Water Security Before, During & After Hurricanes

People often neglect to consider the security of their water supply prior to a hurricane, there are many other pressing needs for preparation, namely protection of property. Because this week is National Hurricane Preparedness Week I wanted to discuss how hurricanes can disrupt water systems and water supplies. Water security is essential when talking about hurricanes. Actions taken before the hurricane, during and after the hurricane all play a significant part in maintaining your access to clean, safe drinking water.

Hurricane Ivan: Image source nationalgeographic.com

First a note on evacuations. I’m not going to tell people to stay or go when it comes to evacuating. Make that decision for yourself.

What can be done before a hurricane hits? If you are on a well, make sure your well is sealed properly. This is normal well maintenance. Your annual maintenance and inspections are your first defense against well contamination. With a hurricane the main culprit is the rain and the storm surge. Surface water contamination with bacteria, chemicals and salt can make your well very unfit to drink. Prevention through proper maintenance is the best barrier against contamination. If you are on a municipal water system, shut off the water to your house before you evacuate. This will prevent leaks and the subsequent damage from the water entering your house. It will obviously not protect you from rain/wind/flood/storm surge damage.  Also, it is a good idea to temporarily cap the connection from your house to the sewer or septic system, this will prevent overloaded waste systems back flowing into your house.  These precautions need to be done whether you bug out or not.  This is the time to store water.  When the water coming into your house is clean and drinkable.  Store as much as you can, it could be the difference between life and death.

Storm Surge Diagram: Image Source worldlywise.pbworks.com

During the hurricane, if you don’t evacuate to a safe area, you need a backup supply of water.

Septic Tank Management

Homeowners are responsible for maintaining their septic systems.  It not only protects the investment in your home, but also protects your water supply and those of your neighbors.  You don’t want to be the cause of major ground water or surface water contamination because of a malfunctioning septic tank.  The liabilities are potentially huge and your homeowners insurance may not cover you if you didn’t do the required maintenance.   It will also make selling your home difficult,  I personally have walked away from houses I wanted to buy because the septic system was not in proper working order.

Septic tank management can be very simple. If the tank has been properly constructed and installed very few interventions will be necessary and the interventions will primarily be inspections.  The major components of a septic system are a collection pipe from the house, the holding tank, and the drainage system (usually a field).  The collection pipe is the final pipe leaving the home that contains all the household waste water.  This part of the system is identical for people connected to a municipal sewer except for where the pipe goes.

Water Quality Myths

There is a lot of misinformation available about water quality.  If taken as true in the wrong situation they could be very costly, they might even cost you your life.

The first myth I want to mention is the belief that ground water is pure. See my article on why I dislike the term “purify” when it concerns water.  I have heard this over and over again, “if we were all drinking ground water we wouldn’t need all these chemicals and we would all be healthier”.  This simply isn’t true.  Ground water does contain bacteria, it is usually free from pathogenic organisms, but that is not guaranteed, and if your system isn’t used to the specific bacteria in the ground water they may still make you a little sick.

The second myth I want to squash is the idea that sunlight, specifically the ultraviolet radiation will kill bacteria.  Let’s think about this for a second.  Using a lack of common sense, sunlight disinfection appears to be true.  UV kills bacteria and the sun emits UV radiation sounds like a win-win scenario.  However with a lot more common sense and some education behind it, it becomes apparent that all the lakes and rivers on the surface of the earth are exposed to sunlight.  If UV from the sun disinfected water, there would be no microscopic life in our water and because this is the bottom of the ecosystem, there would be no ecosystem at all.  

Water Quality Is Subjective

Clean water is clean water right? If I don’t get sick when I drink it that means every one can drink it right? The truth is not everyone has the same body chemistry. Everyone has a slightly different tolerance and/or sensitivity to contaminants. This could be an allergy to something in the water but it doesn’t have to be that severe. Children are often more susceptible to contaminants in water, as are the elderly and pregnant women. In the past when water systems have been contaminated, the two populations most likely to get very sick and or die are your children and seniors. Honorable mention goes to people with weakened immune systems which are almost always at greater risk.