flat land isn’t too bad, but 3 inches of rain on a mountain all flows down to the lowest point, becoming feet instead of inches. With any severe storm, the water supply is usually affected.

I have posted how to make an inexpensive emergency water supply apparatus, but that still costs at least $50 for the filter. We all know you can boil water to kill any bacteria in it, but what if you have precious little fuel? Or maybe none? Sooner or later, the sun will come out and with a little cardboard and some aluminum foil you can make a solar oven.

Later this week I will post some plans for making a solar ovens (solar cookers), but solar ovens will not get hot enough to boil water. However, water doesn’t have to reach boiling temps to be safe. Water heated to 149ºF for a short time will pasteurize water; that is, it will kill disease-causing organisms like E. coli, Giardia, Rotaviruses and even the Hepatitis A virus.

Here’s a $6 gadget that you can use with a solar cooker to let you know when the water is pasteurized. It can also be used when heating water over a gas or charcoal grill or even a wood fire. It’s a great addition to camp and emergency packs.

The gadget is actually a simple thermometer called a WAPI, which stands for Water Pasteurization Indicator. It’s a reusable, durable indicator that contains a special soy wax in one end of the tube, and has a moveable weight to keep it at the bottom of the water when in use. When the water (or milk) reaches proper pasteurization temperature, the wax melts and runs to the bottom of the tube. Remove the tube from the pot and let it cool so the wax hardens in the bottom. To re-use, just turn the tube upside down (so the wax is at the top), slide the weight to the bottom, and drop it in cooking water.


WAPI’s are made by Solar Cookers International and sell for $6 (or less in bulk). Churches, Scouts and civic groups often raise money to supply them to Third World countries where millions of people become sick every year from drinking contaminated water. SCI also sells a solar pasteurizer called an AquaPak that is a bag with a WAPI built in. It will pasteurize 4-5 liters in about 2 hours, and sells for $20. Buy 2 and have water for a hot shower!

Toxic Bottled Water

Years ago I would complain loudly when traveling and stopping for a cold drink, only to find no choice but a sweetened soda. “WHY doesn’t someone bottle just plain ole' water?” And a few years later someone finally did, and bottled water became a major industry.

Now, along comes research showing the dangers of plastic bottles for water (definitely from the containers, and maybe even from the water before going in some of the containers). The bottles are so dangerous that they are considering not recycling those PET bottles anymore. Personal re-use of those bottles is an unhealthy thing to do too; in fact, it's as bad as leaving a bottle of water in a hot car all day causing the toxic chemicals leach out at a rapid rate. Taste the water in a new, unopened bottle of water that's been sitting in your hot car all day... you'll know!

Buying bottled water at the grocery store or a quick-stop was now out of the question, but how about getting water delivered in polycarbonate jugs like offices use? I heard polycarbonates supposedly shed very few toxins, and there are almost no other options. (When is the last time you saw water for sale in a 5 gallon glass jug?)

Many water supply places use a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system to provide clean water in polycarbonate jugs, achieved by forcing water under high pressures through a membrane. Before I moved here, I had been filling my own 3 gallon polycarbonate bottles with RO drinking water at natural food stores, for around 40¢ a gallon.

I should have known better, but it was all I knew at the time. Today's RO membranes filter out most of the mineral salts, including those necessary for good health. Not a really good idea. Interestingly enough, Kohler will not warranty their faucets if they are used with a RO system; the RO water eats the metal in the faucets. It also is now known that polycarbonate jugs leach endocrine disrupters like BPA into the contents. More Yucko!

There are few alternatives, either. Some companies still make stainless steel vacuum jugs, and recently some start-up green companies are marketing food grade stainless steel travel bottles in many sizes, even sippy cups for the kids. Glass is seldom used to bottle anything anymore, although I do find milk to buy in returnable glass jugs from a nearby dairy, and I recently purchased ginger ale in throw-away glass bottles. (Those ginger ale bottles will get sterilized and re-used, probably for herb vinegars.)

Do the best you can to avoid drinking from plastic soda bottles anytime, but specifically those bottles that have been in a hot car interior, or even sitting out in the hot sun. An investment of a few dollars for re-usable stainless steel bottles will pay for itself in just weeks, and the health benefits will be a continual payback for the rest of your life.

Update on Emergency Water Supply System

I wrote earlier about how to make an inexpensive but safe water filter for emergency water, or even daily use. Just today I discovered this video showing the same basic DIY system, only using smaller food grade storage containers rather than the 5 gallon containers in my original post.



Please note that the ready-made system used for comparison is no longer available as it looks in the video. The new models are either stainless steel, or polycarbonate.

Water Update

Ta Da! The water "fix" was easy... once I finally found it. Not the water supply, not the fuses, not even the submersible pump. Can you believe this little filter screen in the sprinkler head was the culprit? It was clogging up from sediment in the stirred-up water in the spring box!

Red Letter Day!

Today was a Red Letter Day! After dinking around for more than 2 months trying to figure out how to cheaply water my garden from the spring instead of the chlorinated town tap water, I finally found a man with experience in springs to help/advise me. And, I now have garden water! (Well, almost... keep reading...)

First, Calvin opened and checked the springbox; yes, it has water feeding into it. Then he checked the electric lines to the submersible pump. A-OK. So, he asks me when is the last time it was fired up? Best I can guess is probably 15 years ago when they mandated town water; I didn't live here then. I also said that there was no power to the sub-panel in the root cellar where the spring water diaphragm tank resides. (I was certain of that because I had a new 200 amp breaker panel installed in the house 2 years ago and there was no breaker for the pump.) Boy was I (mostly) wrong!

Calvin calmly put the old cartridge-type fuses back in the ancient panel box and the pump came on! (Further examination showed the electric sub-panel runs directly from the outside service entrance panel where the main shut-off is, rather than through a breaker on the new interior panel box.)

Outside of the root cellar is a hose bibb, and when we opened it up... water! Lots of cold but muddy water from the spring. We spent half an hour stirring up the sediment in the springbox, recirculating most of the water from the hose bibb via my garden hose, until it finally started to run clear.

I paid Calvin, and he went on his way as I connected another length of garden hose and the sprinkler head to water my garden. My jubilation, however, was short-lived. When I came back out of the house a few minutes later, I had just a dribble from the sprinkler head. I had either run the springbox empty and possible burned out the pump, or perhaps the old fuses are faulty? After all, they have been sitting on a shelf in the root cellar at least 15 years.

I'm disappointed, although not terribly disappointed. Whatever it is can be fixed. Tomorrow.

If it is just the amount of available water to the pump... the spring now bubbles up in 2-3 places besides where it feeds a 4" PVC pipe to the spring box. (Springs have a habit of moving like that!) Taking a sledge hammer to one side of the old springbox will allow the surrounding water to pour in to feed the pump. If it's the old fuses, I can pick up more at the hardware store. (I assume they still make those?) And if it's the pump, that's the most expensive "fix" but still nothing like the cost would be for a whole new set-up from scratch to run plumbing and electric to/from the spring.

So, La-Te-Da... I now have a means (soon) to water my garden with good, clean, non-chlorinated water. YaHoo!

Red-Eye Showers

No, not a shower on the Red-Eye, Silly. (Do they even have those?) This is red-eye from a daily shower at home. When I got out of a long, steamy-hot shower this morning, I noticed my eyes were red. Very red. Close-my-eyes-before-I-bleed-to-death red. Do you remember as a kid, swimming underwater in a public pool with your eyes open to see where you were going? Remember how red your eyes always got? That’s how mine looked this morning.

I knew I didn't have my eyes open enough under the shower spray to get water in them. So, what caused my red eyes? Vaporized Chlorine! Chlorine used to treat water can become vaporized easily (that's why the chlorine smell dissipates overnight in an open container of tap water), and chlorine in hot water vaporizes into the air more quickly than the chlorine in cold water. The shower curtain/door keeps most of the gas contained in the air inside the shower cubicle, and the closed bathroom door keeps the remainder in the rest of the room... at least what chlorine gas our eyes, hair, skin and lungs haven't absorbed. (By the way, "chloroform gas is the result of vaporized chlorine interacting with dead skin cells and other biological matter in the bathroom" says Ronald Frommert, a researcher of water purification issues.)

Chlorine is a toxic chemical. Duh. Why else would it kill bacteria in a water supply? Chlorine makes our hair and skin dry and brittle. Chlorine hardens the arteries, can cause pulmonary edema from breathing it, irritates skin and allergies, and is known to destroy proteins in the body. Duh, Duh. (Or maybe that should be "Dodo" for buying into all the crap they tell us is safe.) Research shows chlorinated water in the shower is 10 times more harmful that drinking it. I actually knew all that. Don’t even ask why I didn’t put it together with my own red eyes and showering. Maybe because I never focused on my eyes reflecting in the steamy mirror, and focused instead on my unruly hair or unwanted wrinkles? (Why does steam take the wrinkles out of clothes but not skin, anyway?)

There’s not much I can do about the chlorinated town water except to buy a good chlorine filter for my showerhead. I have some ideas for hooking up our old spring water to the house again, but that’s for another post, another day.

Emergency Water Supply

This is about emergency potable water: real, honest-to-God good-tasting and good-for-you drinking water. Quite by accident, I discovered an alternative emergency water supply idea in some pandemic survival tips published by the Board of County Commissioners in Nez Perce Co., Idaho.

For an emergency water supply they recommend a filter system you can make from 2 food-grade 5 gallon buckets (sometimes free from a local deli), a commercially available filter, and a plastic spigot. It's called the 'Gilmore' 2 bucket system and can be built in 10 minutes by someone with no mechanical skills. With this set-up, you can make up to 3,000 gallons of potable water (per filter) you have filtered from a rooftop, a rain barrel, a lake, pond or stream, or even a mud puddle.

A set-up like this should be mandatory in every household for natural disasters like tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, or whenever potable water is not available. You can make one for just over $60, and most of that is in the cost of the filter (they come in a pack of 2 for about $99). For complete instructions, click here and look under the "water" link on the left column. Choose "Finding and Filtering" then scroll down that page for instructions. The filters are Black Berkey Elements.

I have read, and re-read about this system, and many alternatives. I am convinced it is a terrific system, and everyone should have the emergency supply version on hand. The water quality and safety beats stored bottled water hands-down, and what do you do anyway when your stored water is gone?

Update June 2010
The information for the emergency filtration system is now in a PDF. Go here, and click on Finding and Filtering under the PDF Guides.