PLAIN FOLKS PREPPING EVENT WATER LINE BREAK

 

            Nothing like starting the year off with a “plain folks prepping event”, in this case, a water line break. This is the type of event that has good odds of happening to all us plain folk sooner or later. It’s also what we call a “bolt out of the blue” as there was no warning.

            At about ten AM, yesterday we found out we had no water. We had a plan and supplies for such an event but first we needed to know as much as we could about why we had no water. A leak in the house is a different emergency than a water main break down the street.

            We use a DAN (Deploy As Necessary) guideline for what step to take and what supplies and gear to bring out.  A check with the water company told us a main had broken affecting our area and that the crews would be working on in. The expected repair time was 7 hours and no water tankers were going to be used.

            Now we knew we were on our own, we put the basic plan into operation.

            Water for drinking was no problem. We had about 3 gallons in the kitchen water cooler, plus about 5 more gallons in bottles in the refrigerator. This was not counting sodas, teas and even Egg Nog, LOL!           

            As to the toilet, the probable short duration of the situation meant we would not deploy the folding “potty chair” we have in storage. In this case, I brought out of storage our “kitty litter” buckets filled with water. The smaller ones hold 28 lbs. which works out to about 3-3.5 gallons.  That was enough to bail into the toilet tank for three flushes.

            Once the toilet was set, we used this rule: “If it’s yellow it can sit, if it’s brown it’s got to git’!”

            About four hours later we started to get “dirty water” at low pressure. We collected it up in an old pickle jar and poured it into an old kitty litter container with a handle so we could directly pour it into the bowl.

            Now it was time to clean up after dinner. We kept dishes to a minimum and had only two deep bowls, utensils, one pan, and a slow cooker to clean. Mama Donna has already started our traditional pork roast in the slow cooker before we found out about the water, so we decided to go ahead and make the sauerkraut to go with it.

            We drew the water from the kitchen cooler and heated it in our large kettle on the stove until we had drained the jug. Then I refilled the jug from a case of various sized bottles and what was left from the three gallon jug from my workshop cooler. That gave us enough water for any rinsing.

            By bedtime the water company called to say the water pressure would be up soon and to flush our lines for a few minutes to rid the water of any discoloration. A water boil advisory was NOT needed.

            So, let’s review. We had an event, one common to us all.

            We had a plan that by gaining information, we knew to “Deploy As Necessary” (DAN) only that which we needed We had the water in the various containers ready for such events. They were stores in the pantry and otherwise, taking up little space, but ready when needed.

            They cost just about zero. The kitchen jug is a normal cost. The kitty litter buckets are from having our two cats. You can find similar ones from dog food. We prefer them to the thinner plastic ones because over numerous winters they have neve frozen over and broke.

This is real, down to earth, plain folks prepping. If this sounds interesting to you, join us at our page Poor Richard and Mama Donna’s Prepping for Plain Folks or our blog, plainfolksplace.blogspot.com.