Here is something I had not considered before

[bigpaul]

(7 August 2013, 14:53)TheFalcon Wrote: 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

or on a flood plain.

[NorthernRaider]

Anyway getting the thread back on track, a burst water main could within minutes or hours totally destroy a preppers home, gardens and entire prep plans and after TSHTF regadless of you being urban or rural if you have badly chosen your location and luck runs out you could have a serious problem to contend with. The main in the article was only a 36 inch main and the leak was turned off after a couple of hours, image the size of the flood and the associated damage if there was no one to turn off the water ???. Blocked drains in following years may be an issue, but a blown main could be disasterous.

[bigpaul]

"the leaking main was turned off after a couple of hours"....a couple of hours? took the buggers long enough! no wonder it flooded a large area if it took the water company a couple of hours to turn up! post SHTF you might as well be Noah and build an ark!

[Mortblanc]

Not really a problem you will have to worry with.

Most reservoirs will be emptied within a few days or weeks.

Most areas pump their water up, they do not drain it down.

Most cities pipe their water in from good distances and the pump systems will fail without the needed power.

You are not going to have water flowing through those pipes after SHTF, they will be empty.

Better to worry about the water shortage that will occur without electricity. Most water systems are totally dependent on electricity for pumping and moving the water through the filtering process. Their failsafe systems shut down the water flow to prevent polluting the system, they do not bypass it

I live outside a large U.S. city and they had a power outage at the water plant for 5 days. When the power came back on there was only a 6 hour water supply remaining for 1 million people.

They still do not have emergency power for pumping from the source (the Ohio River).

Why?

Because it was a 100 year event, as in "once in 100 years will something like that happen".

No need to be prepared for it if it will never happen again!


Better question would be "are you prepared for a flood?"

You fellows just had some of the worst flooding recorded in GB, what did you do then? Would a burst pipe create more problem than you just coped with?

---

If your system uses a water tower, the engineering/planning standard is that the tower should hold a one day water supply for the area it serves.

If the electricity goes it will be empty in 24 hours and if the system has been down for months I would look for another use for all that pipe.

[NorthernRaider]

Monty please check your facts before making statements, in the UK most reserviors are filled naturally from feeder rivers and streams in the hills they only use gravity in most areas, we have a fraction of the pump operated systems than you do in the colonies. Most of the North west is fed by gravity from the Lake district, Most of the North east is fed by gravity from Kielder water in Norhumberland and the Pennines. Much of Yorkshire and derbyshire is fed from the upper dales and peak district. its not until you head towards the eastern fens and home counties they go onto aquifers.

Eg Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Middlesbrough, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham etc all take gravity fed water in part at least and nearly every British reservoir is fed naturally by streams.

[Mortblanc]

Nearly every reservoir in the U.S. is also fed naturally by streams!

That is why they call it a reservoir.

Once the water leaves those reservoirs and enters the municipal systems it is very much dependent on pumping and holding in tanks as it finishes its journey to the districts and homes.

If you think your local utility water supply is not dependent on pumping into holding tanks and local water towers you need to look around you and ask how that water got into that tank and if it was purified before or after it was placed there.

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http://www.google.com/search?q=water+tow...38&bih=536

[Straight Shooter]

Good post NR ....water & wales go hand in glove , there are ever increasing problems with flooding ( surface water related ) but your right we all need to take a look at our locality ......as it happens I should be okay, but you still NEED a plan B .

[Spandex228]

This highlights the potential for massive infection and illness concerns, spilt sewage everywhere and in the hot weather we have had lately bacteria breeding and multiplying, and in winter when all this surplus water and flooding spills out, then freezes vehicles skidding everywhere crashes and people falling broken legs hips etc etc alot of concerns have been highlighted here.

[Binnie]

(7 August 2013, 15:13)bigpaul Wrote: "the leaking main was turned off after a couple of hours"....a couple of hours? took the buggers long enough! no wonder it flooded a large area if it took the water company a couple of hours to turn up! post SHTF you might as well be Noah and build an ark!

i've seen the plans the water board have in my area, if one main bursts, and is then submerged by the time its reported, in a worst case scenario they'd have a real job stemming the flow as there can be lots of mains running close by each other

also worth pointing out you can't just "shut the valve" on a large diameter pipe going full bore, the laws of physics just don't allow it, it needs to be done quite carefully and slowly.


I'm sure one of the reserviors for aberdeen (the closest city to me) are taken from the Dee, which is a lot lower then the reservior, and the reservior is lower than the city?


Also i dunno about englandshire, but up here industrial buildings must have double check valves at the water inlet, this means water cannot flow backwards in the event of a malfuntion in the plant, but also that the water would be trapped in the system in the event of an emergency, just waiting for someone to utilise it

[Tartar Horde]

The Eastern counties of England had major drainage works during the 17-18-19C allowing vast areas of land to be cultivated, in my area there used to be over 70 Meres, we only have one now. Large areas of the Eastern counties are only above water due to the pumping operations and drainage networks such as the great Ouse. If at any point in the future we have a breakdown of the infrastructure those areas of England will be flooded, reverting them back to their former medieval condition. Some areas of Cambridgeshire are 6ft below water level, the same applies to areas of the Wash and the Ancholme river floodplain. To understand what this means in a modern context, imagine the majority of the land in Cambridgeshire under water, the Lincolnshire fens expanding to cover the whole of the Wash basin, the Ouse, Trent and Humber rivers combining to make another large floodplain in the East of Yorkshire. The Somerset levels are another area that was historically "wetland" and very difficult to navigate, that's why King Alfred hid there during the Viking wars, and exactly the same reason why Hereward the Wake hid in the Fens around the "Isle" of Ely when he rebelled against the Bastard William.
Monastic records and Domesday show us that the major industry in these areas was Fishing and the cultivation of "water meadows" for beef raising. In my area of East Yorkshire water resources, specifically Eels and fish were heavily protected and showed the importance in monetary value of the resource.
In 1260, William, the 11th abbot of nearby Meaux Abbey, claimed fishing rights in the southern half of the mere, only to discover that the abbot of St Mary's in York had done likewise. This led to the so-called Battle of Haraney, the old name for Hornsea Mere, and then meaning Hare Island.
Because neither Abbot would yield, it was decided the matter could be resolved only by combat, with each abbot selecting a knight to fight on his behalf. The battle would be fought on the shores of the mere and the winner would determine who had fishing rights to the disputed southern half.
To prevent arguments about precisely which half was under consideration, a horse was made to swim across the lake on the boundary line in question. The Knights fought all day with neither side being able to claim victory, but the Meaux champion eventually weakened and capitulated. In this way, the York Abbot won the right to fish in the southern half and promptly allowed the monks of Meaux to do likewise.
Now what does this historical pre-amble have to do with ourselves and our modern day preparations?
If some of our members are preparing for a complete breakdown of Civilisation it would be wise to consider the areas in which you intend to make your living. Those areas that now look inviting might be under water in a year or two, post SHTF. Without any mechanism to drain and control the flow of water those areas that Historically were wetlands WILL flood once more making large areas of England uninhabitable. Knowledge is power and I do not intend to be alarmist here, only to inform people about the radical changes to those areas mentioned. I heartily recommend doing some of your own research on this, and note where those areas are on today's maps, it will certainly make you think!