These remarks here will be directed to the Southern California region. However, you should contact us with questions
about other parts of the country for more information.
Southern California is likely to have all infrastructure lines interrupted when the San Andreas goes. Between landslides,
explosions and fires at those points, it may literally be weeks before workers can repair those lifelines, which may be offset
from their normal path by up to about 40 feet. We will be cut off completely -- an urban desert island.
Southern California can also experience extreme heat, with temperatures at or exceeding 100 degrees for days (and sometimes
nights too) at a time. People who are not able to occupy damaged buildings will have little protection from the heat.
With power likely to be out, we cannot count on air conditioners or fans. We will also be in a situation of instant
shortages, meaning we will not be consuming other beverages and fresh fruits and other foods that help supply needed liquid
in our diet.
You may think you don't drink much water, but in the heat alone, without further protection, a human can perspire off
liquid at the rate of 1.6 quarts in an hour. If that loss of liquid is not replaced, it will begin to impact your ability
to think and make sound decisions, and can be expected, sooner or later, to begin to move your body rapidly through the stages
of heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and ultimately cardiac arrest. And yes, this can happen even in otherwise
healthy individuals.
Furthermore, erosion alone, let alone a seismic event, in Northern California could bring down the levees and cause saltwater
incursion all the way from the sea to Sacramento, cutting off about half of the SoCal water supply. That ration has
already recently been lowered due to a federal judge's ruling on August 30, 2007 imposing limits on those flows in order to
protect the endangered delta smelt. Furthermore, one of the scenarios for an event on the San Andreas includes a high
magnitude aftershock near Sacramento, also with possible collapse of the levy system. You can see more about that in
the scientific study that produced the script for the Great Southern California ShakeOut.
Few households or businesses, or even government agencies here have stored adequate supplies of water. In fact
the majority of these have stored NO emergency water at all.
The water on store shelves will be quickly gone, especially under current systems of Just-In-Time Inventories.
And some of what the stores do have will fall off the shelves and break during the shaking. In short, there simply isn't
enough water in the Southern California region to take care of a multi-county area of over 24 million people. But, when
the San Andreas takes out the supply lines, and the region cut off, there will be very long delays before help can get in
from the outside.
Some of you may be aware of the new Diamond Valley Lake reservoir, which was built with the idea of being able to provide
water for up to six months. However, because of recent judicial rulings, drought, and other things, it may be that this
intended emergency supply will be impacted well before a big earthquake occurs. Also, even in the best case scenario,
there will be damage to the delivery systems and local distribution systems throughout the region.
In short, if you don't have an adequate supply of potable water stored, you won't have any. And it could cost you
your life.
Federal and state recommendations are currently that each household be prepared with supplies for at least two weeks,
not simply three days. They've also joined my long-standing recommendations that rations for home supplies be at least
on the order of three gallons, per person, per day. That may sound like a lot of water, but consider the reference above
to a human potentially losing 1.6 quarts per hour in perspiration during unremitting heat. If you really
take that in, you should be able to see that even six to eight hours of high heat exposure could require the replacement of
at least three gallons of drinking water, per person, in a single day, and possibly more.
The impacts of these two rules alone are not well understood by most members of the public. But, I will give you
a couple of examples of things to think about, for a family of four:
- The "Jones" family believes they have enough water, because they have five 5-gallon bottles on hand for their water cooler,
i.e. 25 gallons. At one gallon per person per day, and a three-day time span, they think they only actually need 4 (people)
x 1 (gallon each per day) x 3 (days duration), or a total of 12 gallons on hand. They even think they're pretty smart,
because they have "twice the recommended quantity" (using outdated information). They also are patting themselves on
the back because they have a little extra on hand for Rover, who is a 44 pound dog.
- The "Smith" family has read and acted upon more accurate assessments about water and earthquakes in Southern
California. They also have a dog of similar size to Rover Jones. This is how they more accurately figured what
they need: 5 (4 people plus 1 dog) x 3 (gallons each per day) x 14 (days duration), or a total of 210 gallons!
You simply have to face facts, and also do the math. The difference between having 12 - 25 gallons on hand for your
family, and 210 gallons is enormous. And it will likely come down to a life or death issue at some point.
The "Smith" family uses four 55-gallon drum systems, for 220 gallons total, and this is a major reason why you should consider
the 55-gallon water drum systems for your property as well, if you have an appropriate place for them. Over time, they
are the best approach to storing large quantities of water. Over time, they use less space, save money and
save time as compared with buying and rotating bottled water. And most importantly, they give you the capability
of potentially saving your own lives. Read more about the drum systems by jumping back to the following link,
and scrolling down the right hand column to see them:
Water products
