drink. He added in the conversion of four quarts make a gallon to help make it easier to figure out. The water unit was placed next to the food unit. It would be easier for ration pick up if they were next door to each other.
We decided that we should start collecting the gray water now to be fully in the habit of it to water the gardens with. It wouldn't hurt anything to be in that habit.
“So mom, what exactly is gray water anyway?” Drew asked while we were both in the process of scrubbing out a particularly soap scummy tub. I was half grumbling in my head wondering how anyone thought they were going to get clean bathing in this.
“Gray water is water that looks clean enough but we shouldn't drink. Laundry water, dish water, bath water is all gray water. Used toilet water is black water.” I responded. “Black water is so nasty that you don't even want to use it on plants.”
“Why not? It's fertilizer built in, right? Fertilizer is poop.”
“It is poop. Problem is people poop has germs that can be picked up by people. Cow poop like in fertilizer doesn't transmit to people. A long time ago there was this big thing around here because the school district, in an effort to save money, had bought of strawberries from Mexico. In Mexico there wasn't an inspection to make sure that the right kind of fertilizer was being used. Turns out this place was using human excrement to save money. They had unknowingly been using excrement that had a disease called Hepatitis A. The disease stayed on the strawberries and it infected several kids. They had to be on a ton of medications to fix their liver. That school district was in a crapload of trouble over that. Ever since that story was on we all remember that we don't do that. People here are probably healthy and all and it would probably be fine, but no one wants to learn the hard way that we should have been more careful.”
Drew was carefully thinking about all this. “But gray water is usable?”
“You got it.” I replied.
“How are things going?” Trent asked. I jumped a mile in the air, startled because I hadn't heard him walk in. He was laughing at me so I threw a sponge at him, missing. He laughed harder.
“Just so you know, I haven't totally discarded the electricity idea. I'll let you know when I come up with more of a plan. I know we don't need the power but damn if we are going to give up yet another thing because of some shitty virus. Sorry Drew, didn’t mean to swear in front of you.”
Drew shrugged it off, not really caring. He had definitely heard more than that. I wouldn't be surprised if he had thought those words himself.
Power Alternative
While up on the roof on look out duty Trent kept thinking on the electricity thing. He said there was the nagging thought about the idea of using an alternator to jury-rig a generator. Yes it would work but the constant reminder of where are we going to get gas for the generator was weighing on him. Drew and I climbed up the ladder with dinner to have a picnic on the roof as a family. Trent was looking over the neighborhood with deep thought etched on his face.
“We could do a solar set up.” He finally offered as a window to his thoughts. “There are four buildings and I can see more houses than that with panels on the roof. We could take those panels and the set up of batteries and inverters and run them into the buildings. We wouldn't be able to run the air conditioners on it, but it should be enough to keep lights on.”
“Trent, that's out there though. We'd have to leave our complex to get them. We don't have the best track record on that. The
We decided that we should start collecting the gray water now to be fully in the habit of it to water the gardens with. It wouldn't hurt anything to be in that habit.
“So mom, what exactly is gray water anyway?” Drew asked while we were both in the process of scrubbing out a particularly soap scummy tub. I was half grumbling in my head wondering how anyone thought they were going to get clean bathing in this.
“Gray water is water that looks clean enough but we shouldn't drink. Laundry water, dish water, bath water is all gray water. Used toilet water is black water.” I responded. “Black water is so nasty that you don't even want to use it on plants.”
“Why not? It's fertilizer built in, right? Fertilizer is poop.”
“It is poop. Problem is people poop has germs that can be picked up by people. Cow poop like in fertilizer doesn't transmit to people. A long time ago there was this big thing around here because the school district, in an effort to save money, had bought of strawberries from Mexico. In Mexico there wasn't an inspection to make sure that the right kind of fertilizer was being used. Turns out this place was using human excrement to save money. They had unknowingly been using excrement that had a disease called Hepatitis A. The disease stayed on the strawberries and it infected several kids. They had to be on a ton of medications to fix their liver. That school district was in a crapload of trouble over that. Ever since that story was on we all remember that we don't do that. People here are probably healthy and all and it would probably be fine, but no one wants to learn the hard way that we should have been more careful.”
Drew was carefully thinking about all this. “But gray water is usable?”
“You got it.” I replied.
“How are things going?” Trent asked. I jumped a mile in the air, startled because I hadn't heard him walk in. He was laughing at me so I threw a sponge at him, missing. He laughed harder.
“Just so you know, I haven't totally discarded the electricity idea. I'll let you know when I come up with more of a plan. I know we don't need the power but damn if we are going to give up yet another thing because of some shitty virus. Sorry Drew, didn’t mean to swear in front of you.”
Drew shrugged it off, not really caring. He had definitely heard more than that. I wouldn't be surprised if he had thought those words himself.
Power Alternative
While up on the roof on look out duty Trent kept thinking on the electricity thing. He said there was the nagging thought about the idea of using an alternator to jury-rig a generator. Yes it would work but the constant reminder of where are we going to get gas for the generator was weighing on him. Drew and I climbed up the ladder with dinner to have a picnic on the roof as a family. Trent was looking over the neighborhood with deep thought etched on his face.
“We could do a solar set up.” He finally offered as a window to his thoughts. “There are four buildings and I can see more houses than that with panels on the roof. We could take those panels and the set up of batteries and inverters and run them into the buildings. We wouldn't be able to run the air conditioners on it, but it should be enough to keep lights on.”
“Trent, that's out there though. We'd have to leave our complex to get them. We don't have the best track record on that. The
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