4 ms·

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, because this is truly an unpleasant, if not dangerous, situation, but don't more people keep a supply of water somewhere in

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, because this is truly an unpleasant, if not dangerous, situation, but don't more people keep a supply of water somewhere in their home? I don't really consider myself THAT well-prepared a survivalist, but I've got about 40 gallons of drinking water stored up. I would highly recommend that everybody do the same. Drinking water is vital, and so many things can interrupt your supply that you really need to look into storing several days worth. Again - I don't mean to sound unsympathetic - I wish everyone in your area a speedy resolution to this situation.

gkop 13y ago
Perhaps you live in a region with a characteristic natural disaster threat, or maybe you live in an urban area (or at least, you do not draw your water from a private or local-community well). WV is a low-risk area for various natural disasters [1] . And it is relatively rural and gets good rainfall - folks aren't generally depending on giant city-wide water infrastructure or imported water, but rather on smaller, distributed water supplies that are individually perceived to be rather dependable. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01safe.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/01/weekinreview/0...
lspears 13y ago
Drinking water isn't the only consideration. People can't take showers, cook with water, or even wash their hands. It wouldn't be a problem if it was one day, but if it goes on it will make living in the area terrible. The real issue is they don't know how long the region will be effected.
- mrtron 13y ago
  In the short term, drinking water is 100 times more important than the other items. Long term I don't know how they are going to deal with something of this magnitude.
silencio 13y ago
Even FEMA doesn't recommend you store that much water - they were recommending one gallon per person per day for three days before considering anything else (climate, type of emergency, children/pets/elderly/sick people). Plus you have to make sure that it hasn't expired or gone bad... 40 gallons is a lot more than people will consider storing. Hell, I don't even have space for 40 gallons of water anywhere. I barely have any room for a 3 day stash of food/water and a first aid kit. Plus maybe some of these people do have a good amount of drinking water stored up for an emergency, but there is no ETA on cleanup yet so they have to prepare for the worst. Even 40 gallons isn't enough if this goes on for a week for a family. Also as a co-owner of a small fast food restaurant (in northern california), I can't use stored water for anything related to running the business. 40 gallons is a literal drop in the bucket in one day of use too, let alone however many days it will take to clean up the spill. That's a lot of businesses closed right there because they literally can't do anything to prevent that from happening. That alone, even before considering individual water needs, is a big deal.
smileysteve 13y ago
I think that standard procedure is to store 1 gallon of water. Living in a 750 sq ft apartment, 40 gallons of water would occupy a significant amount of space.
- blhack 13y ago
  About 4 square feet?
  - moocowduckquack 13y ago
    About half a square foot would presumably suffice, assuming an eight foot ceiling.
jotm 13y ago
I don't store any water nor do I know anyone who does, sadly... I just figure I'd buy some from a local store, or get it from a well if somewhere country side. Obviously in this situation it's hard to do either - I hope they find a way to solve this quickly...
jfoutz 13y ago
I think the standard trick is to use the water in the hot water heater. not everybody has one, of course, but they are really common.
- Crito 13y ago
  I haven't had to use the heater trick, but a few months ago while the water was out in my building and I woke up incredibly thirsty, I did realize that I could scoop the ice out of the icetray in my freezer (it has an icemaker, so there is always ice in it), microwave it to melt it, then drink it.
nostromo 13y ago
You can also just buy a few LifeStraws (assuming you aren't in a desert climate). They're super handy while hiking anyway. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QF3TW4 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QF3TW4 edit: My thinking was that you could use any other freshwater supply nearby. Not that you should use a contaminated supply. This is more practical for me than storing 40 gallons of emergency water in my home.
- fiatmoney 13y ago
  LifeStraws seem designed to filter biological, not chemical contaminants. "filters to 0.2 microns through the use of hollow-fiber membranes" "Does not filter chemicals, salt, viruses, heavy metals, taste"
ams6110 13y ago
No, almost nobody with public utility water service stores water, beyond perhaps a few gallons if they buy bottled water. I used to live in a town where there was a cancer warning on the back of the water bill because of the (naturally occurring) radium content of the water (sourced from wells). We had a water service bring 5-gallon jugs (water-cooler type) which we used for cooking and drinking.
- Already__Taken 13y ago
  But that's a gas why does it matter?
  - mikeyouse 13y ago
    > But that's a gas why does it matter? You're thinking of Radon, which is a decay product of Radium (which is a metal). Radium is soluble in water, and similar enough to calcium that it's absorbed into bones where it releases alpha particles that will cause cancer in high enough doses. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#Chemical_characteristics_and_compounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#Chemical_characteristics... [3] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16839204 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16839204
  - labcomputer 13y ago
    Gas can be dissolved in water. That's what Coca-Cola is made with.
mrtron 13y ago
I keep meaning to put together a website that lists the best items to buy to lower general risk. I think a few large jugs of water is likely the top item on that list for any home, anywhere.
- maxerickson 13y ago
  The problem is that an easy to manage store is not really big enough to do anything other than increase comfort (there are edge cases where people need to be more careful but hopefully they aren't getting a reminder of that from a website).

gkop 13y ago

Perhaps you live in a region with a characteristic natural disaster threat, or maybe you live in an urban area (or at least, you do not draw your water from a private or local-community well). WV is a low-risk area for various natural disasters [1] . And it is relatively rural and gets good rainfall - folks aren't generally depending on giant city-wide water infrastructure or imported water, but rather on smaller, distributed water supplies that are individually perceived to be rather dependable. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01safe.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/01/weekinreview/0...

lspears 13y ago

Drinking water isn't the only consideration. People can't take showers, cook with water, or even wash their hands. It wouldn't be a problem if it was one day, but if it goes on it will make living in the area terrible. The real issue is they don't know how long the region will be effected.

mrtron 13y ago
In the short term, drinking water is 100 times more important than the other items. Long term I don't know how they are going to deal with something of this magnitude.

silencio 13y ago

Even FEMA doesn't recommend you store that much water - they were recommending one gallon per person per day for three days before considering anything else (climate, type of emergency, children/pets/elderly/sick people). Plus you have to make sure that it hasn't expired or gone bad... 40 gallons is a lot more than people will consider storing. Hell, I don't even have space for 40 gallons of water anywhere. I barely have any room for a 3 day stash of food/water and a first aid kit. Plus maybe some of these people do have a good amount of drinking water stored up for an emergency, but there is no ETA on cleanup yet so they have to prepare for the worst. Even 40 gallons isn't enough if this goes on for a week for a family. Also as a co-owner of a small fast food restaurant (in northern california), I can't use stored water for anything related to running the business. 40 gallons is a literal drop in the bucket in one day of use too, let alone however many days it will take to clean up the spill. That's a lot of businesses closed right there because they literally can't do anything to prevent that from happening. That alone, even before considering individual water needs, is a big deal.

smileysteve 13y ago

I think that standard procedure is to store 1 gallon of water. Living in a 750 sq ft apartment, 40 gallons of water would occupy a significant amount of space.

blhack 13y ago
About 4 square feet?
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  About half a square foot would presumably suffice, assuming an eight foot ceiling.

jotm 13y ago

I don't store any water nor do I know anyone who does, sadly... I just figure I'd buy some from a local store, or get it from a well if somewhere country side. Obviously in this situation it's hard to do either - I hope they find a way to solve this quickly...

jfoutz 13y ago

I think the standard trick is to use the water in the hot water heater. not everybody has one, of course, but they are really common.

Crito 13y ago
I haven't had to use the heater trick, but a few months ago while the water was out in my building and I woke up incredibly thirsty, I did realize that I could scoop the ice out of the icetray in my freezer (it has an icemaker, so there is always ice in it), microwave it to melt it, then drink it.

nostromo 13y ago

You can also just buy a few LifeStraws (assuming you aren't in a desert climate). They're super handy while hiking anyway. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QF3TW4 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QF3TW4 edit: My thinking was that you could use any other freshwater supply nearby. Not that you should use a contaminated supply. This is more practical for me than storing 40 gallons of emergency water in my home.

fiatmoney 13y ago
LifeStraws seem designed to filter biological, not chemical contaminants. "filters to 0.2 microns through the use of hollow-fiber membranes" "Does not filter chemicals, salt, viruses, heavy metals, taste"

ams6110 13y ago

No, almost nobody with public utility water service stores water, beyond perhaps a few gallons if they buy bottled water. I used to live in a town where there was a cancer warning on the back of the water bill because of the (naturally occurring) radium content of the water (sourced from wells). We had a water service bring 5-gallon jugs (water-cooler type) which we used for cooking and drinking.

Already__Taken 13y ago
But that's a gas why does it matter?
- mikeyouse 13y ago
  > But that's a gas why does it matter? You're thinking of Radon, which is a decay product of Radium (which is a metal). Radium is soluble in water, and similar enough to calcium that it's absorbed into bones where it releases alpha particles that will cause cancer in high enough doses. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#Chemical_characteristics_and_compounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#Chemical_characteristics... [3] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16839204 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16839204
- labcomputer 13y ago
  Gas can be dissolved in water. That's what Coca-Cola is made with.

mrtron 13y ago

I keep meaning to put together a website that lists the best items to buy to lower general risk. I think a few large jugs of water is likely the top item on that list for any home, anywhere.

maxerickson 13y ago
The problem is that an easy to manage store is not really big enough to do anything other than increase comfort (there are edge cases where people need to be more careful but hopefully they aren't getting a reminder of that from a website).