Atfer almost three months of experiencing one sizzling heatwave after another, plus extreme drought, and watching hospitals in the city becoming full to their capacity with heatstroke victims, (and seeing some of my precious plants die) - My entire city of around 20 million people has now run out of water. Water reservoirs everywhere are now reaching dead level, including my underground water storage tank. And government has proven to be most incompetent, (like always). So all I see are officials standing around clueless, just pretending to look like they are working for a solution. But actually they are just loitering with their own thumbs tightly stuck up their you-know-where... Downsides of when a city as large as mine starts running out of water are: Power failures, as all electricity generating stations need water. Which they turn into steam, to drive a turbine, that generates power. So once they run out of water, electricity too stops. Sharpe increase in heatstroke victims. As people now can't run their air conditioners or fans to stay cool. Nor will they have water to splash on themselves for relief. Civil unrest, as angry people go on the rampage in different areas. When both power and water are in very short supply. This disrupts commerce and daily life of just about everyone. Tanker mafia and their extortion, basically people who own water bowsers, (water tanks mounted on trucks), now start with their own profiteering at times like these. They have their own huge water storage, from which they now start supplying to individuals. But at an exuberant cost. Political vengeance, as those who got elected into positions of authority. Now seek revenge from the localities of their political opponents, (to make their voters suffer). So they get their fair share of water diverted elsewhere. Or if it can't be diverted, they will either waste it by faking an accident, like a major water pipe bursting, (which they themselves sabotage at night). Or they simply sell off that water in their reservoirs to the tanker mafia. So it's now been over a month, and I haven't gotten a single drop in my underground concrete water storage tank in my house, therefore it's completely dry now... This might confuse many people living in the West. As they get water supplied to their homes in urban areas under pressure 24/7. Over here all homes have an underground reservoir tank in each house, with at least a month's supply of water storage capacity. You get a pipe from the government that supplies you with water. This pipe falls into this underground tank. You are supplied with water for around an hour to an hour and a half, on alternative days, so that's how your underground concrete storage tank keeps getting filled up automatically - That is if the system works well, (which it never does nowadays). From this underground holding tank, we pump water to the overhead tank, (which also every house has on it's roof). So that's how we always have running water, because of gravity flow. So if your water reservoir at home starts to run out. You have no choice but to call a private tanker (water bowser, basically water on wheels), which will now charge you an arm and a leg - Basically extortion... But at the end you'll now have some water brought to your underground water tank. Therefore I am now sick of this vicious cycle, and since the monsoon season (rainy season) has already started. Means that today will be the last time I'll be ordering a water tanker. As from now on, I'm going to collect rainwater. Because the forecast says that from the 30th of July, we are now going to experience a massive tropical downpour. So all that collected water, I will store in big fiberglass tanks, (which I'm now going to buy), as they are cheap and readily available. Since this is the only time of the year when we get some rain. It makes perfect sense to start collecting and storing rain water, (for whenever the city's water supply chain is under strain, broken down due to incompetence, or deliberately sabotaged by the tanker mafia). Also going to seriously look into keeping all that stored water free from any microbial growth. Because if that starts to happen - The entire purpose of storing extra water is defeated. As what good is something, when you can't even use it anymore? Fortunately, i have water purifying tablets, which we often put in our underground concrete holding tank. But I'm looking for something better now. Sharing all of this over here with everyone. Because whatever is happening with me right now, will soon start happening elsewhere too. As climate change isn't getting any better, will only get more extreme in the foreseeable future. So best we we learn from each other, by sharing our experiences. The system we have here in my part of the world, is actually pretty robust. As in a disaster situation like earthquakes, or even in a war were infrastructure can get knocked out - Each house still has around a month or more of water in storage. However when there is no inflow, the storage tanks will eventually run out at some point. So aside from collecting and storing rainwater. I am also now going to explore the possibility of digging a water well. Of course, it will be saltwater, as I live very close to the beach. So after that I'll need to explore desalination. Beyond that I'm also looking into extracting moisture from air. As being do close to the sea, my atmosphere is always very humid. My air conditioner already is giving around 16 to 20 liters of water in 24 hours of use, (which I am using to water some plants). Therefore this thread will also function as a timeline of all these water supply projects, which I am now starting to undertake.
Best of luck with your water endeavors. We use rainwater for the garden, but it eventually runs out. When I grew up on the farm, each farm had a big rainwater tank too.
Here's a solution for free desalination of water. Solar desalination! Not costly to make either. Minimalistic in it's nature. Plus extremely easy to maintain and repair. Only drawback is that it needs to be made big, as the bigger it is, the more efficient it becomes. While on a small scale it's mediocre at best... Also functions well in areas which get too much sunlight, (like my part of the world). But if made in a size of around 12 x 12 feet, it'll give you enough freshwater to easily sustain yourself in luxury, plus more!
These videos below are also about rainwater collection. It's really cheap and easy, so no need to break the bank. However in Saudi Arabia, they are applying a very innovative idea of collecting rainwater. It's called a rainwater collection umbrella - The finest example of which can be witnessed at the Masjid-e-Nabawi grand mosque in the city of Medina. Providing shade for the worshippers during the daytime, as well as collecting precious rainwater during a downpour.
Now we come to the issue of digging/drilling a water well. And how to make your own drilling/boring heads.
These are some of my favorite seaweed snacks. It helps to have a big Asian grocery store within driving distance . The sea-veggie burger (actually a fritter) was at a regular grocery store. Might be a one-time offering. Speaking of insects as an alternative food, they are high protein, and very energy and resource efficient to produce. I've had snack chips (like tortilla chips) made with cricket flour, they were tasty. I bought some cricket flour and added it to chili, but I didn't like it. I imagine they taste better in something unhealthy, such as ginger snaps or chocolate chip cookies. Harvesting water from the air seems like a great idea. Windcatchers also might help in some situations, and use zero energy resources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher In dry desert climates, evaporative coolers might help, but unfortunately use water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler
Many old homes in the villages (away from urban areas) once had windcatchers built into their design. However now, in the last 70+ years, modernisation made people discontinue with natural ways of keeping a house cool. So instead everybody just started using fans and air conditioners, which consumed electricity. But since power was cheap, nobody cared how much they used up - Until now, where utility bills are today making people go bankrupt... As for collecting moisture from air, well, there is only one practical way of doing that. Which is my condensation. So we need to cool something down, on which moisture can collect. Only problem with this it, that it's a power hungry process, as cooling anything down takes considerable energy. But fortunately, solar panels are now very cheap. And now with those peltier modules which don't have any moving parts, (even though they aren't very efficient), we can have something which will have a very long service life. I however just collect the water that drips out from all my air conditioners. So I get 50 to 70 liters each day. Which I use to water many of my plants.
