The river isn’t completely raw sewage. It’s diluted a lot. I’d look for creeks, or runoff ditches with fairly clear water if I’m going to pump though.
I’ve pumped from completely opaque water off a glacier. Looked like mud. But it was just as good. Slow going on the filter pump, but it worked.
But I don’t think there’s really any tech that’d make a useful amount of clean drinking water out of drug contaminated water. A lot of those drugs have to be molecules small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, which is likely the best filter I know of.
I’ve never pumped from big rivers anyway. When I was in the scouts we’d look for fast moving creeks, and we’d follow them as high up as we could.
I still managed to get Giardia, drinking straight from a spring. Which is like herpes in that it’s permanent. You can stop the acute symptoms, but if you take anti-parasitic drugs, Giardia will just turn itself into endospores for a while to weather the onslaught. Good for acute symptoms, but you can’t eradicate the fucker from your body. I still have flare-ups ten years later. I don’t recommend it.
If you want inspiration for building an outdoor longdrop toilet, check out these ones used in Christchurch when we had our biggy back in 2011 http://www.showusyourlongdrop.co.nz/. Some people used theirs for months as the infrastructure was decimated in some parts (still is in some parts - 5 years later). Big earthquakes fucking suck and really mess with the mental health of the whole region.
As someone who lives in Christchurch where we had our massive quake in 2011 I can confirm that for a city with a river running through it (or two in the case of Christchurch) liquifaction is incredibly destructive. 10 thousand homes were red zoned and demolished here in Christchurch because of wet sandy land and tens of thousands more were damaged to some extent.
Thanks. This seems to be a trend on BB lately, writing about an article and refusing to provide a source link. C’mon BB, you’re supposed to be the good guys.
An Earthquake kit isn’t going to keep a bridge or a neighborhood from collapsing, but you are doing yourself – and society – a big favor by working to be reasonably self-sufficient for 3-7 days. Assuming I can get home and be safe (I have a two-day go bag at my office), I’m in a position to know my family is taken care of and so I can start helping my neighbors out. I can bust out a chainsaw and a tow cable to clear trees in my own neighborhood, I can keep an eye on any kid whose folks may be stuck in San Francisco.
Yes, we need better, more robust infrastructure, but the odds are you’ll be fine after the quake hits and the one thing you can do – without approval or cooperation – is put yourself in a position to not be less of a burden on everyone else when the time comes.
The article is informative and may help people prepare but I feel it is much too optimistic and too lightly glosses over the horror that will pervade any major city that experiences a “great” quake.
Don’t forget about all the chemicals in those big tanks in the NW industrial area, if you’re downstream from them (which I am)! See: the part of the story that says “the north end of the river is on fire.” Yay.
