What will you do when the water turns off?
The Turning Feral Journal - Day 6
Day 6: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink is a saying as old as time… But, you definitely can’t make a horse drink if there is no water! And, recently we had our first experience without running water and it was eye-opening as to the impacts and need for us to better prepare for a water-less situation.
Let me give some context. I am fortunate enough to have grown up in the United States at a time where no matter where I went, I could turn on a water faucet and expect clean and potable water. It didn’t matter if it was from a garden hose, a restaurant, or an office building water fountain. I came to expect that water was just always there and always safe to drink.
This expectation saw its first cracks when I started to travel the world for work and pleasure. I found out the hard way in Central and South America that you should boil your water before drinking it, and when I lived in Central Asia there were “blackout” periods during the day where the local government would shut off water between 9 am and 5 pm. But, even with these experiences, the second I came back to the homeland my concerns were literally washed away by the free flowing tap.
So, when we moved to the woods in a town of 35 people, water wasn’t my first or biggest concern. In fact, we had a small water co-op with a catchment and treatment system that supplied the town for a reasonable rate. Yet, with that comes maintenance of an aging system… and this past summer with two babies in diapers and drinking from bottles, we found out how hard things can be if you don’t have a “plan” for backup water when we went to our tap, turned the handles, and were greeted with the sound of air escaping the pipes.
Luckily, we live in a place that has potable natural springs nearby and we were able to cobble together enough plastic containers to drive the mile or so to the springs and bring them back to have enough water for drinking and cooking. These trips took up a large portion of our day and we got a real intimate view into how much water we use day in and day out… Spoiler alert, it’s a lot!
After a few days of sponge baths for the kids and all focus moved toward hauling water, the system was restored and we were back to normal… but, not without a fresh look into what we needed to change in order to be more resilient for when this inevitably happens again. (PS: we now keep several 5 gallon potable water jugs on hand at all times and I’m looking into getting a water diviner to come see if we have access to a well).
Prompt: Where do you live? What would happen if your water turned off today and stayed off for 5 days? Would there be a fight at the grocery stores for the last of the potable water? Would you shelter in place or try to evacuate somewhere else? Think about how quickly things would deteriorate in that situation. With that in mind, are there things you can do to mitigate that risk?:
Motivational Passage:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44:3
Rewilding Action: When it comes to having the most essential human need, water, there are things you can purchase now to ensure you have a clean safe source for short amounts of time. Of course, you can keep potable drinking water in jugs, but you can also purchase items to help clean dirty or saline water. Things like iodine tablets, desalinators, and water purifiers exist online and do not break the bank. My favorite tool right now is the life straw brand water bottle (which I take on backcountry hunts) and their larger water purifier. Keeping something like this on hand could be a real lifesaver if your main water supply is cut off.