Drought

[Pete Grey]

With the current drought the difficulty of maintaining potable water should an event occur is not the only problem we may have.

There is also the effect of drought on our food supply’s , with crops wilting and the lack of water for irrigation, a good part of our food is already imported and this will need to be increased which will then put up prices.

So not only do we need to stock more potable water we need to increase our food stocks in case of shortages and our stock of seeds to replace crops that have died and for next seasons planting.

[Mortblanc]

The condition you describe has historically been known as a famine. It was the reason the human race migrated to cover the world as hunter/gatherers, and the primary reason for population reductions in sedentary areas right up to the 20th Century.

The transition to root crops such as potatoes and turnips in central Europe was due to their resistance to being ruined as armies trampled the fields. Some would always survive and hopefully provide enough food to sustain the population. Hansel and Gretal told me so.

A "bad year" could reduce the population of a major nation by 20% or more as happened in China during the '60s-'70s.

It also occurs when a population outgrows its natural food supply, even without the drought situation.

That means that the UK is capable of going into an instant famine mode as soon as shipments of food coming into the country stop, as they did during WW2.

That also makes you susceptible to drought and adverse situations in the supplying countries half way around the world.

[Straight Shooter]

Yes quite right MB ....and many here have never seen such times or shortages ....not many grow vegetables anymore (even in containers) they see NO need or have no skills or know how .........as i drive around my area
and look at the gardens in peoples houses (that still have gardens) the trend seems to be fake grass,decks or concrete....stuff that needs NO work ! ...............i can remember a time looking down my street at all the rear gardens FULL of veg ...not for a hobby but for survival and making ends meet.....a very timely history lesson MB ....as good as it ever was taught me in school back in the days of recovery....however there are allotments round and about full of veg .....and similar die hard chaps just like me.

[Mortblanc]

Yes SS the production of ones own food is important as well as having the potential ability to produce.

But what about the drought? What about the times Pete is referring to when production is impossible due to lack of rainfall? Or the times when rain swamps the crops and spoils them?

I know that right now you are boosting production by watering, what about when the water is not available to artificially sustain your garden patches, or anyone else' gardens?

Those are the times when we preppers look at situations when our "long term preps" do not even scratch the top of coverage of the situation and a few tins of beans are a waste of time and space.

What about a 7-10 year drought. The US had that situation in the 1930s, and it occurred smack in the middle of the worst world wide financial crisis in modern history. Millions of people were forced off their land by lack of production and imminent starvation, migrating west to fill our west coast with people having a different attitude toward the role of government in their lives.

That migration and the political results have had as great an impact on our politics here as the modifications of your political system in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and the Great War had on English politics.

There would be other side effects too! If meat rationing were to occur, say 500 grams per week, I bet there would suddenly be many fewer vegans left in the country than were professing that behavior pattern before!

[Straight Shooter]

That's a tough one MB there are many variables ...Pete lives in the midlands (i think) ....in a street ? or semi or detached....in a town? in a city ? or rural location all would have problems with what you describe ..as Pete has already pointed out ICB for him would stand out ....let alone shtf ......and for that reason Pete uses Jerry cans to store water and they double up for the BOV makes sense to me...even in a sustained drought the ability to get hold of water is available to him ...even to grow stuff allbeit heavy stuff to lug about ...especially if you have high mileage on your life clock ......so where would Pete go to get some ? ....My situation is different to Pete...i have a well and a couple of streams on my ground (never has run dry in 35 years) both streams have ran dry (first time ever).....the Well has a sump tank ...i put in a year back.... that holds about 20 gallons .....i am about to build another holding tank down the line on the same run 100 gallon tank ....all these things are possible if you live in a small holding....I am very lucky living here there again that was the PLAN when i was thirty and moved in here.

One observation i have made over rescent years ....people of a similar age to me tend to leave moving out of the big family home to bloody late ! they hang on to inefficient old houses with stairs to climb , big rooms they no longer use or need and are bled dry of funds for the (privilege) of having to turn on the heating....planning for old age is not on their radar....until its to late........take heed young men prepping for your old age needs your attention.....the bastard sneaks up on you .....silently .

[Pete Grey]

Yes i do live in the midlands, in our immediate area there are few water sources, a local pool 400 yds away has almost dried up and the spring i know of has dried completely, i could get water for watering the garden but as SS says it’s heavy stuff to lug about, i’m 74 reasonably fit but i don’t fancy carrying jerrycans a mile uphill.

My potable water storage is 160 litres in jerrycans 40 litres in the campers water tank. This is backed up with 600 litres in waterbuts, with sterilising tablets, sodium hypochlorite bleach, ceramic filter and the requirements for a slow sand filter. I would also use a couple of large tarps to collect rain water if necessary after an event.

I have a good selection of seeds in the fridge, would they keep longer in a freezer ?.

[Straight Shooter]

Fridge for seeds Pete.....don't know and have not heard of freezing seed .....but worth a look on the web Pete.

[Pete Grey]

Yes SS sites i’ve checked say 40-50 Fahrenheit, 5-10 Centigrade, so fridge is best, they suggest use of a mason jar or similar with some silica gel sachet to keep moisture level 10-15 %. I did wonder if the national seed bank used cryogenic storage but evidently not.

[Mortblanc]

Looking at the news reports this seems to be your second year into this event, but I can not find any official numbers for total rainfall during that period, just vague percentages and unusually low reservoirs even at the beginning of the event.

It appears that most areas supplied by pubic works started the "drought" with a shortfall and are now two years into less rainfall than the norm, although not by much.

You folks are so accustomed to excessive moisture that rain ever third or fourth day seems a shortage.

Over here hose pipe bans are very common and usually are the first step in conservation for the utilities and not a sign of "system collapse" or imminent death. No watering gardens or washing vehicles and the car wash facilities are closed. Usually people are encouraged to change from baths to showers also.

An area that normally gets 33" of rainfall annually should not be in a "drought" at 20"-24" inches for a couple of years unless the system was on the brink of stress failure before the event began.

[MaryN]

I think the problem is, in very built-up areas like the UK, problems like water shortages very quickly escalate to more than mere irritation. Unfortunately the water authorities/Government have not kept pace with the massive increase in housing (immigration-fueled) by building additional water reservoirs. Much like the hospitals really - I do not understand why no-one seems to connect the increasing shortfalls in hospital beds with the rise in the population, when very few hospitals have been built in recent years. Seems obvious to me - oh well! Stupidly, with additional housing being built on flood-plain areas, any inundation above average increases the risk of flooding and of course there is no way to capture the rainfall. Similarly, flooding occurs very easily on large concreted areas where there is no way the water can sink into the earth. I suppose each country has its problems, but comparing the UK to the US doesn't really work.