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Re: Water and sanitation when SHTF

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:25 am
by jansman
...and it will be the neighbours that are the sanitation 'problem'.Forget looting and violence etc. It will be the humble micro organisms that pose the biggest threat.I have a couple of neighbours who are lazy,filthy ######## now.

Re: Water and sanitation when SHTF

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 8:14 am
by Brambles
jansman wrote:...and it will be the neighbours that are the sanitation 'problem'.Forget looting and violence etc. It will be the humble micro organisms that pose the biggest threat.I have a couple of neighbours who are lazy,filthy ######## now.
^^^This.

I can very quickly see any neighbourhood degenerating into a hotbed of disease through lack of sanitation. We are only a few generations away from typhoid and dysentery being the death of the day and as I go through the city sometimes it's easy to see where any problems would begin (I'm into my history). This area has a lot of back to back terraces with practically no courtyard because they've extended the property into the outside space and this is probably where it would start.

Re: Water and sanitation when SHTF

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:31 am
by Clarebelle
I have two 2000l water storage tanks rigged up to my guttering. They are used for the garden at the moment but that would be my water source should the mains go off (with added filtration).

We have a septic tank which I think doesn't need the mains to work? I might be wrong but if the toilet cistern was manually filled then flushed it would just work as normal? I'm not 100% sure about this though. Failing that, i'm big into my gardening and have always wanted a compost toilet!

Re: Water and sanitation when SHTF

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:40 am
by Yorkshire Andy
Clarebelle wrote:I have two 2000l water storage tanks rigged up to my guttering. They are used for the garden at the moment but that would be my water source should the mains go off (with added filtration).

We have a septic tank which I think doesn't need the mains to work? I might be wrong but if the toilet cistern was manually filled then flushed it would just work as normal? I'm not 100% sure about this though. Failing that, i'm big into my gardening and have always wanted a compost toilet!

Depends on your set up old septic tanks need pumping out when full of solids


newer treatment tanks reply on 2 things electric and a bio culture.

The electric powers a big air pump to circulate and aerate the "soup," and there is also a discharge pump to pump the degraded soup into your drainage field aka soakaway

If the pumps fail the bio culture dies and the solids don't get eaten they get into the drainage pump block it and then it's turdmageddon and a nightmare to empty clean and reintroduce the bacteria
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Re: Water and sanitation when SHTF

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:26 am
by Clarebelle
ahh ok, it is new in that It was only installed 2 years ago but its not one of the treatment plants. We have a contract with Scottish water to come and empty it every three years. I guess we would have to think of some way to empty it ourselves if the need arised.