Maintaining Potable Water Supply Post-Flood/Storm

[CharlesHarris]

My Mum and Dad did just that during the famous New England Hurricane of 1938, building a fire around a cast-iron bathtub, of the old type commonly raised up off the floor. Remembering Dad telling the story, the water was first boiled, then strained through a folded bedsheet to remove particulates, pouring through a funnel to fill gallon jugs and a roasting pan. What remained in the tub which they didn't have containers for they used to wash the dishes and utensils in their picnic set, then the clothes they were wearing, while they took sponge baths themselves, before continuing their trip in a Model A Ford from Worcester, Mass. to Washington, DC, where Dad was taking a new job with the War Department. They carried a hand pump and hose to siphon fuel from abandoned cars along the way.

[WalterHarrison]

"My Mum and Dad did just that during the famous New England Hurricane of 1938, building a fire around a cast-iron bathtub, of the old type commonly raised up off the floor. Remembering Dad telling the story, the water was first boiled, then strained through a folded bedsheet to remove particulates, pouring through a funnel to fill gallon jugs and a roasting pan. What remained in the tub which they didn't have containers for they used to wash the dishes and utensils in their picnic set, then the clothes they were wearing, while they took sponge baths themselves, before continuing their trip in a Model A Ford from Worcester, Mass. to Washington, DC, where Dad was taking a new job with the War Department. They carried a hand pump and hose to siphon fuel from abandoned cars along the way."

Wow! Your parents were very resourceful people, Charles.