Scenario that's tough to prepare for - EMP

No doubt EMP is a concern. The weapon uses the Compton Effect to effect an EMP. This means detonation at an altitude and location within the radiation belts. To get there, the device needs to get there.

Seriously, do Pakistan, N Korea, Iran have delivery vehicles to make this happen? Not really. We have some time to prepare.

If they do manage to get a device in space, we will destroy it before it detonates. Back in the late '90s we were hitting 75% of the targets in space and demonstrated the ability to discern between decoys and actuals. I helped develop part of that system. I still occasionally work fringe projects (upgrades).

The concern (as others have stated) is EMP will take the grid and communications down.

Here in the desert, the risk summarizes as loss of water pressure. Loss of water pressure means people start dying within a week due to sanitation issues. If you're tied to the municipal water supply, you only get one flush after the event.

I have ways to treat my waste that doesn't require water. Maybe a spinoff thread on this subject would be useful.

 

@BlackhawkFan go for it would love to see more on how to handle human waste. might consider posting under 'Back to Basic' forum

 

This is not necessarily correct. If one has alternative sources of water and requires no electricity to get waste water from the home to the sewer or septic system, the toilets can be manually flushed using a bucket of water. Indeed, this is a good reason for saving gray water.

A good non-water solution is simply a bucket and saw dust, grass clippings, wood ash, etc. to cover each "load" until it can be transferred over to a compost bin/pile.

 

A lot of areas depend on lift stations to transfer the waste, and if those stations are no longer in operation the waste will back up into homes. believe me. I've done the removal and repairs on said pumps.
What doesn't move becomes a clog and a clog will develop gas pressure and eventually get really ugly.
Digging a hole and making an out house "now" is the best alternative .
Then you can use ashes to sprinkle on the remains. ( ashes have several uses)
A bowl of water and toilet towel in place of toilet paper to wash one's self, and a bucket of water and chlorine to wash the towel.
Ideally urine and feces are best treated seperately ,if possible. (these also have uses ).
Other countries use feces for making methane and piping it to homes for gas.
Urine tends to kill the bacteria that helps make gas.
There are a lot of smells that people will have to learn to deal with like it or not .
Rot, decomposition, death, poo (methane , more significant then a mere fart). urine, smoke, toxic waste,napalm, mustard gas, chlorine gas, solvents, ect. ...

 

Our main to the septic system has a one-way check valve to prevent sewage from backing up into the home...and if I recall correctly from my time in local government that we required the same when tying into the public sewer system. Is that not the case everywhere?

But of course you are correct that an outhouse is a preferred solution...I was taking issue with this notion of only having one flush post power outage...I think most could manage a few more as they get better solutions in place.

 

Absolutely correct. My comment was with the assumption that most who are tied to the municipal water system have maybe a case of bottled water stored up? That, with the water in their water heater, and the flushing will stop shortly.

 

Will do. Thanks.

 

Not sure why you would make that assumption. Just because someone is lives in the city doesn't automagically make them stupid, does it? I have lots of friends and family on city water that keep a lot of water and water filters/purifiers on-hand, either because they are preppers, or are just used to the fairly regular boil alerts caused by line breaks and other contamination of their supply.

On the other hand, I know quite a few people out here with wells who not only don't store water or filters...but have no back-up power source to keep their well pumps running.

Point is, where folks live is not always the best indicator of how prepared they are.

 

Stupid? Where did I say Stupid?

I work with an RF Engineer who's brilliant. His house is literally full of electronics parts and computer components. He has paths you have to walk to get from room to room. His house is on an acre. His garage is filled with expensive cars. He has several hundred gallons of gasoline that he rotates through his vehicles. He has maybe two days worth of food and water.

He isn't stupid, but he also isn't prepared.

For that matter, you could say I live in the city. I have over two man years of water and over three man years of food. I'm Mensa. I'm not stupid.

Stupid has nothing to do with it. Priorities are what dictate a person's lifestyle and spending habits.

 

My word, not yours.
I don't care how educated someone is, if they don't have the sense to make basic survival one of their top priorities, they ain't the brightest bulbs on the tree. We don't even think about doing things like breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping, finding shelter, etc, but for some reason some folks need a piano to fall on their head to figure out that the sources of some of those basics are not unlimited and constant and should have a little redundancy. It's funny how our ancestors who may or may not have had any kind of "higher" education knew this...but for some reason we've forgotten it.

FYI, I'm Mensa AND stupid.

 

I think we're both begging the same point in some respect. Others can say preppers/survivalists are stupid because we allocate our hard earned resources to unlikely scenarios.

That said, I agree about the lack of wisdom tone of your statement. You and I are cut from the same cloth in that respect.

I ask my colleagues how much water they have on hand. These are affluent, educated, practical people. Most shrug and say, "I don't know. Maybe a couple of gallons." I remind them that we're living in the desert. I tell them about Katrina, hoping to motivate them through parallel scenarios. Some start to stir, most continue to stay focused on the project at hand. The focused ones are the ones that continually promote. Real time environment has a lot to do with decision making.

The RF Engineer I mentioned previously is the go-to guy for the entire facility here. I'm certain should the SHTF he'll end up being the king of all he sees even though all he has on hand is gasoline.

 

I called my local sewer department and asked where the nearest lift station was for the system I'm connected into.
The engineer asked why the question.

I told him if the power was out for an extended period, I didn't want to be swimming in waste... He laughed and looked it up - I'm uphill from any problems. He even made a copy of the diagram for my area and sent it along without my asking. I guess nobody asks the obvious questions...

Oh, and my water supply is 800+ feet higher (glacier fed lake) and no pumps between me and the source....

Life is gonna suck for a lot of folks...