Water Sanitation & Hygiene in a disaster scenario

Water. So often it becomes the primary need in disaster situations. Human beings can survive for three weeks without food. Water on the other hand, try three days. With that said never forget and always value its importance. Before reading this article it wouldn’t hurt you to read a previous article in regard to the importance of using Calcium Hypochlorite to disinfect your drinking water as well as another article explaining how to properly add up your families water needs.

During short term, high impact survival situations water is more vital than anything else. Keep in mind at any given time there are roughly one billion people on the planet earth without access to clean drinking water.

Under a crisis situation you have two ideal options in making sure you have clean water. You can have several empty containers ready to fill when facing a disaster scenario or you can manage your own water cache. Water sanitation & hygiene should never be overlooked.

A permanent water cache is heavy and takes up a lot of space. It also needs to be treated with a water preserver, otherwise it needs to be poured out and replenished every 6 months. The upside is that you are ready at all times.

Whether you decide to store in bulk or wait for an incoming disaster one thing is clear, if you know a disaster is coming your way you should store as much  water as conveniently possible. You may need water for more than just drinking. Sanitation and good hygiene often require water as well. If you are lacking water containers use what you can find.

Bathtubs, barrels, buckets and even pots. Fecal-oral contamination results in some pretty nasty bacteria and clean water and good hygiene often combat against foodborne illnesses. In a time of crisis good hygiene practices can save your life.

Do not rule out the water your pets will consume. Be it two horses or a rottweiler, you want to budget their water consumption into your family water storage plan.

Sanitation

A toilet and running water can be easily taken for granted. It can also be a problem and threat if water is in high demand and short supply. Your non-potable water, in other words water not fit for drinking is what is used for flushing waste down your toilet. So some things you might want to take into consideration is how much non-potable water your family needs to maintain a healthy level of sanitation.

Toilets built prior to 1982 use between five and seven gallons of water per flush! Quite a bit. Many newer toilets use between two and three gallons each flush. If you haven’t already done so, there is no excuse why you should not upgrade your toilet if it is an older model. Once again, newer, lower end model toilets can often be found for or around $100.00 usd if you shop around. Another option would be to put some weighted glass jars in your toilet tank to hold back some of the water, conserving what you can after each flush.

If city water or your well become inaccessible there are options you can revert to for sanitation purposes.

• Use a composting toilet: This is a great and also expensive option.
• Create a potty bucket and purchase disposable liners. A less expensive alternative.
• Dig a trench or hole outside. Of course this involves work.
• Ration your non-potable water and continue to use your toilet. While the most luxurious option, your water supply needs to be in abundance.

The average bowel movement is once per day. With that said if your intentions are to continue to use your home toilet you should have access to enough non-potable water for one flush per person each day. To put your water use into better perspective think of a family of 5 with an older model toilet that uses 35 gallons of water each day. Thats well over 1,000 gallons each month! Try storing that. After all of that you may be asking yourself how you can possibly limit each family member to one flush daily. A simple motto to remember is this, “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down”. Crude sounding, yes. However it should help you remember to moderate by flushing after bowel movements only.

While opting into using your toilet after your water has been disconnected you have a few options. One is to pour your water directly into the toilet bowl. Don’t fear an overflow as when you do this the water fills and a vacuum is created. When the water spills over the back of the bowls damn pulling the water out of the bowl and down the sewer pipe.

Another option would be to shut off the incoming water valve and pour the water in the back of the tank flushing it through. While this sounds easy there might be a bit more mess involved. You always want to keep some water in the base of the bowl. If the water gets too low the possibility of sewer gas entering your home becomes a possibility.

Sewage backflow & valves

Sewage backflow can be a nightmare. Your home’s septic system or system obviously removes sewage from your home, but did you know that heavy floods can invade your sewer system and push that raw sewage back into your house and out of your home’s sinks, tubs and toilets! Gross!

You should check your home to see if you have a backflow valve. This way your sewage is only allowed to flow in one direction, out. During a crisis the last thing you need is sewage all around your house.

Hygiene

Serious infections can become deadly in times of crisis. It is at these times when good personal hygiene move from important to absolutely necessary. Fecal contamination can wreak havoc on a family lacking water. Keeping your hands clean of contaminants is a must.

You need to wash your hands thoroughly after touching anything that may be contaminated, such as raw meat or the garbage can, or when using the toilet. The same standard applies  before handling food. With that being said a half of gallon of potable water per family member should be in the budget for family hygiene.

Your skin gets contaminated daily.  Washing the skin as we all know removes these contaminants. The soap locks on to the contaminants and water washes them away, something we teach to our children at a young age. Good hygiene practice may be the barricade between you and a deadly bacterial infection.

When water is not available hand sanitizers with 60% alcohol or above serve as an excellent alternative to washing your hands with soap and water. They won’t remove dirt, waste or blood from your skin and that is something to consider, but they do a wonderful job of killing pathogens. On a side note: I would always opt into washing my hands with soap & water whenever available over the use of hand sanitizer.

You can also clean your hands & body with baby wipes but most are not alcohol based and therefore do not clean as well as soap and water. If you lack the ability to shower disposable bathing wipes, considerably larger, are possible quick fixes as well.

You should also have zip ties and heavy duty trash bags on hand. You can easily & quickly seal and dispose of medical waste, contaminants, clothing and anything else you would want to safely seal off and dispose of. In a pinch heavy duty trash bags also serve as quick toilets, rain ponchos leak sealers and aid in gathering water among other options.

When cleaning hard surfaces such as countertops, floors, toilets and pretty much anything else solid the ultimate agent is a simple concoction of 9 parts water to 1 part bleach. An alternative to bleach is to spay the intended surfaces with 30% hydrogen peroxide  and then again with white vinegar. On another side note: Bleach is a much cheaper alternative.

Cover image via wikipedia