Guidelines for Choosing a Water Filtration System

So you have made the decision to purchase a water filtration system, here is a list of guidelines I suggest you pay attention to before you spend your hard earned cash.  A good filtration system is a great way to have and keep a back up source of drinking water operational or just to improve the quality of your primary source.

1) Learn what is in your water, I can’t stress this one enough.  Knowing what is in your water is the first step of every water treatment process and decision to be made.  If you don’t know, find out.  There are many different types of filters out there, and each one is better at removing different contaminants. For example hardness can be filtered out, but is best removed with a water softener. Some charcoal filters can remove chlorine and some taste issues but usually little else. Unless the charcoal is activated carbon, then it can remove a lot more including some waterborne toxins.

Change of Plans: Evaluating Emergencies in the Momment

Preparedness is by definition a lot of planning. There is tons of action in there as well, but even the actions taken to prepare as based on plans of some kind. I have plans for disaster readiness, my bug out plan, my get home plan and I have more day to day plans, my financial plan comes to mind. A self-reliant lifestyle also needs planning, failing to predict what will be necessary leads to being caught off guard, being caught off guard leads to dependence.

Today I made a lot of plans. I had my whole day planned out. I knew what order I was going to do everything and it was going to work out great. Then one of Murphy’s Laws kicked in,

Introduction to Surface Water Treatment

Surface water is the second most common source of drinking water on the planet after ground water. It also frequently the most contaminated. Everything that can dissolve into water and is on the surface of the earth ends up in surface water. From the image below that of all the water on earth only 3% of it is fresh water, and of that three percent only 0.3% is surface water. This is partly why clean fresh water is such a precious resource.  Many people have a surface water  source as their backup should their primary source become contaminated.  After an emergency event, the surface water sources will become contaminated and proper treatment will be more essential than it usually is.  One benefit of surface water is that is refreshes itself rapidly in the case of rivers and other fast moving water sources and because they are exposed to oxygen they favor bacteria that are much better at removing biological contamination.

The Decline Is Happening Now

There is always something to worry about looming on the horizon. Many disasters are easy to see the start and end points of. Natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes or man made disasters like wars, all have clear start and end points. These things are easily dealt with the predict, prepare, respond, repair/rebuild model of disaster management.

Not all disasters are so clear cut. Some disasters build up so slowly that we fail to notice them in time. It is human nature to become accustomed to a norm. If the norm changes slowly enough we won’t ever notice.