Bottled water

If Flood Water Touched My Food, Can I Still Use It?

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Ready Nutrition May 2013

Dear Tess, Help! Our basement flooded and the water got on some of our emergency food? Can I save it? ~ Angela

Hi Angela,

BleachI’m sorry to hear about your home being effected by a flood. Some food can be saved if it has been exposed to flood waters. Floodwater often contains infectious organisms, including intestinal bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Shigella; Hepatitis A Virus; and agents of typhoid, paratyphoid and tetanus. It also may be contaminated by agricultural or industrial chemicals or by hazardous agents present at flooded hazardous waste sites.

According to the FDA, “undamaged, commercially-prepared foods in all-metal cans or retort pouches can be saved if you remove the labels, thoroughly wash the cans, rinse them, and then disinfect them with a sanitizing solution consisting of 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of potable water. Finally, re-label containers that had the labels removed, including the expiration date, with a marker.”

Moreover, because other food sources could have been tainted, do not eat any food that may have come into contact with flood water. If in doubt, throw it out! Further, do not eat food packed in plastic, paper, cardboard, cloth, and similar containers that have been water damaged. Foods and beverages with  screw-caps, snap lids, crimped caps (soda bottles), twist caps, flip tops, and home canned foods should also be discarded, if they have come in contact with flood water. These containers cannot be disinfected.

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Emergency Water: 4 Ways To Enjoy Clean Water Anytime

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In recent years, many of us have heard about the many signs and signals that point to a global water crisis inching near. The world doesn’t have to be ending for the water supply to become unusable and undrinkable – just ask the victims of any major natural disaster. Whether it’s a super storm, a local outage due to a broken line, or the zombie apocalypse, you need to know how to access clean water for your own survival and wellbeing. Fortunately, you have several options for emergency water in the case of a personal, national, or global crisis.

Emergency Water: Recognize and Prepare

It seems like the go-to protocol in emergency preparation is in having gallons of store-bought water stowed away in case something should happen. But, this isn’t without its own dangers. Not only can water in plastic jugs take up a lot of space, we just don’t know how the BPA in the plastic could be breaking down as it sits on your cellar shelf waiting for the day you need it. What’s more, bottled water is nothing more than filtered or tap water, but is priced 2,000x higher than tap water. Stocking up on bottled water or storing your tap water in plastic simply isn’t the safest option.

And in case you didn’t know, this is what your tap water looks like. Tap water is riddled with heavy metals like lead, toxic fluoride, chlorine, pharmaceuticals, birth control, and much more. While it’s understandable to turn to tap water or bottled water int he case of a dire emergency, it should be known that these just aren’t the safest options available.

Here are a few safer options for emergency water.

 1. Water Filtration Systems

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Bottled Water And Bottled Beliefs

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Exopermaculture | April 22 2012

BottleTranspose this hilarious youtube send-up of the bottled water craze to our addiction to competing belief systems that we enjoy/endure as we grope and/or march our way blinkered, forwards or backwards or sidling sideways, pretending/hoping/praying that we know best and fighting with or “tolerating” all the others who don’t. (BTW: the creators of this bottled water video didn’t even mention the god-knows-what chemicals that leach out of the bottles into the water.)

Each belief system is a brand, with its own advertising, cost, unintended consequences — and, hopefully, a sell-by date.

Once we let go of belief and expectation as our anchor, once we morph back into full occupation of our own bodies with (preferably bare) feet firmly planted in the living soil of this good green Earth, then we can let go of our crazed need for certainty and realize the profound security of our serene interconnectedness with the natural world.

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