Here is something I had not considered before

[NorthernRaider]

Imagine after TSHTF and for example we get a drought followed by a wet winter OR vice versa and weather condition that causes the ground to heave and settle. In much of the UK the domestic water supplies now travel through large pipes from 36 to 48 inch diameter or bigger to our towns and cities, before being fed into ever smaller pipes to supply homes and businesses. Just consider the inevitable end result of a large main failing AFTER TSHTF when there is no one to stop the leak or repair it. The damage to an area suffering prolonged flooding would be massive and it could in only a few months completely alter the local geography as it washed away roads, undermind buildings, created new water ways, AND damaged the sewage systems allowing cross contamination of the two systems.

Equally as a further worry what about the blocked storm drains, gulleys, rain water drains etc that we spend nearly a billion pounds a year keeping them clean and free flowing, you could add who will maintain the many victorian reserviors that cover the country (I would not like to live downstream from a reservior)

Then consider our coastal and riverside areas with no one to maintain the flood and sea wall defences.

The damage shown in the article below occured in under 3 hours of the main bursting, imagine what it would be like if left to run unchecked for days or weeks as it would after TSHTF??

Time to study your local utility route maps I think !


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...mains.html

[Skean Dhude]

NR,

That was a plot line in a book ... trying to remember the title ... an old one. They relied on piped water and being unmaintained it fractured and all the water poured out before it hit the houses leaving them with no water.

An earthquake is also a good candidate for this.

I've looked at this in my area and its not an issue, unless you rely on piped water, which I am not.

[Skean Dhude]

Remembered the book it is Earth Abides.

[NorthernRaider]

Any house on a slope or at the bottom of a slope is at some risk after TSHTF becuase mother nature will make great efforts each year to stuff up the dains, gullies and gutters with fallen leaves eaxh autumn and fresh root growth each spring, then instead of the rainfall following mans neat artificial water courses it will start to find its own.

But can you imagine the millions of houses, factories and shops that will go unheated in winter after TSHTF and how many burst pipes there will be?

[Skean Dhude]

It'll be a big issue some places that is for sure as nature reasserts itself.

If I lived at the bottom of a hill, I would look at what I could to do fix this or plan to move.

There are so many variables it is difficult to give general advice.

[bigpaul]

I have been saying until I was blue in the face that it will only take one bad winter for the gulleys, drains and gutters to fill up with mud, leaves and debris-post SHTF with nobody to clear this and storm damaged trees and the like, the roads and streets would soon become unusable, going across country-if it was ever possible in the first place- will become impossible as the water and mud will find its own level and fill up every dip and undulation and back up from there. if you have ever lived or just journeyed through the countryside you will have probably seen the drain clearing vehicles( known locally as" sh#t suckers"),without these and the road workers the landscape will very quickly revert to mother nature. however I do think most city dwellers don't realise the work that goes on and think it is done by magic....well SOME city dwellers anyway!

[SecretPrepper]

I read about a "fatberg" was the size of a bus, several tons in weight And mixed with wet wipes. I would hate to be around when these ooze out of the sewers.

[BeardyMan]

(7 August 2013, 14:17)SecretPrepper Wrote: I read about a "fatberg" was the size of a bus, several tons in weight And mixed with wet wipes. I would hate to be around when these ooze out of the sewers.

What?! And miss out on all those free wet wipes??

You can use the fat to make lamps etc. Kevin McCloud did it on his "I'm building a shed" TV programme. Smells funny though apparently, and I probably wouldn't be too keen on scrumping for lumps of fat either.

[bigpaul]

I really don't know why I bother sometimes.

[TheFalcon]

This is right near me,I live a bit further up on higher ground
Like my old man says never live at the bottom of a hill