17 February 2011

Potable

This week our "Big Berkey" water filter arrived. All gleaming stainless steel, the top compartment contains four ceramic filter elements that are the heart of the contraption. You're supposed to be able to pour sewage into the top part of the filter and when you open the tap in the bottom part, drinking water will come out.

All this set me to thinking how rich we are and how much we take for granted...
We turn a tap and drinking water comes out.
We can drink it without fear.
We water our lawns with drinkable water.
While most of the world struggles to find enough water of any quality, we flush our toilets with drinking water!

Those of us who served in Viet Nam were quickly made aware how much of the rest of the world lives. We were careful to insure any water we drank was actually marked "Potable".
Generally the water we used to bathe and for many other cleaning chores was labeled "Non Potable".

We've all had the uncomfortable experience of turning on the tap and having no water, or flipping the light switch and realizing there's no power. At those times we know someone is out working on the supply system, trying to get our utilities back up to speed for us.
But what do you think will happen if we have economic chaos in this country and you know it's gonna be a LONG, LONG time before potable water will flow freely from that faucet?

I get the impression that more folks are realizing daily that's a possibility. President(?) Obama's revealing of his "non-budget" this week left many shaking their heads.
We have serious problems people, and so far our leaders don't seem to have the discipline and courage it's gonna take to avoid the coming catastrophe.

You'll want that drinking water to be "potable".
Are you preparing?

7 comments:

Bob Barbanes: said...

President(?) Obama's revealing of his "non-budget" this week left many shaking their heads.

You must have been out of town over the weekend. You must have missed John Boehner pronouncing that President Obama is indeed a Christian, *and* a citizen. He says it's a fact. A fact!

Err, could he be wrong?

Oh, here's the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110213/ap_on_re_us/us_boehner_obama

Greybeard said...

Yeah, I saw the "highlights replay" of that interview Bob. Man, I wish our "journalists" would spend as much time exposing corruption and waste as they do trying to lay political traps on those with different leanings than they have.
Boehner would have been in trouble no matter what if he had answered that question differently.

I don't care about Obama's religion. And I think it's highly likely he was born in Hawaii. I just want to know if his B.C. lists "Barack Obama Sr." as his father. If so, many constitutional scholars suggest he's not eligible to be President because he's not a "Natural Born Citizen".

It's fishy as hell...
Why is he spending millions to avoid producing the B.C.?
(And what will happen next election in those states that are now gonna require candidates to produce a B.C. in order to appear on the ballot?)

Greybeard said...

"The petition for rehearing explains that the 'certification of live birth' posted online by the Obama campaign in 2008 cannot be cited as proof, since "Sun Yat Sen, the Chinese nationalist leader," was granted "the same type of document that the respondents have claimed on the Internet and from the White House 'proves' that the respondent Obama was born in Hawaii."

Wow! It's possible Boehner may have to eat his words.

Old NFO said...

I've ordered one, and yeah, you're right, it could get pretty ugly, pretty fast...

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

You are absolutely correct. We generally take the fact that water will issue from the tap for granted. We also take for granted that a flipped switch will yield light and power.

The time is coming, my good friends, the time is coming.

BZ

jinksto said...

I think Boehner did an good job of saying "I think" and "probably is a citizen" without citing references or stating it definitively. As noted, it was a trap and he deftly did the best he could with it.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

My first gift to youngest son and his bride when they merged their families was a Berky.

Yes, we have "clean" tap water. I haven't drank much for years. Between the chlorine and fluoride, I question just how it can affect your health.