The number one item on my domestic resilience list is maintaining access to clean, safe, drinking water.
Coming from Brisbane, where the dams that supply our drinking water recently bottomed out at around 14% capacity, I am keenly aware of the importance of available water. With increasingly unpredictable weather in the UK, and water treatment works subject to flooding and blackouts this is one area I don’t want to take chances on.
I am already planning significant rainwater storage (I’ll detail this in a separate post), but I need to make sure that water will be safe for us to drink. The best way to do this for moderate amounts seems to be a countertop water filter. The best one I’ve found so far seems to be a British Berkefeld (Berkey) Water Filter. It’s gravity fed, so no power is required, and it can produce up to 80 litres a day – easily enough for our drinking needs. Cost – around 90 quid. Even better – it’s made in the UK, so you’re also supporting local manufacturing when you buy one!
Posted by GtBarrington on September 17, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I can’t speak for sure about IF we’ll have water to drink, but I do some work with the American Chemistry Council about making water SAFE. In the states we’ve actually been chlorine in the water for 100 years, which really makes a big difference in desert cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, which don’t have natural rock filters. I’m not sure if Australia also uses chlorine, but I’d bet that they do.
Posted by Resilience: Coping with the energy crisis at home (2) « Gentle Descent on September 19, 2008 at 10:11 pm
[...] from low-level floods. If you need to make sure your water is clean, look at this post on providing clean drinking water post-peak-oil, and I’ll have a post shortly on rainwater storage and collection, to make sure you actually [...]
Posted by Big Berkey on February 12, 2009 at 12:48 am
I agree, the British Berkfeld is a dream. I live in the states and went with the sister version called the big berkey produced by NMCL. Good post!