Yesterday around noon we noticed a sudden drop in the water pressure…. followed by no water…
A quick call to the city told us that a water main had broken in our neighborhood and it would be repaired by 7pm local time…
Well that break was repaired and then when they re charged the mains… another break occured with an estimated midnight repair time… This morning when I woke up… no water… and after walking over to a new hole in the ground we are being told about 3 more hours to go unless it lets go again when they charge the mains again…
above picture added at 1220 local- taken with my camera phone
I concider myself to be fairly well prepared to handle most sorts of issues… Back up batteries with a solar panel and a small inverter will keep the basics running… No Fridge but the fans will stay on along with basic lights and we will have TV for the local news… and the shack would stay on the air! I always keep one 20 pound propane tank in reserve so and that will run the BBQ and the propane stove for at least a week if needed, plus the tank already on the BBQ would be good for a bit before I need the backup tank…. So that takes care of hot food and water (coffee)
With a power failure (long term) we would be eating rather good as we use up whats slowly defrosting in the freezer and we always keep a good supply of canned good and non perishable food items for just an emergency….
However… WATER… We use it for everything…. Cooking, Cleaning, drinking, bathing and most importantly… Flushing….
I thought I had approx 100 Litres of water stored… Somewhere along the line that turned out to be about 70 Litres with 3 empty 10 litre containers stacked with the full ones… D’OH!!!
As long as things are repaired by tomorrow we will be fine (with a reserve) but it also shows me that I should budget for more utility water than I have… So once the water comes back on the jugs will get refilled and some extras as well…
So the moral of the day is…. Work off a checklist and actually check your supplies every now and again… They expect us to be self sufficient for the first 72 hours in an emergency… I would expect that 72 hours to be a minimum and would suggest that 96 hours would be a better target to aim for. I don’t think I would really want to sit in a shelter with two cats, one kid and one wife just because I was not well prepared…
As amateur radio operators we should have a better than average knowledge of how to stay prepared… especially as there “might” be a need for emergency communications . If I am worrying about my family then I am not going to be deployed as my family’s well being, safety and security has to come first. To put my mind at ease and to protect my family I have to be prepared and this little event here in Ottawa (which is nothing compared to what happened in the eastern seaboard of the states recently) has shown some faults in my own family emergency plan which will have to be corrected as soon as I am able.
I thought I was…..
73bob
Tags: amateur radio, Are you Prepared?, Emergency Prepardness
