Survivalist Anthologies Volume 1

by George Shepherd

  “Rain water is pure and requires no processing.”

  This myth is only partially true. Since rain water is the product of a natural distillation process, (all contaminants are left behind when water evaporates into the air) it stands to reason that rain should be the purest water there is. However, in industrialized parts of the world, rainwater can pick up pollutants in the atmosphere (such as Mercury) and with rising concerns about chemtrails, many communities have detected elevated levels of Barium and Aluminum in their municipal water supplies. If you’re planning to harvest the majority of your drinking water from rainfall, then it’s probably a good idea to test a sample for suspected contaminants rather than make assumptions.

  Bear in mind; we’re talking about catching and storing large amounts of rainwater for a long-term, daily consumption. In a temporary survival situation, I wouldn’t be too concerned. I’ve caught and consumed rainwater in the wild without treating it on numerous occasions and suffered no ill effects, but I wasn’t drinking it every day. Many of the contaminants that can be found in rainwater can accumulate in your body over time. Also, if your rain-harvesting system involves catching the runoff from your roof (as most do) you’ll want to make sure that your roof is covered with appropriate material (slate, wood, terracotta, metal). Most common shingling material is made from petroleum, which will contaminate your water. Also, make sure that you use food-grade PET barrels or containers for catching and storing your water.

  Ok, now that we have the myths out of the way, let’s move on to the most effective methods for treating water...

  Filtration

  Before you can sanitize the water, you’ll first need to remove as much sediment and chemical contaminant as possible. If your budget allows, there are many high-quality, commercial options available that range in sizes from small camping/wilderness survival filters to large-scale, high-capacity filters for the homestead. But in keeping with the DIY imperative, you can build your own water filter from common materials.

  What you’ll need:

  A clean 5 or 6 Gal. food-grade plastic bucket

  Terry-cloth towels, felt, burlap, flannel or any other heavy cloth

  Activated charcoal, sandy clay (also known as loam) or regular sand*

  Clean aggregate (stones or gravel), clean bottle-caps, glass marbles or bent-up wire hangers (for creating void space)

  A hand-drill or a hammer and a large nail

  Steps:

  1. Drill or hammer, 12-24 holes in a circular pattern in the bottom of the bucket.

  2. Fill the bottom of the bucket about 2-3 inches with your aggregate (or other material) to create a void space through which the water can flow freely.

  3. Cut your cloth about 2” larger than the diameter of the bucket and place it over the aggregate.

  4. Pour in a layer of activated charcoal, or sandy clay about 5-6 inches deep

  5. Cover with another layer of cloth

  6. Pour in a layer of sand about 3 or 4 inches deep

  7. Cover with another layer of cloth

  Depending on the size of your bucket, you may have to make adjustments to the depth of the layers. Make sure you leave enough room at the top of the bucket to hold a fair amount of water. It will drain slowly, so you don’t want to completely fill the bucket with material.

  You will also need to suspend, or otherwise prop up the filter over a larger, clean, food-grade container to receive the filtered water.

  This filter will be good for processing about 10-20 gallons of water (give or take) before the materials get clogged up and have to be replaced. For processing smaller quantities, this filter can be scaled down using a coffee can, 2-liter soda bottle (with the bottom cut off) or some other clean, safe container.

  *Activated charcoal (carbon) is the most effective material for filtering both chemical and biological contaminants. Carbon attracts carbon and activated carbon has more surface area for impurities to attach to. Sandy clay or loam (soil usually found several inches below the surface, or available at gardening suppliers – NOT modeling or pottery clay) is a good second choice. Regular sand will remove particulates, but it’s least effective at screening out chemicals or microorganisms.

  Activated charcoal can easily be acquired from a variety of sources, such as large chain drug stores, medical suppliers, aquarium suppliers, etc. You can also learn how to make your own activated charcoal at my blog: http://survivalist.fm

  Disinfecting:

  Now that the water has been filtered, it should be free of all sediment and most biological and chemical contaminants. Next, you will need to sanitize or disinfect the water. Here are the most effective DIY methods for sanitizing your water:

  Boiling

  Boiling is the simplest, quickest and most thorough and reliable method of sanitizing water for drinking. Some people will tell you that you need to boil the water for 5 or 10 minutes in order for it to be safe to drink, but the fact is; once the water reaches 185º F almost all microorganisms will be dead. By the time the water hits a rolling boil, (212º F or slightly higher, depending on altitude) the water is completely sanitized. Note: If you’re going to store the water, you will need to add chlorine (after it cools) to keep it free of microorganisms.

  Tip:Water can have a strange, or unpleasant taste after boiling. You can remedy this by vigorously stirring the water, or pouring it back and forth between containers a few times to aerate it. If it’s in a sealed container, shake it up a bit. Boiling removes free oxygen from the water, making it taste unusual or “flat”. Reintroducing oxygen will freshen the taste. This will also help reduce the taste of chlorine after treating with bleach. If the water still has a strong chlorine taste, try adding a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (food grade, not medical grade). That will neutralize the chlorine.

  Chemical Disinfection

  Boiling should always be your first choice for sanitizing water, but in a situation where you can’t build a fire, or have no container that’s suitable for boiling water, chemical purification is a viable alternative. It’s also useful for keeping water free of biological contaminants during storage. There are several commercially available products that you can get at camping and outdoor supply stores (such as chlorine, or iodine tablets) or, you can use plain, household bleach to purify water.

  Chlorine Bleach - Commercial water purification tablets and crystals all come with detailed instructions on how to use them, so I won’t waste any time here explaining their use. But if you’re going to use household bleach, make sure it doesn’t contain any detergents or fragrances (no scented or “color-safe” bleach). Check the label, and make sure the only active ingredient is 5.25%-6% sodium hypochlorite. Add to water using an eye dropper in the amount indicated in the chart below*. Mix well, and wait 30 minutes before drinking. I should also note that chlorine is less effective at disinfecting if the water is cold. Personally, I’d rather let the water warm to room temperature (68° F or higher) before treating than double up on bleach, but sometimes that’s not possible.

  After sitting covered for 30 minutes, the water should have a slight chlorine odor. If it does not, repeat the dosage and let it sit for another 30 minutes. If it still doesn’t smell of bleach, get your water from somewhere else.

  Water properly treated with bleach for storage will remain safe for 6 months. Make sure you label your water containers with the storage date and rotate your stock.

  Iodine – There’s much debate over whether chlorine or iodine is best for sanitizing water. Most campers, back-packers and hikers prefer iodine because the tablets are easy to pack, it works faster than chlorine, it’s just as effective in cold water as it is in warm water and the taste is not as offensive. This makes it ideal for camping trips or short-term wilderness survival.

  However, it’s not effective at killing all forms of Giardia and it’s not recommended for long-term storage of water. There are also some health concerns. While iodine is a substance that our bodies need in small quantities (we get m
ost of the iodine we need in salt), ingestion of larger quantities over long periods of time can lead to illness and death. Also, people with thyroid conditions and pregnant women should not drink iodized water at all.

  Iodine is also much less effective at keeping water sanitized for long-term storage, so keep those iodine tablets handy in your bug-out bag and camping kit, but for long-term storage, the American Red Cross and various other health organizations recommend chlorine only.

  Distillation

  The distillation process involves heating water in one container, converting it into steam, which then cools and condenses back into water in another container. When the water evaporates, it leaves almost all impurities behind in the boiler, producing water that is very pure. The downside to distillation is that it’s a very slow process and it consumes much more fuel than boiling (unless you use a solar still).

  So why distill water? Because there are some water-borne contaminants that can only be completely removed through distillation. As mentioned earlier, filtration may not catch all contaminants and boiling or chemically treating the water will only eliminate biological organisms. If the water contains high levels of salt, heavy metals, minerals (also known as “hard” water) or radioactive particles, only distillation will completely get rid of it. If you can’t separate the contaminant from the water, then you have to separate the water from the contaminant!

  Building a standard still out of common materials is fairly easy (check out John Burke’s article on page xx) but solar stills are extremely popular among homesteaders and are commonly used in parts of the world where clean water and fuel are hard to come by. You can find plans and instructions on how to build a solar still, as well as tons of other DIY solar projects at: http://www.builditsolar.com/.

  Since we’re on the subject of solar, you can also use sunlight to disinfect water. Just fill a large, clear glass or (food safe) plastic container with filtered water and let it sit in direct sunlight for about 6 hours.

  The ultra violet rays in sunlight will kill all the microbes living in the water. Just remember to keep an eye on the container to ensure that it remains in direct sunlight the entire time.

  If you use a plastic container, make sure that it’s of a type that won’t off-gas into the water when it gets hot. Also, make sure that the plastic is untinted and free of excessive scratches or anything else that may block sunlight from passing through and bear in mind that UV light will only kill the germs and bacteria. You will still have to filter the water first to remove turbidity and other contaminants.

  There are a few other methods for sanitizing water, such as reverse osmosis, ozone generators (which I use myself at home) and UV lamps and wands, but those methods all require special equipment and electricity, which are not very practical in an off-grid homesteading, disaster or survival situation.

  If you have any doubts at all about your long-term source of water, it’s always best to test it. Fortunately, there are plenty of inexpensive water testing kits available, but the types of contaminants that they test for vary and are somewhat limited. Sending your water to lab service costs quite a bit more (around $180-$200) but they test for a much broader range of contaminants. If your only source of water is a well, or some other natural source, the peace of mind is well worth it.

  The Lost Art of Root Cellars

  by Carrie Milandred

  Before refrigerators, farmers used root cellars to store potatoes, onions and cabbage in a cool place. Dug into the ground and walled with rocks from the surrounding cliffs. This root cellar pictured to the left, probably provided a cool place to escape from the midday summer heat as well. In the early autumn morning light, the cellar stands as a testament for how tough the pioneer life must have been.

  Root cellars and iceboxes were about the only way to keep certain crops fresh after harvest. Root cellars were usually separate from the house and dug into the ground to take advantage of the cool, stable temperature beneath the surface.

  Depending on how often the produce needs to be accessed, there are differing strategies for creating the space. The simplest method is to just bury a garbage can in the ground, with the lid protruding above, then digging a trench around the can so that straw can be thrown on top and then plastic sheeting placed over it all with rocks to hold it down. Damp burlap or sand can be enclosed with the produce to maintain the proper humidity. Obviously it takes some work to get at the produce, but this method will store some items, especially over the winter.

  A more elaborate and convenient root cellar will have a door for entry, sometimes placed flat on the ground or at an angle, but probably the best arrangement is with a vertical, insulated door. If the root cellar itself is completely underground (which it really needs to be to take advantage of the cool earth), then there would be steps that descend to the door, or a covered entrance with steps after the door. Another possibility is digging into a hillside. Depending on the stability of the soil, the sides of the excavation might either be left unfinished or lined with materials to create a retaining wall. The roof needs to be supported by some fairly massive timbers to support up to two feet of dirt placed on top. Care should be taken to avoid contact between the dirt and any wood used. Sheets of heavy polyethylene can be used to good advantage to protect the wood. Usually if the floor is left as natural earth, or just has a layer of gravel on it, the humidity will remain high enough to store most produce.

  It is always a good idea to provide some ventilation, with a high outlet vent and a low inlet vent. These could be closed during really cold spells, to assure that nothing freezes, but having some air movement keeps the space fresh and allows off-gassing of the produce to occur without harm. Apples will give off ethylene gas which can cause potatoes to sprout prematurely and make carrots go bitter, so store the apples near the outlet vent.

  Temperature is going to be your most important interest for your cellar. Your root cellar needs to be kept as cool as possible, there are several things you can do to promote this. First, borrow cold from the ground. Just digging two feet down, gives a remarkable year wide temperature stability. The further down you go, the better it is. You must dig down a full 10 feet before complete temperature stability is reached. How deep you go should be based on what you plan to store and for how long.

  You can also borrow cool from the air. Often the night’s air temperature will be cooler than the air in your cellar. And finally, you should do what you can to prevent heat from having access to your cellar. This includes: Having your root cellar in the shade throughout the day, building on the north side of hills and wise use of insulation.

  Your second most important consideration is humidity. Even if kept cool, in a low humidity environment, your vegetables will soften and shrivel up. Most vegetables require high humidity. A typical underground root cellar will generally maintain a high humidity level all by itself, if it has an earth or dirt floor.

  You are also going to need air circulation. The best root cellars have vents (although most of the old cellars did not have them). This is because the vegetables in your cellar give off gasses that are often conducive to either spoilage or sprouting. For example, apples naturally give off ethylene gas, which makes potatoes sprout prematurely.

  Good venting fundamentals include having an inlet vent and an outlet vent. The outlet must always be at the highest level in the cellar with the outlet tube flush with the inner wall. The inlet should come into the cellar at the bottom. This is easily done if your cellar is built into a hill, but nearly as easy if it is buried in flat ground. With your inlet vent opening on top of the ground near your outlet vent, your inlet vent pipe must go all the way to the floor before opening into your cellar.

  Keep the shelves a couple of inches away from the walls of the cellar. This will greatly promote circulation around the vegetables stored on these shelves. To prevent your potatoes from sprouting prematurely, keep your apples above them so the circulating air moves away from your potatoes. Have a system in place to c
lose your vents in freezing weather. Something as simple as a big sponge can work for this. If you have very cold winters, you may wish to block off both ends of each vent pipe.

  How big of a cellar should you build? Again, this is a personal preference as to how much you want to store and for how long. A 5x8 foot root cellar will store approximately 30 bushels of produce. An 8x8 foot cellar should hold plenty for the average family. A 10x10 foot cellar should take care of everything you can produce.

  If you are using wood for shelving make sure to use rot resistant or pressure treated wood. And, as already mentioned, shelves should be kept at least a couple of inches away from the walls for increased ventilation). Liberal use of shelving will enhance the storage capacity of your cellar considerably.

  What kind of root cellar is right for you? You could build your root cellar into a hill so you don’t have to find a door lying on the ground when it is under 3 feet of snow. There is also less chance of flooding during very wet conditions. Your cellar can be graded so any water that should run or seep in will run out the door. It could be much more difficult to excavate, but does have its advantages as previously mentioned.

  You could build your root cellar on flat ground, as not everyone has a steep hill in their back yard. It can be easier to excavate and easier and cheaper to build (you don’t have to brace your cellar for all that extra weight from the hill). But that added dirt will keep your cellar cooler!

  You can also build your cellar as part of your house. Many older houses have a section of the basement that has an earthen floor. Its primary reason was probably for vegetable storage. You can also build and insulate a room in this area. You can dig a cellar next to the house with an entryway to your cellar through the basement, or put your cellar in an existing underground structure such as a pump house.