The Preparedness and Survival Site

Another installment of the Preparing on a Shoestring Series from forum member Cutter.

Note: part 16 became part 9B (Firearms Safety).

Loss of municipal utilities and services is a good place to start when making threat specific plans.  Not only can these things fail on their own, their failure is often a by-product of other survival situations.

WATER
We will take water first.  Continuity of water supplies, whether municipal or well supplied, depend on 3 things.  For you to have running water available, there must be a supply of water, there must be electricity to pump that water, and the water must be kept above 32 degrees.  If any of these 3 requirements are not met, your water will not flow.

There isn’t much you can do about the water system outside of your own property line.  The water company takes a dim view of anyone else doing anything to their system.  Inside your property line is another matter entirely.  Whether your water comes from a water company or a well, make sure the supply lines are buried below the frost line from the source (well or water meter).  This is the depth where water will freeze.  Below it, your water lines are safe.  Above it, your lines could freeze.  Check your local building codes to find out the frost line for your area. 

Inside and under any buildings with water service on your property, insulate the water lines.  If you are building new or have cause to open up walls, insulate the lines in them, even if they are in inside walls.  This will have the bonus of keeping water in the hot water lines warmer for longer.  You get hot water at the tap faster and your water heater doesn’t have to work so hard.

There is nothing you can do about supply.  If the well or municipal source is dry, you are going to have to depend on stored water, rain water, and any alternative source you can find.  I actually have agreements with one person on well water and one on a separate municipality’s water system to provide water to me and for me to provide water to them if needed.  Between them and rain/snow, I should be able to procure enough water to manage.  I have the capability to transport a couple hundred gallons of water at one time if need be.  My plan utilizes my pickup, a tarp, and a few pieces of  plywood for baffles to prevent too much sloshing of the water while driving.  Losing water isn’t the primary concern for the baffles.  If that much water gets moving, it can cause you to have an accident.

If you are on city water, power is beyond your ability to prepare for.  If you are on well water or a cistern, make sure you can power your pump by an alternative power source.  A spare pump in stock probably wouldn’t hurt either.

ELECTRICITY
People lived without electricity for thousands of years.  The Amish still do it.  Still, electrical power makes life much easier.  To this end, an alternative power source that will allow you to at least have a few lights, your furnace blower, and a TV or computer (or both) is a good idea.  That said, you can buy a lot of candles, batteries and flashlights, a good kerosene heater, and a propane fired camp stove for the money you will spend on generator big enough to do the same job.  They also last longer on less fuel than running a genny 24/7.  They make less noise, are more secure from theft, and draw much less unwanted attention than a running generator.  Even if you have a genny, alternative heating and lighting will extend the fuel supplies of the generator and draw less attention.  It is always good to have multiple options.

SANITATION
Septic systems with a tank and pit or lateral lines are essentially immune from most disasters.  Floods are the only real threat to them.  Municipal sewage systems are susceptible to flood problems and loss of power.  All conventional sewage and wastewater disposal systems are dependant on water.  Funny how too much or too little water can shut a waste disposal system down, isn’t it?  If your sewage system is compromised, you must find alternate means to “do your business”.  This includes laundry, dishwashing, and bathing as well as going to the bathroom.  Truthfully, bath water and laundry water can be safely poured out on the ground in an emergency situation.  Dishwater and human waste must be handled with more care.   In cases of extremis, these can be buried safely.  A word of caution, remember where you buried it.  Now you can bury it deep where you will not be likely to ever be exposed to it again, or you can bury it shallow so that natural organisms in the soil can break it down.  If it were me, I think I would go deep.

COMMUNICATION
If you lose your comms, you can’t contact loved ones and cannot get information about the emergency.  We rely on TV, phones, and the internet every day for information and communication.  If those systems are compromised or power is out, how are you going to find out emergency info or keep in contact with loved ones?  A battery/hand crank radio is the best backup for receiving outside information.  For communication, the best I can suggest is to have a plan.  Your plan could be to send smoke signals for all I care.  So long as your plan works, it is a valid plan.  Just make sure you have one, two is better.

BUGGING OUT
If the loss of utilities is too troublesome for you, you can always bug out.  The key here is to have transportation and a destination to bug out to.  It is always a great idea to have a means to bug out, a place to bug out to, and multiple options for which way to get there.  Always have more than one route planned.  You never know when Murphy’s Law will make your primary path impassible.

That is about it for losing utilities.  Being prepared to deal with this eventuality will put you way ahead of the curve in preparing for other specific threats including many of the things that man or nature can throw at you..  You already have a lot of what can go wrong covered.

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