Hospital Patients Spend Days without Water

photo credit: keepyourhearthealthy

It’s hard enough being admitted into the hospital to receive needed medical attention…but imagine being a patient and not being able to bathe or flush the toilet for several days!

A news article reports that patients in a South African hospital were without the necessity of water for days. Things were so bad that the hospital’s only source of water was in two-liter bottles which the public provided.

The water was restored after almost five days without it. Apparently, problems with a water pressure valve-or the lack thereof-was the cause.

Read the original article by clicking HERE.

Product Review: Berkey Light

Bobbi from Dollwoodfarms.blogspot.com was kind enough to write a review of the Berkey Light system. Here is an excerpt with her permission:

Being prepared: Water

Being prepared for emergencies is a very important topic to me. Living on the Gulf Coast of Florida we have hurricanes during the summer and fall and they can devastate people’s lives. Being prepared with essential emergency goods will help ease most situations and is just a smart thing to do.

One thing I am always concerned about is water. You can pretty much go without food for a while but not water. I believe it was last May or June when I invested in a Berkey water filter. We purchased…

To continue reading, Click HERE.

Featured Article: Five Reasons Against Bottled Water

photo credit: inhabitat.com

Last month, I read an article detailing the Grand Canyon’s intention to ban the sale of bottled water within its park. This morning, I read an article mentioning bans of bottled water sales on campus of U.S. colleges as well. Needless to say, this is causing serious controversy.

This article on the International Bottled Water Association’s (IBWA) website is a great sales pitch on behalf of their interests. I’ll list the five points of their article (italics mine), followed by my thoughts as why NOT to choose bottled water when other options prove more practical and feasible.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) offers this list of five reasons consumers should make bottled water a part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in 2012.

1. Choose bottled water for safety and convenience – Available in many different sizes, including 3- and 5-gallon containers used in bottled water coolers, 2.5-gallon refrigerator-size containers, and “on-the go” half-liter (16.9oz), one-liter, and 1.5 liter convenience–size packages, bottled water is always ready to quench your thirst. At home, in the office, or on the move, consumers can drink bottled water with confidence throughout the day. Bottled water is comprehensively regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for safety and quality and it comes sealed in 100 percent recyclable containers. Bottled water is reliable and is always ready to refresh.

The idea of having to purchase and repurchase water bottles, especially when the water is basically tap water (in my opinion) is one-sided, benefiting the seller and not the consumer. Instead, invest in a portable water purifier like the Sport Berkey® Water Bottle, Seychelle®, or any other proven portable purification device. Such versatile personal solutions will provide you with the ability to purify water from public sources when you are traveling around town, or provide a secure solution when you are on a day-hike or only have access to river, lake, stream, or even rain water. You’ll save lots of money with your investment and there is no need to waste plastic bottles.

2. Choose bottled water for its great taste – When water tastes better, it’s more likely to be consumed, and staying hydrated is important for your health, even during winter’s colder months. Many people enjoy bottled water because of its crisp, refreshing taste and with options that include spring; mineral, sparkling and purified, bottled water has a lot to offer.

In my experience, bottled water from the shelf tastes less than delicious and fresh. Anyone that has tasted fresh mountain spring water at its source can relate. I drink bottled water when no other fresh sources or purification is available, but that is because I understand the importance of maintaining proper hydration, not because bottled water is the bee’s knees.

My consulting experience has connected me to the marketspace of educated consumers who have made the transition from bottled water to portable personal purifiers. That transition frequently correlates with improved individual health, sound consumption behavior and knowledge base, and savvy purchasing decisions.

In choosing a personal portable purification bottle, be sure it addresses microbes like Giardia, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, viruses, foul tastes, odors, and colors from the water. It is also important that chlorine, heavy metals, and VOCs be removed/reduced if possible. Not only will this ensure great tasting water, but it will ensure your number one priority, your optimum health.

3. Choose bottled water instead of sugary or caffeinated drinks – According to the Centers for Disease Control, Americans get up to 1/3 of their daily calories from sugary beverages. Making the switch to refreshing zero-calorie bottled water could help reduce up to 700 calories/day or 255,500 calories a year! Drinking water also helps to curb your appetite; a healthy option for reducing calories and maintaining proper hydration.

I have to admit that the comparison of water against soda made me laugh. It’s a typical practice in marketing to polarize the reader’s options. This helps to influence an easy agreement with the writer’s thinking and influence. We all know that soda is anything but healthy and that excessive calories are unnecessary.

Remember that although it is important to drink enough water each day, a portion of your daily hydration should come from fresh, raw, non-GMO fruits and vegetables. It is important to look for nutrient dense natural foods as part of a balanced diet. People who are looking for zero-calorie drinks and eats, might do well to remember that nutritional balance is largely “calories-in, calories-out.”

4. Choose bottled water for its ability to multi-task – Need a cooler pack to bring your lunch to work? Pop a bottled water in the freezer the night before and toss it in your lunch bag as you head out to work. The frozen bottle will chill your meal and then provide a healthy, zero-calorie beverage to enjoy. A bottled water in each hand doubles as weights during a hike or run; handy fitness aids you can consume when you’ve finished your workout.

Plastic water bottles also serve as excellent paper weights, toys for children, and insect-holders. All joking aside, finding utilitarian uses for recyclable materials is commendable. Your personal water purification solution will provide you the ability to really multi-task. When you buy a plastic refillable container that will eventually need recycling, you are simply buying a storage solution that is a space holder, not an economical replenishing purifier of various water sources. Crafty marketers and copywriters are commissioned to make that empty water bottle look like a multi-tool…more of a gimmick than practical.

5. Choose bottled water because it’s the healthiest choice – Choosing to lead a healthy lifestyle can sometimes mean a lot changes in your life. Opting to drink bottled water makes one of your most important decisions also one of the easiest. Fitness experts recommend staying hydrated throughout the day. What better way to do just that than to choose bottled water when it’s time for a drink?

Unless you consider ingested fluoride healthy, I call *bull* on that statement, “…the healthiest choice.” Oh, and what about trihalomethanes, plasticizers, among other concerns in the water? The bottled water industry is not as regulated and guided as they present themselves. But that’s an area of discussion that I’ll leave you to research more, primarily because I am biased toward being a more informed consumer than the customer the IBWA would wish me or you to be.

I personally use the Sport Berkey Water Bottle because it is BPA-free just like many other economical personal purification bottles out there. Water is the healthiest choice; it’s not the bottle; it’s not the brand, it’s the natural element: H2O.

In summary, save money, drink water, and stay smart!

-David SafeWater

Getting Ready for the Self-Reliance Expo in Mesquite, Texas

Hey folks! We’re here in Mesquite, Texas getting ready for the Self-Reliance Expo. For more information about this Expo, and to learn when we’ll be coming to your state, please visit SelfRelianceExpo.com.

We are excited for many reasons, one of which is that Texans are good people! They have wonderful hospitality, tell you exactly what they’re thinking, and when they do something, they do it BIG! Since we began offering products online, Texans have been wonderful customers to serve. The state is rich with so much history, it’s a shame this trip keeps us on a tight schedule. Just last night we stopped in and visited some historical landmarks, such as a 150 year-old jail, a Bonnie & Clyde landmark, and an old cabin off of Main Street. There are many buildings which have great architectural appeal and are gigantic in size. The food has also been fantastic here.

What can people expect by attending the show? Besides saving tons of money in buying products at discounts, there are many products that people will find which they never knew about, such Wes Morgan’s Stronghold Haywire Klamper, Humless Silent Generator, and more!

Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, will be the Key Note Speaker on Saturday morning at 11:00, presenting a lecture on “Survival Nutrition: How to choose foods & supplements that will keep you alive & healthy.” Doctor Bones and Nurse Amy will be presenting a series of Collapse Medicine lectures and offering classes on “How to Suture” (SOLD OUT), and many, many other great presentations.

We will be offering free items with purchases at our booth. We are excited to have a few copies of  the Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook, and the New print copy of Dr. Prepper’s Making the Best of Basics, with a newly added chapter by Doctor Bones & Nurse Amy available at our booth as well. We will post photos from the event on the blog next week.

Featured Post: Six Enemies of Food Storage

The following post was featured on BackdoorSurvival.com and you should read it. Gaye writes content that we can all read for new and reviewable information.

I recently decided that I should up the ante when it comes to the items in my food storage and holy moly, have you seen the price of beans lately? Last summer I purchased a goodly quantity of beans at Costco and paid $14.95 for each 25 pound sack. And now, $19.95 for the very same quantity. That is an increase of 33%!! With those kinds of prices, you can bet that I am paying close attention to my food storage habits.

For the past year, I have explored many areas of preparedness, but now, with the escalation in food prices, I have taken a keen interest in food and food storage. And whereas I know a little about a lot of things, food and food storage are two areas in which I have learned the most and am able to share the most.

So, with so many new readers…I am posting some information on the six enemies of food storage. And for those of you that are experienced preppers? Well if you are like me, every time you read the same old stuff, more sinks in so it does not hurt to read up. Consider this a refresher course.

What are the six enemies of food storage?

1. Temperature
2. Moisture
3. Oxygen
4. Light
5. Pests
6. Time

As you will see, each of these factors is interrelated in such a way that there is a domino effect with all of the tiles falling upon each other and ultimately affecting your stored items in a cumulative fashion. Let’s briefly address each one so that this becomes clear.

Click HERE to continue reading this article on her website.

Flooding Poses Threat of Levee Collapse in Southwestern Australia

Residents in parts of Queensland Australia are being forced to evacuate their homes, amid concerns of potential levees collapsing.

Featured Video: Sootch00′s EDC “Everyday Carry” 2012

I like this video by Sootch00 because it is simple and has good information on items to carry within your Every Day Carry.

Texas Drought Requires Trucks to Bring Water from Over 10 Miles Away

Spicewood Beach, Texas is now dealing with having to go the extra miles in order to access water to their community. Over one-thousand residents of the community have had to rely on water being trucked in from more than ten miles away.

The trucked-in water is being replenished several times a day, and residents now seem to have adapted. From having received their initial deliveries of water on Monday, the event now appears part of everyday life for the community.

This drought-which is the worst since Texas’ 1917 drought-has adversely cost farmers and ranchers billions of dollars and caused water-use restrictions throughout the state.

Over one-dozen public water systems in Texas are anticipated to run dry in less than 6 months, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is apparently not being affected by the drought, unlike much of the rest of the state. The state’s aquifers have been affected because of lakes drying up.

Click HERE to read the original article which has been summarized in part in this post.

Featured Post: Conversation with a Cardiologist Prepper

It should come as no surprise that our customers come to us from almost every profession and vocation, and from many diverse backgrounds. One such recent trend is the amount of physicians, yes, M.D.s who are purchasing products from us. We have physicians who are purchasing from us who practice medicine domestically in the United States, as well as those who practice abroad in foreign countries. Their purchasing isn’t as interesting as their REASONS for purchasing.

Just yesterday, I had a conversation with an accomplished and peer-respected cardiologist from the Midwest. He was involved in providing medical care for those who were injured during last May’s Joplin tornado that killed 160 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. He said some interesting things, including that in the aftermath of people rioting and looting, women were raped, and people were shot and killed by groups of individuals roaming in armed groups in pickup trucks, which was not reported in the news.

He talked about his close friends in public service, law enforcement, and the military who themselves are individually increasing their water storage and water purification supplies (he called us to purchase a Crown Berkey® with several other products), food storage, medical supplies, personal protection equipment, etc. He made specific mention to government agencies and similar organizations who are actively pursuing preparations at an increased rate.

The conversations this week that I shared with him, as well as another gentleman currently serving in the military, never have a tone of fear as the motus operandi. In fact, we generally laugh about similar facts and research which we all agree is relevant to becoming more self-reliant. Another interesting fact is that these military, law enforcement, and health professionals are each prepping without publicizing it amongst their peers. I notice a common trend (as with many of us self-reliant folk) that their peers in the workplace may not all share the same views of prepping as they do….and it’s often best to keep personal matters such as these personal.

As a side note, it’s funny to notice that the give-away that these customers are physicians, military, or law enforcement, is often by the emails that they provide to us.

We look forward to continuing to help Americans from all different walks of life…

“helping you prepare while time is on your side.”

-TBG

Featured Royal Berkey Review: Katie from KitchenStewardship.com

Our friend Katie at KitchenStewardship.com recently shared her experience with her Royal Berkey Water Purification system in her home. It is always great to see people enjoying clean water with their families. Below are some of the pictures that she featured on that blog post and a small excerpt from it. Click on the images to visit her site to read the post in its entirety.

“Beyond feeling really, really good about the clean water, my absolute favorite part is that my kids can now serve themselves water. It’s awesome to have one more thing in the kitchen that’s easy for them to do, since we’re really working on increasing responsibility around here.

It does need to be filled, but I’ve figured out some strategies for that:

1. It’s usually the 6yo’s job, with a 1/2 gallon plastic pitcher and a chair. He loves doing it. Here’s hoping that enthusiasm doesn’t wear off any time soon.
2. When I realize I forgot to ask Paul to fill the Berkey, I just run the water into the pitcher while putting away dishes or something, then pour it in.”

Continue reading the original article by clicking HERE.