Ragnar Benson - Ragnar's Urban Survival - A Hard-Times Guide to Staying Alive in the City

At the first sign of trouble, purchase twice as many large plastic tarps, plastic barrels, and plastic pipes and gutters as you expect to need. All of this is very inexpensive, so there's no need to skimp or cut corners.

Been there, done that people report that out-in-the-open, obvious water collection systems on roofs, in parks, or in parking lots are virtually as much of a threat to survivor security as sending the young men out with buckets. These collection devices are easily spotted by members of the enemy forces, who quickly learn what this is all about. Many really don't like it.

Expect them to respond by posting sentries or by tearing up the collection system, if they can reach it. The end result is often predictable, especially when no backup collection supplies are available. You die from lack of water.

City parks with ponds and streams are found in most cities in the United States.

Ice and snow are sometimes sources of water for city survivors. Just hope you also have an excellent energy supply. Ice and snow as sources of drinking water are not as effective as we might wish. Very few examples of using ice and snow are on record as sources of supply for city survivors. Once melted, snow and ice water should be treated the same as any other scrounged surface water. Great quantities of often scarce energy are required to melt ice. Humans cannot normally pack in enough calories to continually exist on ice water thawed in the mouth. Ice has to be melted first or users sucking on it for hydration will risk hypothermia. Cold-weather native survivors can only use solid ice when they are on an extremely high-calorie diet of mostly animal fat.

It may be green and stale, but little ponds nestled in parks in our cities can be a source of drinkable water.

PURIFYING WATER

At the retreat, allow any surface water to stand and settle quietly in covered containers for at least 12 hours. This isn't always possible, but it is recommended. Is it necessary to mention that water should be brought from an area of as little pollution and contamination as possible?

When the storm sewer discharge is south and north is just as safe, go north. Yet don't be surprised when this isn't practical. Even though this may be a time of great exposure, fill each container in as sanitary and chunk-free a manner as possible. Our practical objective is a supply of drinking water. It is nice if it has as few big brown lumps and stringy green things as possible, but the objective is life-giving water. Obviously not much water ends up hauled by the fellow who tarries overlong and is shot.

Great numbers of really slick little water purification gizmos are available, mostly from stores selling to recreational survivors, backpackers, skiers, and cyclists. All work nicely, but are expensive and not really designed for long-term city survival requiring purification of hundreds of gallons.

Using a Sand Filter

For practical survival use, we'll need a sand filter rack. After the water has settled for 12 hours, carefully pour the top 90 percent of the water through a sturdy fine-weave cloth and then into the sand filter rack. Discard any really scummy settlings. Thoroughly clean the cloth and bucket, setting them out in the wind and sun for a day cr two to purify.

Construct sand filter racks by building a box out of 2-x-10 lumber or something equivalent. Fill with coarse or fine sand. Either will work, but of course they will have much different speeds of filtration. Place the sand-filled rack directly over a seamless plastic sheet. Fastening a piece of screen from an old-fashioned screen door makes the process a bit easier and more convenient. This screen must be replaced every 60 days or so. Let's hope the trouble doesn't last that long.

The sand-filled rack, which could weigh almost 300 pounds, is placed on a slight angle. The plastic collection sheet slopes down into a clean collection bucket. Water poured through the 10-inchdeep sand gradually seeps through to the sheet and runs into the clean storage bucket.

Several additional maintenance chores are in sight here. Unless survivors have an endless supply of clean, new sand with which to replace that in the rack, they will have to empty the filter once a week to spread the sand in a thin layer out in the sun to purify. Sand in heavily used filters will get disgustingly grody very quickly, especially in humid, warm climates or where first settling is rushed or not done at all. Placing very many green and brown chunks in the filter degrades it faster. Carefully clean and dry the underlying plastic sheet.

There is great discussion about specific water purification methods and chemicals. True enough, most survival stores have material that can kill more little water critters than bleach. If you are so inclined, lay in a large to huge supply of this chemical now Most people, however, are going to have to use common household bleach because that is what is available and what they can afford and find.

Using Bleach

Common chlorine bleach is in a category with pickling salt for city survivors. At the first sign of trouble, clean out your local store of all you can afford, carry home, and store. It is an essential material. Any excess easily becomes trading stock.

Calcium hypochlorite, available in powder form from most plumbing and hot-tub suppliers, is also a valuable chemical for water treatment. Makers of homemade explosives are already familiar with this stuff. You need add only 1 ounce of calcium hypochlorite per 325 gallons of filtered water to purify it. The cost is about $5 per pound or 31 cents per ounce. But, cost aside, it doesn't keep as well as the laundry bleach. The only way I know to store calcium hypochlorite is to seal it in a heavy plastic bag and then again in a wide-mouth plastic bottle. The best storage life I can get is about 18 months; after that, it swells and is neutralized as a result of sucking humidity out of the air.

Both calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite can be used to make bleach at home. Generally, survivors are best served who leave their excess hypochlorite supplies safely sealed in plastic bags and jars. But if your hypochlorite starts to go out of condition and/or there is lots of space in the old bleach bottles, consider using the chemical to top up your bleach supply.

Common bleach and hot-tub chlorinator found in many stores can be used to help purify water.

Most packets of hypochlorite purchased from plumbing or hot-tub suppliers will be about 65-percent strength. Here's how to proceed to make bleach:

There are 128 ounces in a U.S. gallon. Two ounces of hypochlorite chemical in a gallon produces a 1-percent solution. This is not sufficiently strong-it has to be at least 3 percent. Add 6 ounces of chemical to a gallon of clean water, add the stopper, and let it sit overnight. Use this solution at the customary rate of 1 ounce per gallon to purify water. Eight ounces of hypochlorite will produce a 4-percent solution and 10 ounces produce a 5percent solution.

Poorly filtered, dirty water requires higher quantities of bleach as well as more time to become purified. This explains why we take care to settle and filter our water. Because bleach will be difficult to impossible to replace, we will want to use as little as possible. To purify 1 gallon of water, add 1 ounce of liquid bleach (3- to 5-percent solution) and let it stand for at least 12 hours.