I sat up late last night watching the news reports from New Zealand showing the devastating effects of the latest Christchurch earthquake. I was there only a few months ago staying with some friends. It is a beautiful modern city with great people. So Iโve been in touch with some people down there, and one of the problems is water quality.
Obviously, there has been huge damage to the water lines and the sewers. People are being told not to drink the water because itโs contaminated with raw sewage. They are not to use the toilets (instead they are to bury their waste in their backyards). But most have power. So what to do about the drinking water?
The problem of how to ensure safe drinking water after a natural disaster is hugely important. We can look at this in a couple waysโฆ
Governments and organizations will look at the public aspect of providing water safety. They will look at how they can provide drinking water that meets the minimum standards of safety to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. This is an important perspective, but I think the more important perspective is, โHow do you offer your family the highest level of protection possible?โ
This perspective does three things; first it puts the responsibility on you and not the government, second it means that you should be preventative in your thinking and third, it means going beyond just the minimum standards of safety. Understand the following pointsโฆ
1)ย ย ย ย ย When water has been contaminated with biological contaminants, you should not use filters or reverse osmosis systems because your filters do not kill the microorganisms. If itโs an emergency and if itโs being used as a very short-term solution, using an RO system may be better than the alternative of drinking raw contaminated water. But understand that the RO membrane itself will become contaminated. The bacteria will grow and multiply on the membrane so after a day or so, the water from your RO system could be worse than the raw water.
2)ย ย ย ย ย In an emergency, you have to be at your peak condition so you can protect your family, quickly adapt the needs of the moment and provide help to others. If you donโt have a safe supply of water, you can quickly become sick or weakened and not be able to help yourself, your family and others.
3)ย ย ย ย ย If you rely on the government or charity organizations, you become dependent upon others, and their financial and operational ability to help you as well as their will to help.
4)ย ย ย ย ย Anyone in Christchurch who had a Pure Water distiller would have a supply of the safest possible water in storage, they would be able to continue to make the safest water regardless of what the condition of their source water is and they could ensure their safety and the safety of their friends and family. This person would have a major problem solved and could be actively involved in helping others.
My advice; plan ahead. Get a Pure Water Distiller that has a large reservoir. Tell your friends and family about our distillers and encourage them to get one for their family, or better yet, become a Pure Water Dealer and sell them one!
All of our thoughts go to the people in Chirstchurch!
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