Drinking Water In Earthquake Country
Posted at 3:08 pm on Wednesday, July 19, 2006, in Uncategorized.
Living in the middle of earthquake country (the San Francisco bay area), my fiancee and I, who are relatively new to the area (four years now), are trying to prepare ourselves for any possible ground shaking (and life-rattling) events. One of the main items to have in case an earthquake hits is also one of the easiest to remember to stock up on: water. (Everytime I buy a case of bottled water, I buy two instead, and put one in our “earthquake kit.”)
As of now, we have 50 liters (that is 6½ days worth) and the ideal is 3 weeks worth, but that is a hell of a lot of water to just have sitting there in the garage. But it is probably worth it. Nope, it is certainly worth it. (Although this assumes a total loss of water, as well as assuming that there was no supply of drinking water that would have been in the kitchen already at the time an earthquake hits. It also assumes you have no way of leaving the area. But I guess it is good to be safe; it is an earthquake, for christ’s sake. And it also assumes you brush your teeth.)
Why am I blogging this? Well, because one notable earthquake preparedness agency — the Los Angeles Fire Department — has an interesting suggestion for water storage: “Be sure to sanitize container and treat the water that you are storing. Old bleach bottles clearly marked make good containers for water storage.“
Old bleach bottles? When it comes to being prepared for an earthquake, a major one at that, one that will certainly occur in our lifetime (maybe one or two more after that), shouldn’t we take the extra time, effort and money and purchase new water bottles, not reusing poisonous bleach bottles, just to be on the safe side? Isn’t this bad advice coming from a fire department? Wouldn’t tainted water just ruin your earthquake recovery while waiting for FEMA?
And be sure to clearly mark those bottles of bleach, er, water, because you don’t want the following to happen…
Mother [speaking to young daughter]: “Honey, go get some water, but only a small glass, we need to ration our resources.”
Mother [points to bottle of Clorox]: “Yes, that one, honey.”
[Young daughter stares at mother with a confused demeanor.]
Mother: “No, I emptied out the bleach, then sanitized it with boiling water, then filled it up with tap water, then stored it here in the garage. Yes, drink up.”
Mother [thinking to herself]: “Well, I sure hope that was boiling water. Maybe I should have filled it up and emptied it a few times, just to be safe.”
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