Three Simple Yet Effective Rain Water Harvesting Methods
Let’s face it, life is not perfect and in fact, at times it can be pretty harsh and cruel, and unfortunately, that means that disaster can potentially strike at any time.
These disasters in question could come in a variety of different forms, including: Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, economical collapse, rioting and martial law, and much more beside.
As the saying goes “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” and in the event of an emergency or natural disaster of any kind, wouldn't you want to do all you can to ensure that you and your loved ones are well prepared and well looked after?
Water for example, is an extremely essential commodity that many of us take for granted. In the event of a natural disaster, or even if you find yourself alone in the wild for that matter, you will need a sustainable supply of clean and fresh drinking water, which is where rain water harvesting methods come into the mix.
Here’s a look at three simple, yet highly effective rain water harvesting methods.
Old guttering, pipes, groundsheets or tarps -
It doesn't matter whether you're in an urban environment, out on the trail, in the wilderness, by the coast, or anywhere else for that matter, you will still need fresh drinking water as soon as you possibly can.
One of the simplest yet most effective rain water harvesting methods you could ever think of, is to basically use a stretched out tarp or some old guttering or pipes to harvest any rain water.
Basically you will set up old guttering or pipes close to your camp or where you've hunkered down, and will use them to collect the rain.
A top tip is to set them up in trees and bushes as the leaves and foliage will help to allow even more rain down your guttering system.
From here you basically angle the pipes into a storage container of some sort, and hey presto.
Collecting your water can be as simple as this!
Just some guttering and a catchment area, in this case, an old oil drum.
Obviously some good filtration would be needed after collection in order to ensure clean, safe drinking water, but for 'grey water' usage this method is perfectly fine.
Safe for flushing toilets and watering the garden.
Catchment areas –
Basically, catchment areas are specially designed vessels which can be placed either on rooftops, or on the ground, that are used to catch and store rain water.
Many catchment areas on rooftops for example, will make use of guttering systems like we looked at previously, and will allow rain water to flow down the pipes and be collected in specially designed vessels.
- With roof catchment areas however, you need to be wary of the roofing material in question.
For example, lead or metallic painted roofs are not recommended as they can leak contaminants into the rain water.
The standard water butt is your first choice and this one is probably one of the smallest size of catchment area for sensible rain water harvesting at 230L capacity.
However, this type of water butt only costs around £50 and represents good value for money.
Defenately more than one will be needed - ideally four butts coupled up together giving you just under a massive 1000 litres for £200 is well worth considering
With nearly double the capacity of the water butt above, this is a slimline, heavy duty catchment area giving you 450L of water storage.
The price you will pay is significantly higher though, at around £235. But you are getting a high grade product.
If space is a concern, then this type is worth looking at as it will sit close to a wall measuring, 125cm high x 110cm wide x 46cm deep.
Pre filtering and catchment -
Being able to capture your rain water easily is essential. A pre filter is also a good idea to have 'in-line' that intercepts any large debris or rodents!
You will still have to treat the water to get safe, drinkable water, but by adding the pre filter you can at least get rid of some of the big stuff.
This type of catchment method will attach to round or square downpipes and do the first stage filtering for you.
Not too expensive at around £30 but very effective at providing a directed water feed into your catchment water butts.
Basic collection and storage devices –
If you really find yourself away from civilisation and lacking resources, sometimes you may literally find yourself in a survival situation in which you will need to make do with whichever resources you can find.
In these events, basic storage and collection devices such as empty bottles or containers will work just fine and can actually provide you with a selection of pretty effective rain water harvesting methods.
If you are looking to use empty plastic bottles to store your water, it’s recommended that you use a knife or sharp implement, and remove the narrow top of the bottle to help open it up and increase the storage capacity. By doing this, you make the opening larger and therefore allow more rain water to make its way inside.
If you have, or can find, multiple bottles or similar containers, set them up strategically and use leaves and foliage as a form of guttering system to allow more rain inside. The more you set up, the more rain water you’ll be able to harvest.
If you are harvesting rain water in this way, make sure that you secure your bottles firmly into the ground as the last thing you want is them falling over when they get too full, or being knocked over by animals perhaps.
Try digging a shallow hole and half burying the bottle and then firmly packing the soil around the edges to help hold your bottles firmly in place.
To get the most from any type of rain collection method you have to try and catch as much rain as possible.
Just about anything will do - a tarp, sheet, raincoat, groundsheet, bin liner, plastic bag... Anything to give a larger catchment area.
So, by using as big a catchment area as you can find and then funnelling that rain water towards your containers will give very fast results.
A 2,000 sq. ft roof is only 20' x 100', (6m x 30m) and if you have a pitched roof with two sides, it only has to be 20' x 50' (3m x 15m)
With only 1" (25mm) of rain you're going to be able to collect 1,250 gallons of water - that's over 5500 litres...!
If you have a house with no gutters to direct the rainfall, there's always different rain water harvesting methods that will work just as well.
Building your own system is one of them.
This wooden guttering trough makes perfect sense - especially as it can now be positioned anywhere in your back garden:
Never neglect straightforward survival methods - these rain water harvesting methods will definitely increase your chances of survival in a SHTF situation.
Don't get caught out - get prepared first.
Happy Prepping Folks.
Steve
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]]>How To Survive The Zombie Invasion
OK, So There's A Real Live Zombie Invasion
What' do you do?
Do you hunt them down?
Do you just head for the hills?
Read My UK Preppers Zombie Survival Guide And Stay Alive
Could a Zombie Invaison actually happen?
If you haven't done already, take a look at part 1 of this Zombie series for the low-down on 'could it really happen'.
If humans were being regenerated into mindless Zombies, the actual infection method could only be by an infected person (the Zombie), biting a non infected person, simple as that.
Zombie Invasion Survival Tactics
Location
Possibly your number 1 survival tactic against ANY disaster is to put as much distance between yourself and the actual danger.
The same theory applies here as well.
G.O.O.D. (Get Out Of Dodge) as quickly as possible, if not before the event. Head for the areas of least people and hunker down there.
Highly populated areas are your worst nightmare - so stay away from cities and any built up area.
As soon as you can confirm the situation, you must stop and leave everything. If you are on your way to a city, turn back.
Just take a look at the UK population map on the right and you will soon see that areas like London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham are definite no go areas..
As the old saying goes - 'Head for them there hills' and don't look back.
Zombie Invasion Survival Equipment
Rule Number 1 -
The only guaranteed way to kill a Zombie is to remove the head from the neck.
Rule Number 2 -
There is no rule number 2..!
Bashing and slashing will temporarily stop and slow an attacking Zombie down, but nothing beats rule 1 for complete elimination.
- On no account try to punch and fight off an attacking Zombie - you will loose, as just the slightest bite and their virus infected saliver will enter your body and your now infected.
Photo from ZombieLand movie
If you can't run away, then keep your distance, move fast and aim for the head. Smash it in enough and you going to do severe damage, enough for you to escape.
The more distance you can put between you and the attacker, the better.
So if you can get your hands on a shotgun, your quids in.
All other weapons are generally hand weapons and will need a bit of practice to get it right.
Essential Zombie Invasion Weapons
Click Image For Info & Best Prices
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]]>Zombie Survival Guide
Could there really be a Zombie Apocalypse?
What's your defence?
Do you attack them?
Do you just run?
Read My Preppers Zombie Survival Guide And Confront The Undead.
Could a Zombie Apocalypse actually happen?
What really are the chances of the dead rising and becoming real life killing machines, roaming our streets in search of some nice fresh human flesh to munch on.
Has there ever been any research done on this to make it a viable consideration for us preppers here in the UK?
Interestingly the answer is a surprising 'Yes' to that question, with evidence to back it up from across the world.
Evidence of how a Zombie like state could be contracted, to where the most dangerous places are to live, to how to kill a Zombie - it's quite a good subject for any prepper to see how you would survive if a Zombie Apocalypse were ever to happen.
Zombie Survival Guide Basic Facts
Mutating into a Zombie
There are a couple of ways that would easily bring about a Zombie like state in humans - these are backed up by scientific research as being very possible.
One of the top possibilities is a mixture of nerotoxins. The 'drugs' are to be found in many forms from man made to nature itself.
In fact nature has many nerotoxins readily available for the scientist to meddle with and produce mind altering drugs or 'potions'.
Snake venom, scorpion or spider all possess these dangerous toxins, as does mould! When extracted and mixed in varying proportion they have been found to significantly numb the brain and turn someone into a brain dead walking corpse.
Who knows when the next mad scientist will appear on the scene and decide to take things on step further?
Nanobots, a 21st century invention, are also a real consideration. As science gets ever closer to implanting these mind changing viruses directly into humans we could easily see the bad side of these technological wonders as they are programmed for evil.
Work on these tiny, microscopic little fellows has been ongoing for years and its proven they can be programmed to command a human to perform tasks they would otherwise refuse to do.
It's only a matter of time before someone messes with these.
photo courtesy of: HotDog.hu
Do not discard Mother Nature in this scenario either.
Only recently we saw the massive culling of dairy and farm animals when the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) virus hit the UK.
Cows displayed all kinds of very un-natural behaviour from simply falling over to full on aggression and rage.
If the virus were to spread into the human food chain then who knows what the outcome would be?
So, looks like this could, maybe, possibly happen!
But how on earth do you, a UK Prepper, actually know who is about to consume chunks of you for their lunchtime snack?
Read on to see....
The Zombie Survival Guide Signs Of A Problem!
How would you even know who is about to become a Zombie?
Once a human is infected there are various stages for the infected person to become a full blown, shuffling, mumbling, flesh hunting machine.
But, once infected, any contact via fluid or blood would immediately infect the other person as well.
These are the generally accepted stages of transformation into a full blown Zombie.
The transformation time between infection and reanimation would very from person to person.
But, once infected, any contact via fluid or blood would immediately infect the other person as well.
Reanimation into a bumbling human flesh hunter could take as little as a few hours right up to a week, just depends on the human bitten and their natural resilience to the virus.
If you were to see anyone in any of these states, then run for the hills!
Problem is, most of us actually know someone who is permanently in these states most of the time - so telling if they have been bitten may well be a problem!!
Essential Zombie Survival Guide Reading
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