I hope you enjoyed our webinar on Emergency Water a couple days ago. I hope you are now better equipped to make sure you have safe drinking water in any situation. If you missed part of the webinar, or would like to view it again, click here to watch it now: http://www.smartlivingshopper.com/store/gw_webinar/liveweb-survival-mom-071416/?token=Dds9J3RRqfKgLq1N&gw_reg_email=lisa%40lisabedford.com
We’ll keep the webinar up until midnight Sunday. Please invite your friends and family to view the webinar replay. Don’t forget about the special offer at the end of the webinar.
I promised to follow up the webinar by answering some of your questions. This ended up being a rather long email, so I hope you don’t mind.
Question: What is the best brand of bottled water to purchase?
Answer: I recommend AquaFina (made by Pepsi). AquaFina is available all over the US, the water is pure, and they have good quality control systems in place. In addition, they have a strong interest in ensuring they have a consistent quality product. I like these small bottles of water (half-liter bottles), as opposed to the large five-gallon bottles. The small bottles allow you to easily monitor how much water you are consuming. In addition, when you remove some water from a five-gallon bottle, you expose the rest of the water to possible contamination. By having the small bottles, you use what you need, and keep the rest of the water sealed. Some additional points:
Keep a two-week supply of bottled water. One gallon per person per day (1/2 gallon for drinking and ½ gallon for cooking, hygiene, etc.)
Keep the water sealed and store it in a cool, dark location.
Rotate it out every 12 months or so.
You can read about how to make your own bottled water and more about water storage on my blog.
Question: How fast does the Survival Still produce safe drinking water?
Answer: The rate of production of the Survival Still depends on the amount of heat that is applied. Some heat sources are hotter than others. For example, you can bring water to a slow boil, or a rapid boil. The production rate of the Survival Still typically ranges between one quart and two quarts per hour.
Question: What if you don’t have enough fuel?
Answer: If you don’t have enough fuel to use a water distiller, you will have to resort to some other method or water purification, such as chlorine tablets.The question about fuel is often a matter of priorities. After a disaster, there is often plenty of potential fuel around. Remember that the Survival Still can be used with any heat source, including a simple campfire, as long as it’s hot enough to boil water.
Question: Can I get a copy of the Red Cross brochure?
Answer: Yes, I have created a free e-book that includes the Red Cross pamphlet and some more information. Click here to get your copy. Note that this is not the ebook that is included in the webinar package.
Question: If I can’t distill water to purify it, what’s the next best way to go?
Answer: The ranking of water purification processes is
1. Distillation
2. Boiling
3. Chlorination.
Boiling and chlorination should be used with a filter. and you must use your knowledge about the situation to determine which method is best. For example, as you know from the webinar, you do NOT want to use boiling and chlorination on waters contaminated by a chemical spill, such as the one on the Elk River is West Virginia in January 2014.
Question: What are your thoughts on water purification tablets?
Answer: If they are chlorine tablets, they are good. Chlorine tablets specifically made for disinfecting drinking water can, in fact, be more effective than liquid bleach, because they are comprised of a more stable form of chlorine. Chlorine tablets and/or bleach should definitely be part of your water prep kit. Remember that you MUST follow the instructions, and also keep the limitations of chlorine in mind; ie. that it is only effective against biological contaminants.
Question: What is the shelf life of bleach?
Answer: First, let me remind you that you should only use basic, non-scented, non-color-safe bleach. The shelf-life of bleach is one year from the manufacture date.
So how do you tell when a bottle of bleach was manufactured? I wrote to Clorox to ask them how their date code system works, and this is what they told me:
“We follow the Julian date code system. An example of our code would be G18099. There may be other plant information that follows, but that is not important to the date of the product itself. The first two characters of the code will be the plant, in the example above that would be G1. The third character of the code is the year the product was manufactured. In the example above that would be 2008. The forth, fifth and sixth characters stand for the day of the year the product was manufactured on. In the example above that would be the ninety-ninth day of the year or April 8th.”
It would be helpful to write the expiration date on the bleach carton when you are placing it with your prep kit. Remember to keep the bottle sealed, and store it in the dark at room temperature and to replace your supply every 12 months.
Question: You mentioned that you drink distilled water all of the time. Please expand on this.
Answer: We live in a toxic world. You’ve heard of the chemical spill that happened in West Virginia in January 2014. Chemical spills happen all the time without our knowledge. Business Week reported that in 2013 there were more than 3,000 REPORTED chemical spills from industries into streams and rivers. This does not include unreported chemical spills, and chemical spills by the government and military.
I believe it is very important to consume only the cleanest water at all times, which means freshly distilled water. My family’s business produces the best water distillers in the world, and I recommend their products. These distillers are made in the USA. If you are interested in learning more about these products, go here https://myaquanui.com/?a_aid=806874 and use the coupon code 574682.
Question: I’ve had a few people ask me questions about specific brands of filters.
Answer: I don’t talk about specific brands of filters or other products. Let me expand on filters a little bit. I am not anti-filter as some people say. I do, however, want you to be aware of the inherent flaws in all filters.
1. Even when brand new, filters don’t stop everything.
2. Filters deteriorate over time and deterioration means failure.
3. When filters fail they let contaminants through without your knowledge.
These points are true for all filters. Are some filters better than others? Yes, but they are all filters. There are also filters that are targeted towards certain types of contaminants. For example, carbon filters are typically quite good at removing organic chemicals. One type of filter that does not fit with Red Cross recommendations is one that you suck on like a straw.
Question: What about pool water?
Answer: Pool water can be used with a Survival Still. As can lake water, pond water, ocean water, etc. Of course, you should always start with the cleanest, safest source of water that is available to you.
Question: What about chemicals that have a lower boiling point than water?
Answer: There can be chemicals that have a lower boiling point than water, as well as gases that are trapped in water. When using the Survival Still, you want to bring the bottom pot to a full boil with the lid off before you place the Survival Still on top of the bottom pot. If there are chemicals with a lower boiling point than water, these will vent away. By the time the water is at a full boil, the steam that comes off should be just water vapor, and this is the time that you should put the Survival Still on top and then the top pot.
Question: I’ve read that distilling water removes even the good minerals that the human body needs and it isn’t healthy to drink only distilled water for long periods of time?
Answer: Let me answer this is a very straightforward way; my family has only consumed distilled water for the past thirty years, and my family will consume only distilled water for the rest of our long lives. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about water in our society. This particular piece of misinformation has been spread by companies that market filters promising to “take the bad stuff out and leave the good stuff in.” This is a completely ridiculous statement. The fact is, water has a number of very important functions in our body, but we do not get our minerals from water. We get minerals from the plants and animals we eat.
Other people will say that if water is too pure it will “leach” minerals from our body. There are a number of problems with this statement. First, the term “leaching” is a geological term, not a biological term. Second, there is no such thing as pure water in your body. As soon as you consume pure water, it mixes with your bodily fluids. If you are concerned about this, take a mineral supplement.
This was only a few of the questions that you asked. Thank you for you time and I hope you find this information valuable in keeping your family healthy and safe.
The webinar and the special offer will be available until midnight Sunday. Again, here’s the link: http://www.smartlivingshopper.com/store/gw_webinar/liveweb-survival-mom-071416/?token=Dds9J3RRqfKgLq1N&gw_reg_email=lisa%40lisabedford.com
Also, here’s the link to the special offer: http://www.smartlivingshopper.com/store/gw_webinar/liveweb-survival-mom-071416/?buy&gw_reg_email=lisa%40lisabedford.com
Thanks!
Glenn Meder
Survival Still