2005-11-18
Emergency Water Supply for People and Horses
Ed & Laura --
The amount of water a horse needs depends on the horse, what they're eating and how hard they're working. But five to fifteen gallons a day is typical. You can probably measure what your horses drink by checking the water meter just before you leave and just after you get back from a weekend away.
Assuming 20 gal/day for the two horses and other animals, and 2 gal/day/person, you're looking at a minimum of 420 gal or about 1600 liters or a little over 2 cubic yards of water to last two weeks.
A third or more of your 140 gallons for five people are probably in your hot water heater. You just have to remember to protect it in the event of a major earthquake. There's also water in your toilet tanks, again if you protect it after a quake.
If any of your neighbors' pools survive you can use that water for both humans and livestock, but you'll probably want to remove the chlorine first. Easiest way is to pass the water through a carbon filter, though you can also use aeration or chemical precipitation or boiling. Again this is a supply that may need to be protected in the immediate aftermath of a major quake. Fast action with a big sheet of plastic might save several hundred gallons of water for later use.
In a disaster situation you can make carbon filters with rinsed charcoal, probably from wood you burn rather than out of a bag. The effectiveness of carbon filters is dependent on chemical reactions so it's proportional to surface area and contact time. Depending on the source of water, carbon filters should generally be used in conjunction with particulate filtration and disinfection. Household bleach, without any laundry additives, is a very good water disinfectant so you want to have plenty in your earthquake supplies.
If you want to be self sufficient and prepared for the worst, you should probably look into getting one of those shipping pallet tanks. They typically have a nice steel cage that protects the tank. You might also look into lighting it with a mercury vapor lamp so the UV will keep stuff from growing in it. If you plumb it in right, you can probably flush the tank a couple of times a year with water you're now putting on your lawn. You also want to make sure that tank's valves are closed most of the time, as you don't want to loose the water if the tank breaks loose from it's plumbing.
Another option would be to plan on evacuating the kids and/or horses to some place with more water after a few days. It's much easier to reopen one or two lanes of a road then it is to repair major water systems.
TTFN
Tom
Edward wrote:
The amount of water a horse needs depends on the horse, what they're eating and how hard they're working. But five to fifteen gallons a day is typical. You can probably measure what your horses drink by checking the water meter just before you leave and just after you get back from a weekend away.
Assuming 20 gal/day for the two horses and other animals, and 2 gal/day/person, you're looking at a minimum of 420 gal or about 1600 liters or a little over 2 cubic yards of water to last two weeks.
A third or more of your 140 gallons for five people are probably in your hot water heater. You just have to remember to protect it in the event of a major earthquake. There's also water in your toilet tanks, again if you protect it after a quake.
If any of your neighbors' pools survive you can use that water for both humans and livestock, but you'll probably want to remove the chlorine first. Easiest way is to pass the water through a carbon filter, though you can also use aeration or chemical precipitation or boiling. Again this is a supply that may need to be protected in the immediate aftermath of a major quake. Fast action with a big sheet of plastic might save several hundred gallons of water for later use.
In a disaster situation you can make carbon filters with rinsed charcoal, probably from wood you burn rather than out of a bag. The effectiveness of carbon filters is dependent on chemical reactions so it's proportional to surface area and contact time. Depending on the source of water, carbon filters should generally be used in conjunction with particulate filtration and disinfection. Household bleach, without any laundry additives, is a very good water disinfectant so you want to have plenty in your earthquake supplies.
If you want to be self sufficient and prepared for the worst, you should probably look into getting one of those shipping pallet tanks. They typically have a nice steel cage that protects the tank. You might also look into lighting it with a mercury vapor lamp so the UV will keep stuff from growing in it. If you plumb it in right, you can probably flush the tank a couple of times a year with water you're now putting on your lawn. You also want to make sure that tank's valves are closed most of the time, as you don't want to loose the water if the tank breaks loose from it's plumbing.
Another option would be to plan on evacuating the kids and/or horses to some place with more water after a few days. It's much easier to reopen one or two lanes of a road then it is to repair major water systems.
TTFN
Tom
Edward wrote:
How much water do horses need a day? I need 140 Gallons for people, plus all the animals. That’s a lot of water. That’s 265 two liter bottles just for the people for two weeks
From: Tom
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: Why God will Destroy Los Angeles and San Francisco
Mom --
The recommendations I recall for SoCal are two gallons per person per day for at least two days and preferably until the water systems are fixed.
Some of this can be from sources like your hot water heater and toilet tanks, but some of it should be stored in a place you can get to if your home in condemned and you can't go back inside.
If the aqueducts break, the estimates I recall are two weeks to fix. I think most of Glendale's water is from wells, so assuming that the water tables don't shift too much they shouldn't be down more then a day or two. You might have to go a few blocks to get water in Glendale and will probably have to wait in line, but it should be available.
The recommendations are a bit less here in Seattle as much of the year we can collect rain water. Still I keep emergency food, water and shelter in my Jeep.
TTFN
Tom
Carol wrote:now that's not humorous at all is Jim right do I need gallons of water
Tom wrote:Mom & Others --
Call me a profit if you must, but God will also destroy much of the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco by earthquakes for pretty much the same reasons.
TTFN
Tom
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