Urban Survival - Water Storage in Your Home

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received an Anonymous reader comment concerning potable water storage to support a “Bug In” rather than a “Bug Out”.

”We are urbanites (NYC), and our primary contingency plan is to bug-in rather than bug-out. In addition to a few cases of bottled water, I also purchased two water storage kits designed to hold 65 gallons of water in the bathtub. The kit is called the Aquapod. It is a dry bladder designed to fit inside a bathtub, which you would pull down and fill with potable water if TSHTF. If we were able to fill both of them, we would have a large supply of clean water. (We live in a high rise building, so our water supply is entirely dependent on electricity to pump water into a holding tank on the roof).”
”The only negative to the Aquapod that I see is that we would lose the use of the bathtub for hygiene. I have thought this out, though, and would probably take large pots of water into the emergency stairwell for bathing, in a long-term bug-in situation.”
For more information on AquaPod, click here: http://www.aquapodkit.com/

UrbanMan comments:

These NYC Urbanites are planning in somewhat the right direction, that is considering their water needs which is a high priority need. However even 130 gallons of water, given a planning factor or 1.5 gallons per person per day, would last 2 people about a month and a half, actually 43 days.

We thank the readers to alerting us on the AquaPod system. We plan on buying at least one, which is reasonable priced at $40 for a pump kit and tub liner.

It is problematic that these NYC Urbanites plan on “Bugging In” rather than “Bugging Out” to a safe location. UrbanSurvivalSkills.com believes that in a large scale economic collapse, pandemic, nuclear attack or whatever your flavor of scenario, the cities will be giant death traps. Certainly there will be survivors, but the density of people to the available food and water stores, bandit and gang security risks and restrictive firearms regulations in New York City making only the criminals well armed, all make it highly unlikely for a successful long term “Bug In” plan.

If I lived in New York City I would plan likewise to store sufficient water for as long of a stay as I could, but only in order to affect a “Bug Out” to a safe location at my time of choosing. I would look possibly to Up State New York or the New England area.

I build Urban Survival Bug Out Bags and would plan on several routes to various short range temporary safe locations as traveling in the city may be very difficult. Consider the refugee problem and movement flow to better plan safe routes.

I don’t know how possible it is for you to have firearms in NYC. But even a hunting shotgun and .22 pistol would be better than going un-armed.

Maybe there is other people like you in your high rise that you can count on to band together in a Urban Survival group to leverage your resources and skills. We have long said that Urban Survival is a team sport.

Good luck to you New Yorkers. Regards – Urban Man

Making the Case for a Coming Economic Collapse

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com does not represent itself as knowing much of any thing regarding how economies work or anything, however given the dire economic situation not only in the United States but all of Europe, combined with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a very probable large scale Arab/Muslim attack on Israel or even open war against Israel (because of the Flotilla incident) and what all those events will do to the economies, we believe we are facing are facing a coming large scale economic collapse.

Add in the economic blow from the oil spill in the Gulf; the North Koreans sinking South Korean ships; the Chinese emboldened to act against Taiwan (since the U.S. appears to abandoning allies); and, Iran building Nuclear weapons - all paint a black picture which holds minimal promise that we can get out of it unscathed.

The blow video, tongue in cheek as it is, illustrate the ludicrous nature of deficit spending and failing Country economic system and will take us into a collapse.

Prepare for Urban Survival, Prepare Now and Prepare well.

Urban Survival Planning – Storing Fuel

I have a lot of friends and other people visiting this site that are preparing for Urban Survival and have been in communication with me who have bought or are planning on buying gas or diesel powered generators for power after the collapse.

I urge caution here. A small generator, man portable (maybe even a 5,000 KW version) may make sense for your particular circumstances and Urban Survival Plan, however you are dependent upon fuel of course. I don’t know how long we could count on finding fuel after a collapse and any large amounts of fuel you store, even at a safe location, will have a fairly short shelf life.

Civilian fuels are not treated as military fuels are. Gas and Diesel will go bad. Even under exceptionally controlled storage, I would not expect non-treated fuel to last more than 12-18 months.

Gas breaks down, oxidizes and the lighter components will evaporate leaving a lower octane mix. There were be some particles that may clog up your engine or fuel filters. Diesel is sensitive to breakdown as well producing what people call algae or mold which is really a acidic type sludge residue.

If your gas is a blend of alcohol (gasohol) I have been informed by reliable sources that it will deteriorate even faster than standard gas.

This points to some problems you would have to solve to make a generator viable – gas storage, gas stock rotation and treatment.

There are some off the shelf fuel stabilizers that would come in handy, chief among them are:

Gold Eagle Gas Stabilizer, useable in 2 and 4 cycle engines. Eight fluid ounces treats 20 gallons of gas. Approximate cost is around $10 per 8 ounces.

Sta-bil Marine Formula, Ethanol compliant Gas Treatment, useable in 2 and 4 cycle engines and engines using ethanol. Advertised to keep fuel fresh for 12 months. Can be found in a 32 ounce bottle which would treat 320 gallons of gas. Can be used for two years after opening the bottle, which you may do as you probably have storage containers less than 320 gallons, therefore treat using one ounce per gallon of fuel. Approximate cost of $35 per 32 ounce bottle.


Star Tron SFF Diesel Additive would be a good bet for diesel fuel in storage which can be get “moldy”. Star Tron advertises that this additive can stabilize Diesel for up to two years, with one ounce treating 16 gallons. Reasonable costs at $10 a bottle.

A combination of routine replacement of fuel storage stocks and a treatment plan can make alot of difference. However, I would highly advise Urban Survivalists not to put all their eggs in one basket. I would consider fuel storage first to run vehicles, not generators, and work to use other, renewable forms of energy meaning solar and wind, for bigger static power needs. Look at portable systems that can be disassembled and re-located as needed.

A good site to visit for alternate power sources and solutions would be: http://www.solarpowerharness.com

Urban Survival Planning and Preparation – Considerations for Seniors

I have a friend who is in his mid 40’s. His father and mother are in their early 70’s and late 60’s respectively. They live a gated type suburban community of about 7o to 80 homes, with other people of retirement age.

The gentleman, we’ll call him Phil, believes there will be a collapse in his lifetime. He is mentally prepared and equipped with an M4 carbine and several handguns, a hunting rifle or two and a couple shotguns. In fact, I helped him select a scope (an EO Tech) for his carbine and we outfitted his gun with a picatinny rail and light. He is really focusing all his Urban Survival preparation efforts on firearms and is neglecting other vital areas such as food storage, Bug Out bags, a planned route to, and selection of a Safe Location. I have talked to him about packaging and storing his own survival food stocks in mylar bags and using oxygen absorbers to vacuum pack the supply.

Although dependent upon the County water supply, their home is located next to a year round pond that even has been stocked with Trout and Blue Gill. It is problematic that their gated community home is only one and a quarter miles from a state highway.

This couple owns a bumper pull 26 foot trailer, which is a God send as it gives them more viable opportunities to select Safe Locations. In fact, I have talked to them about re-locating the trailer ahead of time, to a Safe Location so the movement in their truck to the Safe Location would be much easier. Plus they could stock the trailer with additional supplies – sort of like an above ground cache.

Seniors, say people permanently retired from a linear income job, have several advantages when it comes to Urban Survival.

Advantages:

Experience, often have finished a second full career;

Don’t get exited easily;

Probably better at making decisions with an emotional detachment;

Better suited to live without all the bells and whistles of life (Television, Stereos, etc.)

Usually have extra resources, earned through a long working life, such as an RV or Camper and other equipment and material (tents, sleeping bags, firearms, etc.) that would enhance survival

Seniors also have several disadvantages:

They are older, very probably slower and maybe with a reduced personal health therefore less capable to endure physical punishment such as movements on foot over rough terrain; surviving bad weather out in the open, etc.

More likely to have a degenerative disease such as diabetes, heart condition, arthritis, osteoporosis, and/or other disease that would require medications. Medications, of course, have limited shelf life even if a Senior could overcome the problems with stocking a large enough supply of them.

I think Seniors would be much more likely to remain in their Urban location well past the point in time that a more reasonable (and younger) person would execute a Bug Out plan.

Probably the biggest advantage Senior’s have would be time. Time to plan and prepare ahead of the collapse. Time to shop and procure items that would augment and enhance their Urban Survival. Time to talk to other local seniors in order to gauge the extent of these other people accepting the possibility or probability of a collapse. Time to wargame possible solutions to reduce the disadvantages, especially in mobility, would increase their ability to rapidly withdrawal from their Urban location when necessary, and could be accomplished in a wide variety of means besides a car or truck. ATV’s, bicycles, boats and animals all can be used to create distance quickly from a threat.

I told Phil, maybe the first step is to start a Crime Watch type program in his community, bring in some key note speakers such as local police,…maybe even politicians (as distasteful as that sound) to attract local home owners. From the local Crime Watch group he would have an organization to build a survival group from. Starting small from a “check in with your neighbor” program; to a crime or threat notification system; or classes on personal protective measures; or firearms safety classes, or anything else that builds unity in the group. One last advantage is that Seniors are probably much more likely to get along, or shall we say “act like mature adults”, in larger diverse groups.

My final advice for Seniors is to minimize the disadvantages, use your advantages and, above all, prepare…..a collapse will likely happen in your lifetime.