Drought in Texas, What Can I Do?

The Texas Gas Crisis Will Dilute Traffic Jams 

No theory or explanations on this post.  That information can be found on other posts on this blog.  Here are some practical suggestions as too what you can do when we run out of water.


Store a months worth of necessities.  Water, or other drinkable liquids; medically 2 gallons per person per day as a minimum.  Food, that requires very little water, if any to prepare, like ramen noodles.  Food items that need refrigeration are near useless because the power grid will not be restored for a couple of years (the time it will take to build giant power lines to distant cities that have extra capacity that they can sell to us.).  Gasoline.  Pumping gas takes electricity, and few gas stations have back-up generators, and the few that do are for temporary use 2-3 days.  When the water and power goes out (at the same time) it may be impossible to obtain gas, even though this state has plenty of it.  So, even if you have a generator it will be worthless without a steady diet of gasoline.  If you have a generator, check to see if it is designed to run continuously, or how long will it run without risk of damaging the machine.  You might want to upgrade, and if so do it ASAP. because after we run out of water and electricity, there will none available in this state.  In fact, there are probably not enough generators in stock in the entire country to supply the demand from Texas alone. If you don't have one, when the crisis starts, you won't be able to get one for months.  So you, ideally need enough gas stored for your most fuel efficient car and generator.  That will be a lot of 2 gallon cans of gas and a challenge to store, but it's the only option you have to get to the store and or work. Don't forget to put an additive in each storage container, or the gas will go bad in a couple of months.  Rotate your stock of gasoline.


Practice living with minimal use of power and water.  Learn how to save and use your gray water. Wash clothes very descriminately.  No "load" of wash for your favorite shirt. Dress codes will have to be loosened because employees will not have the resources for daily bathing and washing.  So what if you wear the same outfit for a week.  Practicing is very valuable, because you learn how much recourses you thoughtlessly waste.  Our family of 3 practiced for a month.  We took sponge baths, didn't water outside at all except for a few potted plants, and only with grey water.  We did flushed our toilets, but with descrimination.  In other words, we didn't feel deprived.  Our water bill was 14 gallons/day/person.  The average in Travis county for the same interval was 168 gallons/per day/per person.  The point is obvious, we waste most of our water needlessly.  Once the water system runs dry, we will have no choice but to change our behavior.