Yes, I had already thought of that, although certainly a drop of oregano oil per gallon would suffice in a pinch. I can use a generator to pump water or we can actually use a water pump we have at the ground level and I also use a Nikken PiMag filter system which I like okay. I am looking for ways to be able to stay home when things get crazy...certainly after seeing the mess evacuation made, it makes it more desireable to be able to eat out of a garden and produce clean water at home. The electric problem is real. At one point after Hurricane Rita, I went to Wally World to pick up some food and up and down the highway no restaurants were open except the ones with propane tanks or bar-b-que cookers and no fast foods were open and even the grocery stores were closed with no electricity. The highway lights were out so that was a big mess too. Even on emergency generators you could go into WalMart but ultimately could not buy a single thing because they did not have registers on generators and so you could only buy in between the blackouts. I waited for 2 hours and came back home with nothing. Also, it was amazing to see how much food had spoiled so could not be bought or sold and no bread was left and with the gas problem and traffic problem, no one could get in to restock...no mail was being delivered either. So, this year, I do not plan on being so naive and I do want to be MORE prepared than I was.

I had bought ten cases of water last year for myself but did not count on the people evacuating coming here so that blew my careful planning...ggg. You could not find water anywhere...in a bottle.

Points well taken though on the solar still...I am just brainstorming here...also as far as price goes, I am looking some long term, since our money value may disappear anytime overnight so I would rather have something too which will perform up to some standard and am willing to pay a little more if things like food quality receptacles and panels and such will wear better.

It would make a good discussion I think to contemplate and detail what would be needed if something like Martial Law was enforced or natural disasters or whatever....most people have a two week supply in their homes and of course the government counts that and basically has very little to no food banked for the populace in case of an emergency. The hurricanes for me were a real wake up...

blessings,
Zoe

They work with any heat source and could be a life savor.

The Bird flue is all too real, when you figure those 120 bunkers blew up around Bahgdad had thousands and thousands of tons of Germ warfare USA, FRANCE and RUSSIAN bombs stored there and Bush ordered Depleted uranium bombs too boot to seal the doom of that nation for millions of years, the fall out has circled the earth and the bird is really Beubonic plague and Anthrax, every morgue in the world test for it, not something called bird flue. This same germ warfare is set to be released world wide as a holy war of all wars and it is nicknamed bird flue.

MH