# water in case of a nuclear fallout?



## MuManJack (Mar 27, 2013)

Whats a way to obtain water after a nuclear bomb gos off? It's one of my main concerns.1. If I saisailing the 7 seas can I use the ocean water to drink? What do I need to make it happen? And 2. Can I somehow purifie the water from a nearby lake that has been contaminated by nuclear fallout? Thanks Concerned Conn resident.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Nuclear question I don't have the answer for you, someone will help out. On the ocean they have fairly expensive desalination equipment now and can just take in water from the ocean, treat, filter and drink. When I say expensive its all relative since you have to drink or die rich If I were going to consider a sail boat for a bug out vehicle on the ocean I'd certainly include that in my investment.


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## AsteroidX (Dec 11, 2012)

Good question. Especially with Fukushima an ongoing risk. Heres a couple articles I pulled up with a few suggestions. It appears micron size of the particle and the filter is the answer as well as burying larger stores. Im not sure if above ground enclosed stores will be good but rainwater collection systems will only collect the radioactive material and unless filtered will go into whatever you use it for.

Ch. 8: Water - Nuclear War Survival Skills

Reverse Osmosis RO Water Filters Can Remove Radioactive Contaminants

Reverse Osmosis RO Water Filters Can Remove Radioactive Contaminants


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

The water itself can't be radioactive. The minerals disolved in the water can be and so a still will make it drinkable - whether you are on the ocean or using lake or stream water. You will want to get rid of the residue that is left after you distill the water carefully so as not to further contaminate your area. I would distill about 50% of the water and place the rest in a pit that was at least 20 feet below and 100 feet from where you are. If the ground is flat (not used to that here) then get it further away and always bury it at least four feet below the surface. It may eventually pollute the ground water so you want it to be far enough away that it won't affect your garden or water supply. Rain, after a week or so should be free from radioactive material but it is always a good idea to filter or distill it for drinking water. The rain drops condense on dust particles high in the atmosphere and you want to get that dust out before you drink it. The dust can carry viruses, and environmental pollutants that might be harmful.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Found a good website. Ch. 8: Water - Nuclear War Survival Skills the article is almost all the way down on the long, long page. To long to go into details but, they say distillation isn't all that effective. Another good reason to store water ahead of time. Don't forget the water in your hot water heater, fill the bathtub and even the top water tanks on the toilets. Use cardboard boxes or garbage cans, almost anything and put a garbage can liner (no scent, no insect killer) in it to store water.


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## IngaLisa (Jan 31, 2013)

Some one posted a great picture of a pressure canner being used to distill water. I would have to do that at home, because, if my RO didn't work, our water is not good. Too much poop spread on the fields has left us with a high nitrate level. I will have to get water out of my well manually, and then distill it. :/ I am just hoping we can keep our aquifer usable. They are taking so much water for CAFOs and mines in my state.


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## MuManJack (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks for the helpful links. I learned more about water today then my whole life. Hope I can help you all back sometime.


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## john10001 (Mar 20, 2013)

I believe that Lockheed Martin has just developed some sort of new lower cost way of extracting fresh drinking water from sea water without the regular costly desalinisation process currently used.

I don't believe there would be a way to purify water from nuclear contamination? It will be contaminated for a very long time with deadly radiation. You would have to find water that wasn't contaminated.

The only way we would be able to turn sea water into drinking water I can think of would be to boil the sea water and capture the condensation from the steam down another tube into a container. Other than that, if there is someway you can spread out a large polythene sheet over the ground, raise it a bit in the centre with a bit of string hanging down and a container underneath, that would collect condensation from the ground, grass, plants etc and it would drip back into the cup. Think of how a tent collects condensation on the inside and it goes down the sides or out the vents. Same sort of thing. 

And finally the other thing I can think of is a big polythene bag several feet in lengths and a few feet wide. You put this over say a bunch of branches and leaves on a small tree, bush or shrub, tie it firmly and allow it to have some manoeuvrability. Condensation will collect on that from the plant and moisture it contains evaporating in the sun, you collect the water to drink. Wouldn't work though in any place with radiation that has just been nuked as it would all be contaminated. This would be for areas you get to away from ground zero and any fallout.

Those are a few of the limited things I know on collecting water just from survival type programmes I watched. 

I was actually planning a holiday island hopping in Cape Verde back for early 2009 time but this is when TSHTF and everything went a bit south economically for everyone so my plans unfortunately cancelled. 

Still have all the maps, guide book and everything for the trip. 

Cape Verde gets very little rain so I needed to plan for water before I went as well as other things especially if I was going to be exploring up in the mountains etc. 

The boats you take between islands have poor safety record and they lose one every year or so and a lot of people as well. Unfortunately shark invested waters too. So I had plans for quite a few areas of concern and scenarios ahead of holiday there and island hoping. E.g. small inflatable dinghy. Hydration packs. Water collection stuff. 

Also I was researching into taking a small knife and also finding out about gun laws there because one of the islands in particular only had three police on the entire island and tourists often get robbed at knife point especially ones that look like an easy target. 

If you're fishing on the beach, don't have much with you other than your fishing rod and a big knife around your waist, they are not as likely to be asking for your money or taking that risk


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## prep2death (Apr 10, 2013)

Im not 100% sure having never survived nuclear fallout, but my go to plan is to use rainwaiter (i am aware of acid rain) but then double vapor distill it to get all the contaminated minerals out.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

If the water you are going to distill/filter has fallout materials in it, it should not be brought into your shelter. Another good reason to have a detector to check for radiation. Besides, if you shelter at home, your hot water tank will take care of you for a while.

Check out http://www.oism.org/nwss/s73p919.htm


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

If the first rain is within 2 days of a bomb blast then it could be contaminated but after that the rain water should be normal. In either event distill it and it is drinkable. You will have to clean the distiller flask to get rid of any residue but you should plan on doing that everytime you distill anything anyway.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

The pundits say 90% of the fallout will be down in the first few days. However I can't think of an easy way to distill the probably contaminated water easily without a good source of heat that won't call attention to you or you're location. Remember your hot water heater is a source of 30 to 50 gallons of good water, if you shut down the main valve coming into your house.

A good reference is Ch. 8: Water - Nuclear War Survival Skills


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

paraquack said:


> The pundits say 90% of the fallout will be down in the first few days. However I can't think of an easy way to distill the probably contaminated water easily without a good source of heat that won't call attention to you or you're location. Remember your hot water heater is a source of 30 to 50 gallons of good water, if you shut down the main valve coming into your house.
> 
> A good reference is Ch. 8: Water - Nuclear War Survival Skills


You seem to have pretty good info on water so I have a question. If a house has a sump, do you think the water that seeps through the earth and gets into the sump would be safe enough to run it through a ceramic filter and use as drinking water? Or, does the sump lead to a way for the contaminated water to make its way into the house that is impossible to prevent?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

According to the site above, earth filtering is better than using charcoal. He has a good paragraph about earth filtering near the end of the page. I would have to agree with you, that is makes total sense as long as there is not way for water to bypass the earth. My first house had a basement window well that was almost a straight shot thru pea gravel to the pea gravel that covered the french tile going to the sump. I'd have to bury the window well to prevent contaminated water from going thru the window well. I'll have to keep it in mind if the SHTF.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks for the reply. - This was an idea that literally came to as I read your last post. I will have to do some studying on it as I may have a solution that I did even know about. Thanks again!

My current house has no window wells to worry about. The house we plan to build in AZ (if we can ever sell our current house) will have no basement, beyond a small root cellar. So that will present a whole new set of problems. But, I'll worry about those if we ever get an offer and a closing date.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I'll have the same problems, sooner i hope, than later. where in AZ?


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Cochise co. About 70 miles SE of Tucson. - As the crow flies, it is only about 20 miles due east of Tombstone. But since there is a mountain range between us and Tombstone, it makes for about an hour drive. :razz:


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