Without water, there is no life. Since the dawn of mankind, people have congregated around sources of water which provide the ability to stay hydrated, bathe, attract the prey we hunt, create fertile soil to grow crops, and travel by boat. From the Nile Delta to the Mighty Mississippi, water isn’t just the primary component of our bodies, it’s also the glue that holds together our communities.
We often consider the collapse of our government or financial institutions as the most severe blow that could be dealt to our society, and eras such as the Civil War and Great Depression attest to this severity. But the failure of our water supply has the potential to be far worse. Take a look at the most impoverished nations, or areas decimated by hurricanes and tsunamis, and you’ll see a level of human suffering that’s almost unimaginable in our infrastructure-rich part of the world. And as with any disaster, we should never make the critical mistake of assuming it can’t happen to us.
If your region was affected by a severely contaminated water supply, how would you stay hydrated and hygienic? We asked emergency management expert Mark Linderman and first responder Joey Nickischer to share their insights on this challenging scenario.
The Scenario
SITUATION TYPE
Scavenging for clean water
YOUR CREW
Yourself and your family
LOCATION
Midwest United States
SEASON
Summer
WEATHER
Hot; high 98 degrees F, low 70 degrees F
The Setup
While many of us take for granted the ability to turn on our faucets or showers and have unlimited access to clean, safe water, many of us don’t anticipate or plan for our supply to become suddenly unavailable or contaminated. Instances such as Hinkley, California (which was made famous by Erin Brockovich), demonstrate that contamination of local aquifers can be ongoing for many years and be connected to health epidemics long before the public becomes aware of them. In other instances, such as Flint, Michigan, once contamination becomes obvious, the plan by government officials to rectify the situation is often held up for years pending lawsuits, construction approvals, and miles of other red tape. In the meantime, what is the local population supposed to do, short of moving out of the area entirely?
The Complication
For decades, there has been discussion among residents in your city and urban legends about the local water system becoming increasingly polluted. While just about everyone in the community agrees the water “tastes funny,” many have begun to accept it as normal. After enough chronic health problems locally have been documented in recent years, the common denominator appears to point back to the municipal water system. Eventually, the media and environmentalists descend on the community enough to pressure local officials to admit that the system is unfit for drinking, washing, bathing, or anything else until further notice.
While picking up and moving away immediately isn’t an option, the question
