How to Get Running Water When the Next Hurricane Hits

Though food and shelter are of exceptional importance during a natural disaster, we cannot live for long without water. It is a simple fact of life and, when you are faced with no water at all, an extremely irritating one. We spent two weeks with no running water due to having no power. Here’s how to get running water when the next hurricane hits.

Let’s start!

Generator

A whole-house generator is probably the easiest way to get running water from your well when your main power is out. However, I am well aware that many people do not have the ability to own one of these. They’re expensive, require a lot of maintenance, and, since they live outside, can easily be taken out by a falling tree or debris.

However, if you are in a situation where you can own one of these, keep the fuel well-topped up and put some caging around it to try to prevent it from getting crushed. Read your owner’s manual for more details, but most do have suggestions on protecting your generator.

Siphoning

While this isn’t impossible, it is very hard to do. You can get a brake and/or transmission pump pop off your wellhead and try to siphon. If your water table is very high, as mine is, you have a good chance of getting water out of that well. I would not consider this reliable. We managed it, with 50 ft of tubing and a lot of effort, but we did run out of reachable running water after a couple of days.

Backup Mechanical Pump

Liquid propane and kerosene pumps exist out there. Get one. You can simply install it right beside your normal pump and it’ll work just fine for you. This is our new option.

I do recommend having a professional install it, as it was quite complicated and I got turned around a few times. Plus, when you’re dealing with natural gas of any sort, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry.

Hand Pump

We also have a hand pump attached to our well after Hurricane Helene. A hand pump is hard to use but reliable as any of the other options. You may need to keep a small bucket of running water around to prime it with, but it need not be potable water. A cup or two out of your livestock tank is fine. I would not use grey water, personally.

The biggest thing to note about hand pumps is that they are menacingly hard to find. They’ve fallen out of fashion and are often just seen as decorations or relics of the past. If you cannot find one that is actually functional, see if you can find some Amish or Mennonite neighbors since many of their homes still have them.

Related: How To Make A Water Pump In Your Backyard

They can likely point you in the right direction. I would link the one we got here, however, I want this article to remain evergreen and there is never any telling when a product will stop existing.

Oh No, My Well

It is entirely possible that your well got crushed, flooded, or otherwise destroyed. In this case, my sincere suggestion is to get out with your life and whatever you can bring with you. If you cannot, we get it. Heading off and abandoning your homestead can be very, very difficult to do. It may even be impossible if your roads are too torn up to be of use.

If you can, clear the debris and make sure all power reaching that thing is off. Wells run on 220 voltage and it WILL KILL YOU if you are electrocuted with it in most cases. Make sure it is DEAD. Make sure it is OFF. Even if your power is on the ground and all the wires are dangling off the poles, proceed with caution. We cannot be held responsible for you playing with 220 voltage if you continue to do what I did. It is DANGEROUS. Be. Careful.

Our well survived, but a neighbor’s didn’t and the kennel way up the road had not yet run their hose out. We sawed the trees off the well and dug until we found piping that wasn’t completely demolished. Thankfully, someone had a little electric pump that ran off a battery and we managed to get them running water with that.

Try to keep in mind that wells are nothing but a vacuum. If you can create one close enough to the surface of the water, you’ll draw it right up, too. If you have a very deep well, you may just be out of luck. Also, if yours is shallow like ours are, well, maybe you’ll be able to draw it up, too.

Related: The First 7 Days After Hurricane Helene Hit My Homestead

Also keep in mind that any water you get that does not run through your filter (if you have one; we don’t) or any softening, chlorination system, etc is not going to be the same quality as the water you normally drink.

It may be sulfury, have a bitter taste, look dirty, etc. If it’s just dirty, it’s no big deal. Fill as many buckets as you need and let it settle overnight. The dirt will dip down to the bottom and the running water should be clear enough to drink.

Hopefully, you never need any of this information. Roughing it when a massive natural disaster rips through your life really, really sucks. There’s no other appropriate term for it and I certainly wish that it is not the case for you. However, millions of Americans have to deal with it every single year. Having a plan for a natural disaster hitting your homestead is never amiss.

Related: I Tried Drinking Water From My Stockpile and This Is What Happened

Things may not go as planned, depending on the devastation in your area, but a general idea of what to do and where to go is going to serve you better than waking up to every tree on your property on the ground and having no clue in what to do.

What would you do in this case? Do you have a preferred method above? Hit us up in the comments below and remember, you go holler at that storm heading your way and tell it to git; maybe it’ll listen to you!

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