Last Wednesday, residents of Nibley, Utah were put under a water ban for 48 hours.
No, it’s not drought conditions that cause the town to order the water ban. Not a water main break or power outage, either. It was
diesel fuel contamination that fouled the water. Washing with such water can cause health issues. Eating food cooked with such water can cause health issues. And drinking the water? Well, best not to go there, either.
Can you imagine not being able to drink, cook with, or wash in the water that comes free-flowing from your faucet? That’s exactly what the residents of Nibley had to put up with last Wednesday. In fact, they are still under a partial water ban, 5 days later.
If a city official posted a note on your door stating you were not to use your water for 48 hours, how would you fare?
We’ve talked about water storage a lot on this blog, and for good reason. Usually it’s about drought and its nasty effects. But as we see here, that’s not the only reason you could be forced to go without water.
So what can you do to have water when your main supply is suddenly unusable?
- Water storage
Having water barrels or some form of water storage will help see you through until your water supply becomes usable again. We have three different sizes of water barrels (
15 gallon,
30 gallon, and
55 gallon), and a
160 gallon water reserve that can stack to create to create a
320 gallon water reserve. Of course, you may not have room for such large containers. Fortunately, you still have options for water storage in smaller containers, such as 5-gallon containers, bottles, cans, and
pouches. These smaller containers make storing water easier in smaller homes and apartments where a 55-gallon water barrel just simply won’t work.
- Water filters
Sometimes you just don’t have room for water barrels. Fortunately, water filters and purifiers are small and don’t take up a lot of space. They are capable of turning all kinds of water unsuitable for human consumption to clean, drinkable water. Remember though, water filters won’t work for chemical-based contamination, like a diesel spill, so that comes back to water storage.
- Water purifiers
Water purifiers are another option for getting clean water. Instead of filtering out the baddies, water purifiers kill the harmful substances in the water. For example, the SteriPEN Emergency Handheld Water Purifier uses ultraviolet (UV) light to eliminate over 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Another option are purification tablets, which are effective against those nasty protozoa, bacteria, and viruses using the same proven technology as in municipal water supplies. Compact and lightweight, they make a great travel-sized option for purifying water.
Unfortunately, water purification won’t remove diesel fuel from your tap water, either…again, coming back to water storage as the only viable long-term solution.
As you can see, having a proper water storage will help you get through those unexpected water bans. We can never know for sure when something like that will happen, but we can always be prepared for when they do come.
For a full list of water storage and water filter options, check out our
water storage page and
water filter page.
