Most of us can live without power. Unless you are on life support you can survive without electricity - provided you can stay warm.

Water on the other hand.....

We are so used to running water that we don't realize how critical it is. Then there is the sewage issue.

It is these two factors which turned me from a "Well I can stay in my small town and deal with what comes." To a "Head for the Hills!!!"

This latest Navy report only confirms my worst fears. Staph, Typhoid, Hep, etc.....

You won't have time to kill you're DGI neighbors because they will be too busy dieing from disease.

Buy masks. Keep alcohal around to sterilize EVERYTHING. If you can't boil it or roast it - don't eat it and don't wear it.

No water, no waste water treatment, limited medical facilities, and an entire population which has slowly but gradually been fed antibiotics for over a decade in all meat and dairy products.

This steady diet of antibiotics in our food supply has developed incredibly antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.

It all adds up to a serious outbreak of disease.

You wanna survive Y2k? Get healthy. Study herbs. Stock up on Vodka and everclear and bleach. Get rubber gloves to handle the bodies with. Good luck all. Gonna go work on my medicine cabinet.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), August 19, 1999

Answers

GEE, ANYTHING LIKE PESTILENCE,PLAGUES'=the begining of SORROW,S mentioned in bible?---ok shadow your turn. p.s. shadow=thank,s for the free-ad,s.

-- I BELEIVE. (dogs@zianet.com), August 19, 1999.

Wise words, R.

You can't go wrong, with proper water storage. Bottled water, if the seal is not broken, lasts almost forever. Tap water, that you add extra chlorine to, lasts a year or better (I've heard lots of different numbers). You'll pay for it now, but it will be perfectly usable later, for drinking, baths, whatever, so if Y2K proves a non-event, so you'll end up even.

Store your water NOW. If everyone waits till the end of December, there will be a water shortage that has nothing to do with Y2K. 2-liter pop bottles are the best storage medium, in terms of household recyclables. The plastic in milk jugs breaks down too quick. Use those only as a last resort.

Get an eye-dropper and add 4 drops of Chlorine bleach per 2-liter bottle. Make sure it is Chlorine bleach, and not a so-called "oxygen bleach". To be able to tell, look for Sodium Hypochlorite on the label. Do not use scented bleaches.

A basic Department store filter, like Britta or Pur, will remove the chlorine taste. If the water tastes flat, pour it back and forth between two containers, to re-oxygenate it.

R is right. You can conceivably live without everything else, but you won't live without water. If you make no other prep, store water, and lots of it.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), August 19, 1999.

You don't want surfactants (soaps) or dyes (coloring agents) in the bleach, either.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), August 19, 1999.

In priority order: Shelter, Water, Fire, Food

This is from Susan Conniry's Native Skills & Wilderness School Website: Water

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 19, 1999.

Note that chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite) does not store for much more than 6 months in plastic jugs because the chlorine leeches out and you wind up with a solution of unknown concentration. Repackaging some of the bleach in a glass jug may be advisable. Or, dry calcium hypochlorite crystals can be purchased from a pool supply store and an equivalent chlorine bleach solution can be made by mixing 10 tablespoons CaHCl with a gallon of water. For about $15 you can but enough to make 100 gallons. To avoid an explosion, be sure to add the CaHCl to the water, and not vice versa.

http://y2k.ecovillage.org/y2kc3.html

"The future of civilization depends on water. I beg you all to understand this."

Jacques Yves Cousteau.

-- a (a@a.a), August 19, 1999.

I'm reviving a thread from a month ago about water. Water on my mind today, as it has been for 18 months. I live in S. California, Orange County. Today in a local paper an article caught my eye. Mind you cities out here have the proverbial happy face about Y2K and water...the county of Orange said last summer that they should be able to supply water as long as there are no long-term electric supply problems. Some cities in Orange County have their own wells and water delivery system...others rely heavily on the county district and LA county which of course grabs most of it's water from elsewhere, through a complicated system of pipelines, computer-regulated.

A clip from the article I read today goes like this:

"Mills [gen. mgr. Or. Co. Water District] told the Council that the County population, now at 2-million will reach 3-million by 2020. Water demand in the same period will increase from the 1998 total of 500,000 AFY (Acre Foot of Water, equivalent to the amount consumed by two families in one year), to an estimated 650,000 AFY. By 2020, Fullerton, and every other city in Orange County will be on the hunt for water: Chronic shortages will occur by 2010, and any increase in water availability resulting from improvements to the State Water Project, is at least 20 years away."

Not a surprise to most of us who live here, and know that cities, counties, and the state are doing their level best to increase the population density to the likeness of Tokyo.

With or without Y2K, it will be time soon for S. California, Arizona and such to sit down to the banquet table laden with consequences.

If you have never seen the documentary or read the book, here's some reading for your mythical spare time:

http://www.kteh.org/cadillacdesert/home.html

The Cadillac Desert

--Full of thought and feelings,...filling more 2 liter bottles.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 22, 1999.

And another link from the same Cadillac Desert site:

http://www.kteh.org/cadillacdesert/water.html

A Water World

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 22, 1999.

If your water has been stored and properly treated (I use 6 drops of chlorine bleach per gallon of water), the water can last for at least 3-4 years. Even if you are in doubt, you can still boil it to be on the safe side. The best place for storage is in a cool, dark spot (cellar, basement, etc). I have water that is now 18 months old. I tested the oldest stored the other day, and I'm still here and suffered no ill effects. I poured it into a glass then poured the glass of water into another glass back and forth to get oxygen into it. Still had a little bit of chlorine taste, but if you pour it into a pitcher and leave it set out, the chlorine taste will disappear. THINK WATER AND LOTS OF IT!

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 22, 1999.