Source
r/preppers•
MesserStrong

Tips for living waterless?

Does anyone have any tips on what they'd do to live in a building without running water? There's water available in gallon jugs, but no toilet, sink or shower.

So far, I've figured out that TV dinner trays are coated with something that makes them easier to clean than regular dinner plates. (I'd rather not destroy the environment with Styrofoam.) Also, some Ramon comes in deeper bowls that are made of the same stuff.

Does anyone have any other tips for me?

Posted Oct 17, 2019, 10:50 AM UTC · edited

7266
trseeker•

Capture rainwater from the roof of whatever building you live in. Boil anything intended to drink or clean with. Use unboiled water for flushing toilets/laundry.

58
TheWhiteCowboy•

We always should use rain water for flushing the toilet. I don’t know in other countries but here in the Netherlands we use drinking water for flushing our own shit away...

22
TheBlueSully•

Running an additional line of grey water for every single house and commercial building seems like a huge pain in the ass. It's probably easier to just treat enough potable water to bathe&flush with.

18
RogueScallop•

Same in the US. Having a reliable supply of gray water is the tricky part. Homes are built around having a reliable potable water supply and LEED buildings are expensive due to collection, storage, and distribution of gray water.

4
vocalfreesia•

Some countries don't allow rain capture, because it needs to go back into the water table & ecosystems. It's really geography dependent, but I absolutely agree a lot of European countries should be using more rain capture.

1
Pyode•

I'm not super knowledgeable, but does water in septic tanks re-enter the water table?

If so, that seems like a good combo.

1
vocalfreesia•

Yeah, sorry, I've never lived anywhere that wasn't on mains sewerage. I'm sure it's one of those things which could be changed into a sensible combo if there was the desire to. Like all new building law regs should lean towards passivhaus ...but the law makers are all too corrupt.

1
delicious_but_deadly•

Get a Dutch oven and a spoon, then do all of your cooking and eating out of one pot.

Wash your laundry out of a pair of five gallon buckets, one with hot soapy water and one with plain hot water. You can use the clean water to soak a rag for bathing, and the dirty water for cleaning, flushing the toilet or irrigation.

Keep your urine for watering plants or compost. Shit in a disposable container or go elsewhere.

Remove the drain pipe for your kitchen sink and put a collection vessel underneath it, that way you can use it for cooking and cleaning and still collect the water afterwards.

The bare-bones minimum water requirements with none left over for cooking, cleaning, physical exertion, or hygiene is about 1/2 gallon per person per day. You would probably be better off rounding up to a full gallon though, and that would still be uncomfortable for most people.

27
Safetyman007Bugging in the wine cellar•

Great suggestions 👍

1
MesserStrongOP•

Thank you! This is a lot of information! We don't have a sink though.

1
parametrek•

Look for information about how people without running water lived. 3rd world countries and pre-industrial time periods. People would have sponge baths using a pitcher and basin. The 3rd world equivalent involves standing in a bucket.

People used to use chamber pots.

Plates were often made of wood and that has some antimicrobial properties.

Dirty clothing was put out in the sun. The UV kills microorganisms. The dirt would be beat out with a stick.

For the most part people would use literal buckets of water. This isn't necessarily waterless or even low water use. People put themselves closer to water sources so they don't need to carry buckets as far.

For a brief period you could buy asbestos tablecloths. Their advertising gimmick was that they could be tossed into a fire instead of washed.

Alcohol wipes are another option for cleaning yourself but they do get expensive.

19
nowantstupidusername•

I’ll take one asbestos tablecloth, please.

6
nameless_pattern•

you can make your own alcohol wipes cheaply with rubbing Alcohol and paper towels.

1
FreeER•

Drill a well? Relocate to a river?

If it's only a few days you can probably get by without washing dishes etc. Longer than that and it's going to become a bit of a problem. Indefinitely and you'll die from dehydration without some renewable source of water anyway.

Eat out of/with your cooking implements and do stirfries and soups and the like where you can cook with as few pots/pans as possible.

grow some plants with really large leaves that you can use as plates instead of actual plates, learn to make paper from grass etc. and make your own paper plates that decompose quickly etc.

prepare jerky, bread, grain bars/cakes, nut/raisin snack bags etc. that you don't need a plate for and don't make a big mess even if you do put it on a plate, sure bread crumbs fall but they aren't going to stick to a plate without some kind of sauce to make it and you could probably lick it clean (maybe not as appetizing with self made plates lol).

16
zack1661•

How would they become dehydrated? They said they’re getting water in gallon jugs. The building doesn’t have running water is the concern. It sounds like OP isn’t in the woods, just in a place that the water is shut off.

1
FreeER•

gallon jugs means stored water, indefinitely means you're using that water and not replacing it therefore you're going to run out and not have water.

Hence the suggestions of a well or a river which are renewable sources of water. Rain may help as well but I'm not sure it'd be enough to cover all your needs indefinitely even in most places, let alone some of the drier places in the world or during droughts (I haven't looked into it seriously yet).

4
zack1661•

I had gotten the impression that this wasn’t a hypothetical situation when I read the post and that OP was buying water jugs. But I scrolled further down and it seems like OP was asking about a situation where someone is stuck bugging in and wanted to stretch their water supplies as best they can? I’m still not sure exactly what they’re asking but in that latter situation you are correct. Thanks for the reply!

1
FreeER•

Yeah it wasn't super clear so I just went with the more generic answer that could theoretically apply to either.

3
MesserStrongOP•

I'm living in the situation. I have access to water, but not RUNNING water. It's just jugs

2
MesserStrongOP•

I'm living in a small cabin that is (supposed to be) being built around me. My niece lives in the big house, and there is running water there. That's how I get my gallon jugs of water.

However, the water has to be carried quite a ways. I'm uncomfortable going into the big house for most things, because she's moved other people in and I'm embarrassed about the water situation.

2
zack1661•

Ah this makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the clarification! I now understand why you would want to stretch your water as far as you can. I’m not sure how much people mentioned the grey water stuff but you could get a couple uses out of your water. For instance, water that gets used to brush your teeth could also be used to help flush the toilet. Probably similar if you do end up rinsing dishes at all, but it seems you’ve got a pretty good system in place already for that.

I wish you luck with the cabin and I hope it gets the water running quick! On the surface it sounds like a kind of cool camping like situation. Maybe viewing it like that could help remedy the embarrassment?

Edit: also, maybe a wagon or cart with big wheels could help move more water at once to help minimize the frequency of trips you’d have to make?

2
MesserStrongOP•

Thanks for the tips! We're looking at it like a cool camping situation. But I don't think others will see it that way.

1
ryanmercer•

Composting toilet.

8
MesserStrongOP•

I really like this idea, and I'm going to look more into it!

2
ryanmercer•

They're extremely common in tiny homes.

1
dolly-lamma•

If you can mount a large container for water somewhere up high you can run hoses/pipes to certain areas which will have water pressure due to gravity.

3
nwguy555•

poop in a hole

3
chrisbluemonkey•

How long are you talking? I've got a lot of camping gear that would set you up with what you need. There are chemical, water free, toilets. Shower pumps. Spouted bags that gravity feed for washing dishes. And, like in low water camping, you can prescrub dishes with sand, etc then use a very small amount of water to remove the excess dirt.

2
MesserStrongOP•

I've been here since July, and so far, I don't have other options. I'm planning to be here for the winter, and will probably make another post about heat!

1
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
SkyDrifters•

Get a BOB for the bathtub. Past that apartment dwellers will either make instant friends with their neighbors and lock their buildings down (as well as protect the perimeter) or they will be zombie food.

2
chaylarPrepared for 1 month•

Invest in a Dune still suit.

2
upsidedownbackwards•

That was me for 3 months last year. I lived out of a 6 gallon jug. It kept getting so cold that I gave up on trying to keep my water system warm and drained it all. It's not so bad. My fiestaware plates come clean easy. Showering I'll admit got a bit rare. I kept a 1 gallon jug by my bathroom sink.

2
LordNyssa•

Try again while making sense. Honestly I don’t get what you are trying to ask.

1†
MesserStrongOP•

Thanks for the heads up! I edited it to ask "does anyone have any tips for how they'd live without running water?"

Is it easier to understand now?

12
firefarmer74•

I live every summer without running water. We have a hand pump where we can get water, but there is no water in the house. We just try to clean plates and dishes as well as possible before we wash them (we rinse cups with small amount of water then drink it then reuse the cup and I usually lick my plate so it is easier to wash) and we do our best to not make messes otherwise. We have an outhouse outside so we don't have to worry about toilets. We take sponge baths with a small bucket of water. It may sound inconvenient, but my summers are my favorite time of year. Probably because I am on vacation instead of at work, but I never feel inconvenienced.

7
MesserStrongOP•

I'm looking at this as a great adventure and a learning experience! I've got my fiance with me, and our pets.

2
LordNyssa•

Some, still don’t get the TV dinner tray thing. But just use water containers. You know plastic jugs and jerrycans. Like I have a water bladder in my bag, a jerrycan in my van and I huge plastic container buried next to my shed, where filtered rainwater is stored in.

3
MesserStrongOP•

Using the plastic trays that TV dinners come in, you don't need soap and water for every use. They wipe clean because of either what they're made of or coated in. That's not something that I ever realized.

I was just wondering what tips other people had, if they were locked in and couldn't bug out.

5
LordNyssa•

Just eat from the pot I cooked in. And pots and pans can be cleaned with sand, no water needed.

7
montigo-123•

Teflon pans clean up with much less water.

0
buddboy•

he wants to know how to stay sanitary. IT sounds easy from a "camping" perspective but he's talking about an urban environment and so it's actually a lot more complicated.

How to deal with human waste? How to wash yourself?

He's just looking for general tips and tricks

5
LordNyssa•

Yes so I’m giving him tips.

0
buddboy•

Oh I didn't see that. I was replying to your specific comment where you were confused and asked for clarification. Thanks for the downvote

3
LordNyssa•

That’s why I asked for the clarification. You can’t help if you do t get what the other wants to know. And the downvote didn’t come from me.

1
MikelWRyan•

I would still wash my eating utensils, you can do it with minimal water, with a little bleach added to it. Then keep that water to flush your toilet.

1
J973Bring it on•

And keep the bleach dish solution for multiple uses until it gets "bad". Like wipe the major stuff off with a rag or paper towel and then dip in the semi-clean utensils in the bleachy water for sterilization.

2
MrMurgatroyd•

until it gets bad

Caution here - bleach degrades, and the more dilute it is the faster it happens. Diluted bleach at cleaning strength will remain effective for less than a day, especially if you're dipping things in it etc.

0
ForesterJackFully prepared for the next 15 minutes•

In the short term, make do. In the longer term, move or install water and waste management.

1
avecerte•

I live without running water right now. Boil/filter/bleach (choose what works for you) to treat water for consumption. Bucket bathe using a cup or scoop. Collect rainwater or use a well/pump if possible. If you’re near a stream or River that’s slow moving you may have to worry about various pollution/schistosomiasis but I’ve just been conscious of sterilizing it as well as possible. Wash and rinse clothes/dishes in buckets or basins- you can use wash water to water gardens (and the soap in the water helps decrease pest activity on your plants). Dig a latrine or compost toilet.

Once you have a system down it’s pretty easy and you consume way less water (I use about 400L total per month).

1
ctophermh89•

Capturing rain water is the go to. Also keep some five gallon buckets and create a compost toilet. Take your trash cans and repurpose them for dumping the buckets into after buckets get full. After a year your trash can will have usable compost for your garden.

1
sendmeBTCgoodsir•

Saw a photo of a shelf with a hole cut in it and an upside down 5 gallon water barrel with the neck sticking through the hole and a spigot on the end of it with a 5 gallon bucket below it. Looked low budget but efficient for maybe washing hands filling pots etc then you could use the water in the bucket for clothes/ dishes etc

1
[deleted]•

Real question here, can you distill your own piss enough to make it drinkable?

1
crazytib•

I don't see why not, piss has water in it, although I don't think the process would be economical and at the end of the process, you have to drink your own piss

2
crazytib•

Buy a decent bucket

But on a more serious point, your gonna want to find an easy economical way to heat up the water in large quantities

1
SherrifOfNothingtownPartying like it's the end of the world•

Find a location outside the building where you can wash stuff.

If it's urban, maybe you could get a part time job at the nearest place which has showers for its employees, so it'd be normal for you to come and go there.

If it's rural, you can do great stuff with building composting toilets, solar showers, etc.

But, you know who's the expert at living in spaces that don't come with running water? r/vandwellers, that's who.

1