Water
Phase 1
The most critical item: There have been a few times in my life when I have gone three or four days without food, but only once did I go twenty-four hours without a drop of water (or any other fluid). From that experience, I can honestly say that I would rather be four days without a bite of food than a single day without water.
Not only must you have water, but it must be safe. There are countless water-born diseases you keep for the rest of your life, and many of them will make sure that that will not be very long. Boiling is good.
At the most primitive levels hauling and, storing, are your only options. Since this would not include motorized transportation, the quantities involved would be small. Needless to say, this all makes gardening more of a challenge, but nobody said this was going to be easy.
This translates into an important priority at the outset of your adventure: Consider water above all else.
Once the initial needs are addressed, you can plan further:
- Search the area for abandoned wells or surface water, and move if necessary.
- A shallow well might be drilled through creative use of available tools and hardware.
- There are various ways you can pump water from shallow wells and cisterns
- Large clean trash bags can make it possible to store water in an otherwise unsuitable trash can.
- Think of something I haven’t suggested
I have seen places in a couple of countries where potable water was hauled in a truck, and each home had a plastic container of about 300 gallons where the purchased water was stored. There are good points to this system in that people are far more aware of how much water they use, and within limits, they can budget the usage to their incomes. In the event of a natural disaster, most would have a little water stored that they could live on for awhile. On a low budget, it might be more practical for a developing village to piece-meal the storage of water in among the household-sized tanks than to accumulate funds for a community-scale reservoir.
On the other hand, this makes the village quite precarious: Whoever controls the water can potentially control the village. If the truck failed, or the supplier wanted to triple the price of water, if gasoline became unavailable, or if somebody wanted to shut down the town, there would be a serious problem.
Some improvement is made when each home has a larger cistern for the storage of non-potable water for washing and some irrigation. In regions where rainfall is adequate, seasonal collection can significantly lighten the load.
The photo below shows a friend standing in front of his 1100-liter potable water storage. The next photo is of a pump designed to lift water out of his cistern.
. This pump cost 60% less than those currently in use in nearby households, enabling the resident to purchase additional sheet metal to channel rain water into his cistern. This appropriate technology solution utilized (a) leather from an old boot, (b) a toy marble, (c) pieces cut from the tread of an old tire.
This location receives an average of about twenty-one feet of rain in six months, and then almost nothing for the other six, making cisterns very practical here.
If cisterns were built round instead of square, you would have 27% more volume for the same perimeter material. The greater structural support provided by a circle may also offer greater earthquake resistance, as well as require less building material. This of course would only apply to cisterns built into the earth.
Beginning with the simplest, I've pulled water up from about twelve or fifteen feet using no more than a piece of plastic pipe and my bare hands.
Lower the pipe into the water until the top is a couple feet off the ground, and the other end is at least three feet under water. Place your hand firmly over the end. Yank the pipe upward, and then suddenly force it downward while releasing your hand enough to allow a gush of air to escape. Replace your hand firmly just as you get to the bottom of the downward thrust.
You repeat this a few times, and water will begin to blast out from under your hand instead of air. This pump is good for two things:
1. Illustrating a principle that could be harnessed for something worthwhile
2. Giving yourself and some friends a muddy shower.
A Simple Check Valve
Drill about a 3/8" hole through a cap for 3/4" plastic pipe, and counter-sink it from the inside. Glue it onto the end of a piece of pipe. Drop a marble down the pipe, and put a small bolt through the pipe about a half-inch above the marble.
By jerking this assembly up and down, water will be drawn up the pipe, only this time you are not relying on vacuum to do the lifting.
A more substantial valve could be made from pipe fittings as shown here. As weight accumulates, perhaps it could be mounted with a spring to more easily manage the action.
If your well is shallow enough for you to draw water up by suction you can mount a hand pump at the top.
I actually made a hand pump so that I could water a garden from a shallow well I had put down. It was a real work of junk, but it functioned.
I put down the above-mentioned garden well through a technique known as “jetting”. Jetting is what happens when you push a gushing water hose against the ground and it begins to dig its way in. Water erodes the soil directly in front of the blast, and washes it back out of the hole around the hose, and into your face and shoes.
With a handful of fittings from a hardware store and a few simple hand tools, I was able to connect the end of the garden hose to a six-foot piece of ½” galvanized pipe, and then add other bits and pieces to the drill string as the work progressed.
By cutting a short piece of pipe (usually called a “nipple” – I didn’t name it) with a hacksaw as shown, and coupling either piece to the end of the pipe, the process was considerably faster.
It helped to repeatedly raise the pipe a couple feet and force it downward into the hole. This caused the inertia of the water in the pipe to exert tremendous force against the bottom, and also helped the sharp edges of the pipe to cut.
In addition, I would twist the drill string clockwise as it struck the bottom of the hole and return it slightly counter-clockwise as I raised it. This would help the bit cut, while insuring that none of the pipe fittings twisted loose. A large pair of vice-grip pliers made an excellent handle.
One other tip: Don’t drop any tools down the hole. It’s ok to be a klutz, as long as you know you’re a klutz and take the time to compensate. I made an anti-klutz shield from a piece of heavy plywood with a drill-string-sized hole in it. By setting the plywood up on some blocks, I was allowed room for the mud and water to escape to somewhere besides my shoes.
There is a story about this well for the amusement of those considering me a nut or a liar, the amazement of those into weird, or the interest of those of mystical experience. This has nothing to do with anything technical, so the none-of-the-aboves can skip this.
When I was considering the site for this well I was assuming I’d have to go down a significant distance. A couple hundred feet in one direction there was an old hand-dug well that went down 65 feet before striking water. About a hundred and fifty yards in another direction, there was a well that went down 45 feet, and produced plenty of water.
In choosing a spot for this well I first considered consulting a “water witch” as my dad had tried in the past, but that seemed a little too occult for my tastes – not judging anybody here, we’re all different and I respect that. So I figured I could just pray and ask God where He put the water (for real). I tend to push it with almost anybody, and in all fairness that includes God. So I figured that if He’s really God, he could put the water wherever He wanted to.
“OK God, I’d like it near that tree, not too far from the door of this shack”. I struck water at six feet, but the day was young so I continued to a depth of twenty eight feet – six hours and a sore back later. I became suspicious about the value of the other twenty-two feet, when everything below the six foot level was solid decomposed granite.
It turned out that this layer of soft rock had trapped a stream of surface water that I was able to trace to a mild seep a little distance off, where the surface of the ground dropped away slightly. The only evidence of this was a type of plant normally found only near streams or ponds. With the combination of a 12V bilge pump and the hand pump working simultaneously I was never able to pump it dry while filling a 55 gal. drum, during an entire Southern California summer. Thanks God. Survival itself is not life – a rock can “survive”, but life is a platform, for so much more.
A Little Bit More
It's nice to be able to put down a well when you have an unlimited supply of pressurized water to play with, but it makes a little more sense to learn how to do it in places where water has to be imported in buckets.
A drop-bit consists of a cutting-end, connected to a hammer-end. The whole thing is then dropped down the hole on a rope or cable. As the cutter hits the bottom, the hammer lands on top of it and gives it another kick. The hammer portion is then raised and lowered repeatedly to drive the cutter into the rock or soil. This hammer action also works in the up-direction, to free the bit when it gets stuck in the bottom of the hole.
Periodically, the assembly is withdrawn, and the section below the 1-1/4" coupler is removed and emptied.
The reason this project is a status-2, is that although I have produced a bit that basically works, I feel there is room for a lot of improvement. This assembly was made from off-the-shelf hardware available from most home-improvement stores. The photo shows what I've developed so far. Note the spare bit above and to the left of the hammer assembly.
The bit is considered "dry" because a continuous stream of water is not being forced down a drill-string. Sometimes however, a half-gallon or so might be poured down the hole to soften the bottom. It is helpful at such times to pour the water down the rope, so it does not fill the bottom with mud washed from the sides of the hole.
You will find that different soil/rock conditions will need different cutter sections. Some will produce a nice core from a round empty cutter, and others will require a pair of flaps to trap loose soil or mud. In some cases you might do cutting with one bit and soil removal with another.
For a basic cutter, cut four teeth in the bit at the bottom.
I made a bit for removing loosened soil and thick mud by threading a carriage-bolt through the bit and a couple of sheet-metal flaps, a couple inches above the bottom.
The flaps wrapped around the bolt the same way hinge pieces wrap around their pin.
A different form that could be helpful for getting out fine sand and mud, after you've found the water table, is shown here.
This
mud bucket is lowered on its own rope.
Make no mistake: This well is a lot of work, and could certainly be improved. It does however, make poking a hole in the ground possible.
During the process, be fanatical about regularly checking the status of all joints, so you don't wind up with a half-drilled well being blocked by a half-there drill assembly. I didn’t learn this lesson the easy way.
Phase 2
Although individual household storage may be practical at any level of development, it would be important for the village to own the source of water and the means of distributing it.
With the source of water secure, a village-wide plumbing system could be developed. Optimally however, each residence should have storage for both potable and non-potable water. Such distributed storage would increase accountability and awareness for the conservation of this most precious and limited commodity. There should also be some provision for the collection and recycling of grey-water for agricultural applications. Bottom line: Use every drop wisely.
Such care and concerns may be unthinkable in our current paradigm of plenty, but they will ultimately concern us all, as they currently concern most of the world.
Phase 3
Residents of any sustainable community will heat their water through some renewable source of energy such as biomass or solar. Even wind can heat water if it is converted into electricity and fed to a heating element in the water. The advantage of using wind this way is that electrical regulation is unnecessary as long as you have water to heat.
It might be practical to design a hybrid system in which electrical power from wind is used for lighting, etc., and any excess I used to heat water.
Although these next three projects are also found in another section, their importance within this context is worth more than simply telling you to go look somewhere else.
I apologize that these water heating projects are also covered (in more detail in some cases) in the section on energy. My rational however is that they are quite relevant to this subject as well. I bring this up to spare you the time in case you have already read, or intend to read the section on energy.
I did an experiment for a couple of weeks, where I bathed with no more than two gallons of scalding water (diluted with cold water as required of course). The technique was to use warm suds in a pool about an inch deep in the bottom of the tub.
I was surprised that I was able to get a very thorough bath and rinse, and still have hot water left over. The real value of this experiment was that I demonstrated heating the water in a cardboard box!
The contraption was basically three layers of foil-lined cardboard, with a double layer of glass over it. Don’t underestimate the value of the foil. Although totally lacking in insulating value, shiny aluminum reflects infrared radiation. Considering that thermal radiation increases with the fourth power of the absolute temperature, this loss can be significant unless you enjoy cold baths – ugh!
The water was heated in a couple of black-painted gallon milk jugs. They were resting on a shallow sheet-metal pan also painted black. With this cheap simple arrangement, water would still be too hot to use directly for some time after sunset.
When I returned to a more "civilized" bathing pattern, I began using it as a solar cooker, and found nothing I couldn't "crock-pot" during the course of a day. These challenges included beans, and even baked potatoes. For proper cooking, the food needs to be in a dark container. The cheap black or dark blue enameled cookware common to supermarkets and developing nations is ideal.
In all fairness, I need to add that most of these experiments took place during the summer time, but the potential for year-round usage is obviously there.
Another important detail is that it must either be propped at an angle so the sun can shine directly into it on its path, or set up some kind of a reflector arrangement.
Wood Stove Water Heater
A simple water heater can be inserted into a flue system to scavenge energy that would otherwise escape.
A U-shaped piece of 1/2" copper pipe is suspended in at least a 2’ section of flue. Even though this pipe is exposed to orange-hot flue gasses, any solder joints will not melt, because the pipe will be filled with water.
I connected the ends to a five-gallon can suspended from the rafters in my shop, with 5/8" automotive heater hose. The connections to the can were made to pieces of 1/2" copper pipe – one soldered into the bottom, and the other soldered about half-way up the side.
I messed around with a version of this that was connected to more fire and a 55-gallon drum, but never got around to completing the project; I did get far enough however, to say with certainty that it can be done.
To really be practical of course, any such container would have to be insulated. Something I didn’t think of until I had how water was a little faucet in the bottom so that I could actually use the hot water. Obviously it would need to be refilled any time the water level fell below the upper tube, or the upper tube will produce only steam – yet another lesson learned the stupid way. If you aren’t making stupid mistakes, it’s only because you aren’t doing anything either stupid or smart.
Solar Heated Water
I have had several people enthusiastically tell me that they were able to heat water simply by pumping it through a coil of black plastic pipe that was laying out in the sun.
Half-inch black plastic tubing is one of the cheapest forms of tubing you can buy. According to my calculations, 250 feet of this stuff would create a flat doughnut with a diameter of 5-1/2 feet and a hole of 18". This would have an area of 22 square feet. If every thing was done right, this could increase the temperature of five gallons of water by about eighty degrees in an hour's time. If there were no losses at all, you could heat 10 gallons.
The water can be moved through the tubing by convection, which is based upon the fact that hot fluid is lighter than cold fluid, and therefore tends to rise. A convection system of any kind has the storage above the heat. This explains why the hottest water will be taken from the upper edge of the collector and fed into the top of the storage, while the coolest water in the storage will settle to the bottom, where it is conducted to the center of the collector.
It is crucial that there is no air in the pipe, and that the water level in the bucket consistently remains above the entry of upper pipe. A single tube-diameter bubble however, can keep convection from happening.
If you want to actually use this hot water, you're going to need to put a "T" in the pipe leaving the bottom of the bucket. If you want more than one shower you may need a bigger bucket -- might I suggest a half of a 55 gallon drum that was not used for pesticides? Be careful here, a 55 gallon drum full of water will weight well over 400 lbs, and would be an annoying visitor to entertain in anybody's shower.
Having said all that personally, I have had poor results in my minimal experimenting with solar convection, but I have met people for whom it did work. I believe the trick is to have a good difference in the height between the collector and the storage, use large diameter pipe for an easy flow, and beware of bubbles.
I did heat a 14’ X 3-1/2’ diameter plastic pool by forcibly pumping water through coils of plastic on the roof. It was very pleasant to slip into 95 degree water and a silent world of about 3:00 am.
I found that a 6 - to - 9 foot diameter coil of plastic can be difficult to manage. I also had trouble with different flow rates with coils at different levels on the roof. Thirdly, it took a lot of pressure to drive a good flow of water through hundreds of feet of pipe. Another mistake that kind of surprised me was that the black nylon tie-wraps deteriorated in the sunlight and became brittle after one season
I will be changing the system in several ways:
1. I will be breaking the system down to multiple units of 4’ diameter tubes and mounting them on 4’ X 4’ pieces of plywood. This will make them easier to manage or transport
2. The tubing will be attached by wire running through holes in the board, rather than bound by tie-wraps.
3. They will be manifolded together so the flow will be in parallel, rather than in series. This will reduce the back pressure on the pump.
4. They will all be mounted at the same level on the roof. If there are too many modules to make this practical, they will be mounted in serial pairs – one high, one low.
As prosperity progresses, a small well-designed village may provide a centralized hot water system for the entire village, eliminating the need for hot water systems at the household level. There would also be a system for the irrigation of the village food supply. This includes a certain amount of purification and recycling of available grey-water.
As much as possible, water should originate from local sources, and be a key factor in carrying capacity calculations.
Cool surfaces exposed to warmer moist air condense water. People have survived by wiping dew off rocks and grass in the early mornings, and then wringing the wipers into containers. With just a little preparation, you can do just a little better.
Earth Still
You can make a classic survival still by digging a 3-foot diameter pit about 3 feet deep, placing a cup in the bottom, and covering it with too much plastic. The plastic is pushed down in the center until it forms a point a few inches above your cup. Leave a pebble in the center of the plastic to keep the point in place. Weigh the edges of the plastic with rocks or sticks, or even dirt.
Now when you actually try this thing you are likely to come up with a little more education than you had when you thought it was just a neat idea. How do you get the water out without dismantling the still? How easy is it to accidentally kick dirt into the cup? How much water do you get in a 24-hour period? How would you like your life to depend upon this thing if you haven’t tried it first?
Still more
The next illustrations show a still I built a still out of 5/8” plywood, which leaves behind most (theoretically all) the minerals and microbes. I say “most”, because the water tasted like plywood. The water itself is contained by a plastic lining in the bottom 6” , and does not come directly in contact with the wood. The still will vaporize and condense anything that will vaporize and condense at the temperatures involved; this apparently includes the smell of wood. As a good rule of thumb, if you can smell it, you’re probably drinking it.
I am sure this could be over-come by lining the entire inside with plastic. You might also consider coating the plywood directly with a rubberized roof coating of some kind (Rubber-scented water might become a novelty).
A flexible sheet of plastic can be laid upon the sloping portion, and a shin square stick laid on top of the plastic holds it into the corner at the bottom. You might also use a rigid piece of glass or plastic, in which case you need to close the bottom corner with something to keep the water vapor from escaping.
One trade secret I learned from a commercial manufacturer of solar stills is that the inside surface of glass must be very slightly scored with fine sand paper so that the water will cling to it and run down, rather than simply drop off wherever it condenses. Another consideration is that distilled water is very active, and will corrode most metals – so stick with plastic fittings and containers unless you have food-grade stainless steel.
Door prize (Bad puns are loved only by their creators)
I made a box from a couple of old doors with scraps of plywood nailed to the ends. I lined this box with plastic and used a couple of bricks or something to support a sloping trough down the center of it. This trough was a strip cut from a piece of fiberglass corrugated roofing, and it protruded out through a hole in one end where it could drip into a bottle The exit and bottle were covered with plastic so the water wouldn’t evaporate before it was stored. The top was covered with excess clear plastic, with a weight down the center so the water would run into the trough.
This still worked better than anything else I tried, was simple and quick to build. The basic lesson in all this is simply “Look around you, and think.”