Replenishing Your Water Storage

While frequently helping individuals and families set up their emergency drinking water storage, one of the most repeated tips that surfaces is that their water storage should be routinely rotated or replenished within a six to twelve-month period. For many, this comes as an unwelcomed surprise, as if water should just be able to set there for 20 years without any problems!

This brief article offers three points for routinely replenishing existing emergency drinking water storage. It was written for those who already have a basic understanding of sound practices in storing drinking water.

55 Gallon Tamper Proof Lid

Security & Quality

Replenishing your water storage within a six to twelve month period ensures that the integrity of that water remains complete and that no unwanted influences have compromised the container or the immediate storage environment.

Some authors recommend accessing the water itself and simply closing it back up if all appears alright, but I disagree. The second that the stored water is re-introduced to an outside environment such as air, tools, or hands, the potential for contamination is a done-deal. Sterile technique outside of a lab is impossible which is why I recommend using tamper-proof caps after each replenishing session. This ensures a quick visual evaluation of tampering and compromise. Rest assured, if your technique was appropriate while putting the water into storage, routine replenishing and repeated form will ensure continued success. I also recommend writing the date of storage on each tamper-proof cap as a universal reference point.

The quality of the water is always affected by appropriate storage conditions:

• Using appropriate sources of water (U.S. tap water approved for drinking is a minimum)
• Using virgin (new & unused) containers approved for water storage
• Appropriate water preservative considering container & environment
• Proper filling & sealing techniques
• Out of direct sunlight
• Away from exposure to extreme temperatures

For those individuals who would rather add more preservative to the water within the replenishing time-frame, I suggest that you do the following (at your own risk of course):

1. Minimize access to outside environments and factors such as winds, dust, chemicals, tools, etc.
2. Operate in a clean environment:
   1. Clean hands, tools, sanitizing solution appropriate for contact with drinking water storage
   2. Perform a visual inspection of critical areas:
      1. Caps, gaskets, access points, container, storage location, supports, covers, etc.
      2. Once you’ve determined that you wanna take a shortcut, clean each critical area before re-storing your water.

Optimize Resources

Replenishing your water storage within a six to twelve month period also ensures that your water, container(s), and tools, are kept in optimum operating conditions. Successful bakers, chefs, mechanics, soldiers, and healthcare practitioners function best when their tools are in ideal shape…the same is true for you and for me.

Optimizing the lifespan of our resources is valuable because it saves us money long-term. I am consistently surprised at would-be home economists who brag about their ability to “prep on the cheap.” I agree that frugality should be practiced but not at the expense of becoming CHEAP! By cheap, I mean the practice spending a little money to buy as many products of inferior quality as possible than in spending more money to buy better or best quality products which likely will not need to be replaced. Those who act cheap cannot appreciate terms such as craftsmanship, lifetime manufacturer warranty, or even conduct real cost analyses! How to conduct a practical cost analysis will be the subject of a separate post.

In order to make the most of your resources, pursue these practices:

• Read the instructions & owner’s manual!
• Understand how to appropriately use your product
• Understand your product’s limitations
• Learn how to maintain your product in ideal operating condition
• Gather information and feedback from others who parallel you & your use of the product
• Contact the dealer/manufacturer for product support
• Establish a routine to maintain your product

Routine of Integrity

Properly maintaining your resources is a fundamental behavior that optimizes the life span of your tools (in this case water), refreshes your operating knowledge base (where & when to access it), and promotes improvisation when access to familiar resources is cut-off (alternative access to water & water filtration/purification). Habit is a synonym for the word routine, and denotes behaviors or customs that develop with repeated application. In this case, the habit or routine of integrity is a function of reviewing your water storage and making adjustments to ensure its optimum availability.

Within the context of establishing a routine, here are some personal steps that I take in my routine:

• Monthly visual inspection
• Routine cleaning of storage area
• Routinely adding to the water storage where possible
• For the last couple of months leading up to replenishment, I use the remaining water or place it into smaller containers for use within an appropriate time-frame.

-David SafeWater

Cleaning the Waters of Information

Recently, I read an article on a blogger’s site that mentioned the Berkey® Water Purification and Seychelle® filtration systems, as well as another filtration system. Some points in that article that need clarification, especially since such generalities as stated in that article are lacking in reason and practicality. It is vital for individuals to offer information that is clear and practical, especially to the communities whose interests we share. When critics publicly address the Berkey®  Systems, it is only fair to respond in a similar fashion. We hold a vested interest in providing correct information, especially when implications murky the water, directly/indirectly. The bullet points are direct quotes from the article. Our responses follow the bullet points.

• Having an abundance of water available for future challenges is meaningless without having reliable methods of water filtration for any of that water you’d use…

Personally, I have quite a bit of emergency water on-hand and this statement is a generality that is simply untrue. Having lots of water is not meaningless. Even if you only had pool water available (which should not be used for drinking water), that amount of water is absolutely useful and valuable for other applications such as washing clothes, dishes, rinsing surfaces, etc.

I store my drinking water in 55 gallon containers that are unused. I purchased them new from a wholesaler who buys directly from the manufacturer, Contico. Although I pre-treat the stored water, I know that the water will be safe to drink even if I am unable to use my Berkey® systems to optimize the water.

• Test results need to identify the initial baseline of invaders before its results can be relied on.

Let’s address bacteria as the author makes specific reference to this in her example. A common misconception held by many individuals is that all bacteria are “bad”. Pathogenic (illness-causing) bacteria and microorganisms are the “invaders” that you want to avoid in your water, food, and simple day-to-day living. The presence of coliform bacteria in your water source is not a fail-safe indicator of pathogens.

Routine testing methods emphasize the testing for indicator rather than pathogenic microbes. In fact, lab testing generally relies on the presence of indicator organisms (organisms whose presence might indicate the presence of pathogenic bacteria as well) to suggest the presence of pathogens. Even so, if the counts of indicator organisms are low, that indicates a low to non-present likelihood of disease-causing bacteria in the sample. By the way, bacteria are usually on the scale of millions and not hundreds.

The author then references her experience with a Berkey® representative and states that he kept referring to the red food coloring test. The manufacturer New Millennium Concepts, Ltd., specifically uses the red food coloring test because of the unique ability of their systems to remove the red color from the water, whereas no other system that compares itself directly with the Berkey® is able to do the same. The red food coloring also assists users to determine whether their Black Berkey® Elements are functioning properly or need replacement.

Berkey® Water Purification Systems have been a well-known brand within this category for more than a decade and have used the term “non-detectable levels” since their start. Lab data has been referenced by the manufacturer for many years now, although many newcomers are just now becoming informed.

• Avoid any water filtration unit which uses the term “up to” as a part of its marketing and technology content.

Again, an inaccurate reference is made here. Berkey® Systems make specific mention to “pathogenic bacteria, cysts, and parasites” and do so specifically: >99.9999%. The bundling of the Berkey® Systems in with statements of other manufacturers is inaccurate, misrepresentative, and misleading. And for those who have suffered a “miserable recovery from a digestive illness,” please research Louis Pasteur’s words in context to your illness: “Bernard avait raison. Le germ n’est rien, c’est le terrain qui est tout.” Translation from French: “Bernard was correct. The germ is nothing; the terrain is everything.”

• The filtration and treatment tests must take into consideration the SIZE of the invaders they are attempting to eliminate.

Personally, I like New Millennium’s statement (link paragraph titled “What is the Micron Rating of the Black Berkey^® purification elements?”) on this particular point, made a few years ago:

With respect to the micron rating, we do not use or publish a micron rating for the Black Berkey^® elements for the following reasons:

There is much confusion with respect to nominal and absolute micron ratings. An absolute micron rating is one that states the maximum pore size expected within an element.  The nominal micron rating is the average pore size within the element. This means that if 90% of the pores are .02 microns and ten percent are 2.0 microns, one could claim the nominal micron rating as 0.2 microns, which would imply that pathogenic bacteria and parasites would be totally removed.  But in reality the bulk of the water would channel through the larger 2-micron pores and thereby allow both bacteria and parasites to pass through. Therefore a nominal micron-rating claim can be very misleading.

With respect to the absolute micron rating, there is also confusion because there are two different standards to determine absolute; in the US the standard is 99.9% removal, but the international standard in 99.99% removal or 10 times greater removal.

Clever marketers of products can use the confusion over the above differences to make product “A” appear to be better than product “B” when product B may be far superior in reality. For example, we used to report an absolute rating using the international standard because we have a large international customer base.  Several years ago we published a rating on our ceramic filters.  A particular company began to publish that our elements were .9 microns whereas theirs were .2 microns. However, our micron rating was based on absolute (international) while theirs was based on a nominal (US) rating.  When tested at Spectrum Labs, it was found that at the 0.2 to 0.3 microns range our filter removed more particulate than the other brand. Unfortunately, many people make their purchasing decisions based on a micron rating that can be legitimately distorted and to a significant degree.

We soon became weary of trying to explain the above to our customers and so we decided not to participate any longer in publishing a micron rating.  Rather, we think an absolute pathogenic bacteria removal rate is a far better gauge because it is far more difficult to abuse.  Based on that criterion, the Black Berkey^® elements remove greater than 99.9999999% of pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli. To our knowledge, no other personal filtration element can match that capability. In fact, the Black Berkey^® elements are so powerful, they are unique in their ability to mechanically remove red food coloring from water.

• Sure it cleans the water, but how long do I have to wait?! It’s all about the contact time.

It is no revelation that contact time is one of the key operating principles behind the success of the Black Berkey® Purification Elements! Of course, the proprietary media which is impregnated into the coconut-shell carbon of the Black Elements is also at work in addressing the contaminants, as well as the amount of carbon used in the elements themselves.

We’re definitely looking forward to reading the second part of that author’s post.

-TBG

Floridians Still Dealing with Toxic Algae

Similer Toxic Algae was found in Northern California.

Apparently, clean drinking water is not as readily available as many assume. You know, we regularly receive orders and phone calls from Florida residents because their water is less than desirable. The image to the left is an example of toxic algae that was found in the water at the Iron Gate Reservoir, about 5 miles south of the Oregon-California border.

If you get a chance, please read the article posted today an attorney at Earthjustice. The original article can be found here: Nauseating Toxica Algae Outbreak a Grim Reminder.

It might surprise many Americans to know that even within our great nation clean water is not enjoyed by all, even within established cities and towns. It is very, very disappointing. It is readily assumed that all the taxes that we pay would naturally support infrastructure to secure WATER!

So, aside from the fact that a Berkey System would come in handy here, we all have a vested interest to be informed of our local water supplies and the quality of the water they produce for our consumption. I am not suggesting that you need to become a regular at town/city hall meetings, but what would it hurt to get involved?

Seriously, one of the biggest motivating factors to change comes from us: regular tax-paying citizens who won’t accept sub-par performance from elected officials and public service providers. Our political persuasions do not matter. Our views on the 2nd amendment don’t come into play when we-as communities-collaborate to ensure we have clean, readily-accessible water from our water utilities.

Please do your part. For yourself. For the Future.

-The Berkey Guy

Berkey Water Filter

What is a Berkey Water Filter?

One of the most trusted names in water filtration systems, Berkey has been offering water filters to customers for ages. They have developed a patented system that sets the international standard for filtration. Used worldwide, the filter is one of the most powerful on the market today. The portable Berkey water filter can be used to filter non-potable or unhealthy water in any situation, even when electricity isn’t available, so you can imagine why this product has been so vastly adopted.

Where Can I Buy a Berkey Water Filter?

You can purchase Berkey water filters anywhere that Berkey products are sold, but we recommend checking out Directive 21. Not only do the good people at Directive 21, online at http://www.directive21.com/, sell Berkey water filter products, they also offer peace of mind and information on many of today’s top health and safety issues. From the water filters to food storage kits and emergency seed banks, Directive 21 will help you prepare for everything in a day and age where anything can happen.

Berkey

The Berkey Name

The Berkey name is renowned and associated around the world with water filtration. The company relies on technology that is revolutionary and, as such, it’s set the standard internationally for filtration of water. This is something that the good people at this water filter company take very seriously. They’ve stacked their reputations on the name and the product, so every scrap of development and research gets taken very seriously indeed. From the use of new techniques to the use of top-of-the-line product elements, you can trust water filtration from the experts.

Buying Berkey Products

Products from Berkey are available at a number of places because the brand name is so trusted, but there are a few select dealers that offer more bang for your buck. I particularly like Directive 21, online at http://www.directive21.com/. These guys offer a wealth of products that can help you and your family survive these grim times. From seed packs to food kits, Directive 21 has you covered.

Welcome to The Berkey Guy’s Blog!

I’d like to extend a cordial welcome to you! We look forward to providing you with great information to help you on your way to achieving greater self-reliance and peace. Please subscribe to our RSS feed and you will automatically receive updates as we make content available here. By subscribing, you will also receive a free subscription to the The Berkey Guy Newsletter, sent out twice a month. Our newsletter contains special offers that we only provide to our subscribers. And as always, your email and contact information remains safe with us and nobody else. We will never sell, trade, grant access or provide your information to anyone. Period.

You will notice many exciting things in the months to come, so stay tuned and please feel free to offer your comments here, Like Us on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter, and Visit Us on Youtube!

If you would like to submit an original article or would like to see an article about a particular subject, please email us & let us know @:   blogarticle@directive21.com.

Thanks,

The Berkey Guy

Big Berkey

What is the Big Berkey System?

There are a host of water filtration systems on the market, many of which aren’t worth the paper-thin material they’re made of. The Big Berkey System, though, is a difference-maker. Why? Power is a good place to start. This bad boy is ideal for use at home with small or medium-sized families because it purifies both treated and untreated water. It even filters streams, stagnant ponds and other water sources that you may not have thought of.

Inside the Big Berkey System

The Big Berkey System gets rid of pathogenic bacteria, parasites and cysts. It kicks out harmful chemicals, like organic solvents and herbicides. It reduces the presence of nitrates, lead, mercury, copper, and a mass of other harmful minerals. The big system has two purification elements and a storage capacity of about 2.25 gallons. It can purify up to three and a half gallons per hour and can be expanded to utilize a total of four purification elements. For more information, check out the website online at http://www.directive21.com/.

Berkey Water Filter

The Magical, Wondrous, Awesome Berkey Water Filter

In the wild world of water filters, only one water filter can be king of the mountain. That filter, my friends, is the Berkey filter. What makes the Berkey filter the top banana in the world of water filters? Contact time. While other filtration systems are jamming water through the filters at 60 to 90 PSI, Berkey puts water molecules through the path of the Black Berkey elements and draws the liquid through the media for a longer period of time. This allows more of the “bad stuff” to get filtered out, creating pure water each and every time.

While My Water Filter Gently Weeps…

Indeed, the exhilarating world of water filters is often not thought of as much. The good people are Berkey take their vocation very seriously, however, as water filtration is vital. With the amount of additives, chemicals and pollutants in your average glass of water these days, you had better have a safe, secure, awesome Berkey water filter system that you can rely on. Berkey’s the one to turn to, trust me on that. For more on the awesomeness that is Berkey filtration, check out their website online at http://www.directive21.com/.

Berkey Water Filters

Purchasing Berkey Water Filters

The founders of Berkey’s water filtration system stand behind their product, that’s for sure. They even use Berkey water filters on a daily basis and reap the rewards of such a remarkable product. So how do you buy these filters and get the Berkey difference in your water supply? Simple. Head on over to the Berkey website, online at http://www.directive21.com, and you’ll find all the information you need to set up your own water purification system from Berkey. The filters, the accessories and all the info you need all lie with Directive 21. What are you waiting for?

Berkey Water Filters: Difference You Can Taste

There are a lot of filters on the market that make promises they can’t keep. Only Berkey water filters provide water that is pure, clean and crisp to the taste – without toxins, additives and chemicals. Through this system, the water sits in the filter media for longer than traditional filtration systems. Because less pressure is used to rush the process along, more additives and harmful components are filtered out of the water. And because the process is more thorough, the Berkey difference is something you can taste.

Berkey Water

Berkey Water is Beautiful Water

Filtration systems always make hollow promises, it seems. As soon as most filter systems hit the market, they start making incredible claims about removing additives and chemicals that were never there. With Berkey’s system, the filtration process is slower and more thorough. No phony promises; no junk science. Instead, what you get is beautiful Berkey water with each and every glass from the filtration system. Because water spends more time in the micro-porous filtration, you get purer water. No question about it.

The Berkey Water Filter Difference

For more information on the Berkey water filter difference, check out the website online at http://www.directive21.com. While you’re there you can get more information about the system and what it can do for your entire water supply. Whether you’re filtering out small water supplies or stagnant streams, Berkey has a filtration solution for you and your family. Enjoy safe, crisp, clean water today with the Berkey filter system.