Ward Family BBQ and the Syracuse Water Emergency

In our ward, the Bishop has asked me to plan 3-4 ward activities to help them ward socialize as well as learn about emergency preparedness issues.  This quarter the goal that we have been working on:  "Water Storage".  We were shooting for each family to have 14 gals of water per person (and large pets) in their family.  This is a minimum, of course.  It would allow only for drinking and some cleaning and cooking over a 14 day period.

We had Ward Family BBQ at Stoker Park in Syracuse which is this nice park with lots of shade and grass for the kids to play.  The BBQ chicken from Golden Corral was amazing.


Near the end of eating

It was a great night for a traditional Potluck Dinner with friends and family.  There was a ultimate Frisbee game in the grass....


and a volleyball game in the sand (the city came and replaced the net that day with a brand new net so we could play volleyball.  That is excellent service from Syracuse city parks!)

My great committee each organized an activity about water focusing on the children but hoping the parents would learn something too.  We had a display of 14 gals. of water, a filled 5 gal. water jug to practice carrying it (it is suggested that you have some 5 gal. water jugs which you can carry.  In case of long periods of no water, you could fill them up at a water truck for your family.  A filled one weighs about 40 lbs.)

Christine talked about the water cycle and the importance of conserving water.  She had coloring booklets from our local water district for each of the kids.

Marie talked about hand washing and the kids got a sticker when they washed their hands for 20 seconds.  She also talked about filtering water and some of the things you need to know about that.


 Polly set up the clothes washing area.  The kids used our washer board and our plunger/bucket "washing machine".  Then they got to practice hanging the wash out to dry with a clothes line and clothes pins.  They loved it.

It was a beautiful night.  I looked looking over the park and seeing the kids playing every where and the adults of all ages talking with each other.  It was good in the middle of everything to stop and just enjoy some conversation with good friends.

It was much easier to clean up than to set up.  We had lots of helping hands and lots of the leftover stuff we sent with people on the Youth Conference Committee for the upcoming conference.  In the middle of that, I realized that I needed a prescription from the store and sent Gary off to get it.  He was gone for a few minutes and then was back----with the news that Syracuse was under a "Boil Water" order since 5:00 p.m.

At first people who were still there laughed and asked if this was part of the activity but no, it was REAL.  People started checking their phones and getting the news alerts about it.  An odd coincidence after a month of information about water storage and an evening activity about it---but now we all got to live with it for an uncertain amount of time!

Years ago someone had studded some water pipes in the ground for the city water, the sewer, and the secondary water (which we use to water our grass in Syracuse) for a future subdivision.  However they had mislabeled them and someone had connected the city water to the secondary water which allowed the untreated secondary water into the city's system.  It was discovered and fixed about a day later but E.coli contamination was discovered so the system had to be flushed out and cleaned.  We couldn't use the water until 3 days of clean results came in.  In addition we could not use the secondary water either because they had to drain and refill that system as well.

So we could not use tap water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning of your face and hands.  We could use the toilets (yah!), take a shower or bath if you had no sores and could keep your mouth closed, and use your washing machine (another yah!).

This is how it looked at our house during the emergency----

We could boil water for use so I did that each morning to have a sink of clean water to use to do the general cleaning like rinse off the dishes or wiping the counters down.

                                                

I first put signs on each of the sinks as a reminder not to drink the water.  Even with that, I would turn the tap on.  I switched to putting a spray bottle and soap in each sink to be used for cleaning and I think that worked well.  We are creatures of habit and running water is definitely a habit.

I placed 2.5 gals. jugs on the kitchen counter for cooking, etc. and one gal. jugs of water in every bathroom with cups for tooth brushing and hand washing (which I switched to the spray bottles as that was easier to use.)

We stocked the refrigerator with water bottles for drinking.  It was a good thing we pulled these out of storage.  They have been there a few years and they were starting to lose their shape.  I know that you are suppose to replace these as they are not made for long term storage but they are so comforting to have and easy to use for drinking.

 More cold water......

We were glad that we were not part of the horde of people who descend on the local Wal-Mart and Smith's to buy water on Friday night.  They quickly ran out of water although by Saturday both were well-stocked.  Those who couldn't find water in Syracuse on Friday night headed to other local communities to buy water.  Because it was isolated just to Syracuse, it was easy to find water somewhere.  I went shopping at Smith's on Saturday and the store was packed with water in all sorts of containers and everywhere in the store.

A local Pizza Factory during the emergency

We were lucky.  Our boil water order lasted only 5 days.  We were so glad to be able to flush our system and start using our water again.  We used about 24 water bottles and 8 gals of stored water from Friday to Tuesday night for four people.

Things I Learned During the Water Emergency

 

1.  Even with a sign on the tap, I will turn it on to wash my toothbrush!

2.  It would be better if an emergency happened when my house was clean and I didn't have all my big pots "soaking" in the sink! And it would be great if it was during a time I wasn't so busy.

3.  I need a better, larger pot with a good lid for boiling water.

4.  Spray bottles are very helpful and will help conserve water.

5.  Having water in different types of containers was useful.

6.  I really need to fill the empty 250 gal. water container which is sitting in my garage and change out the water in my 4 -55 gal. tanks.  I can't use the empty one and I am afraid of the water in the other ones.

7.  I need to replace all of the water we used during this emergency.

8.  I like ice!  Next time I will rush to the store to buy some ice because we really missed that. (Such a first world problem).

 

So, the moral of this long tale is to store water for yourself and your family.  You never know when you might need it.

 

Last Sunday during the emergency, one of the speakers commented that if I ever have an activity centered around earthquakes he and his family were heading out of state.  So I have gotten a lot of teasing about that.  I don't know how to tell them that our next activity planned is centered around financial matters----that can be scary for anyone!!!