Hi folks!

Those of you who have read my past posts know that I currently live in a 100+ year old brownstone in Brooklyn, NY. I share my home with my wife and two sons, ages 2 years and 5 months. My preps to date have consisted of making sure I could get home from my office in mid-town Manhattan, and then shelter in place at home with the family. I believe I have reasonable supplies at home to feed, entertain, defend, and keep healthy all four of us. Of course, there's always room for improvement!

All of the above is about to change. In about four weeks I will be moving into a new (to me) home on the south shore of Long Island – actually, on a barrier island just off the coast of Long Island. My commute will not actually increase in time substantially (the Long Island Railroad is much faster than the NYC subway) but the walk home in a blackout or other "situation" will increase from about six miles to about 21. Additionally, we are bringing an additional person into our household – an au pair. She is arriving from Finland next month and will be living with us, studying, and helping to take care of the kids. Obviously, this move is going to cause me to rethink my prepping. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Issue 1: Getting Home
Getting home to my kids is my primary goal in any emergency. As I noted above, getting home without public transportation will be much more of a challenge than it is now. It seems to me I need to beef up the supplies that I keep at my office so that I will be more able to walk home if I need to. I will also need to re-think my communications plan, as realistically I don't think I'd begin a 20 mile walk home anytime later in the day than the early afternoon. My wife works a few blocks from me, so we'd obviously like to meet up if possible to make our decisions together. We don't lack places to stay in Manhattan if we needed to, but we'd need to get word to the au pair to let her know our plans. What supplies do people think could reasonably be kept in an office space that would make communicating with family and then getting home over a 20-mile distance during a power or transit disruption easier? Anyone else work in Manhattan and need to make plans on getting out to Nassau County? What have you done?

Issue 2: Staying Home
When the family lived in Brooklyn, it would have taken an awful lot to get us to bug out. Like many others, I simply don't think that bugging out from the NY Metro area is realistic. However, I will now be living on a barrier island in the Atlantic – one that is predicted to be under 20 feet of water should a major hurricane come through. In some ways, this makes things easy. The decision tree is very simple: Hurricane coming = us going. On the other hand, I never really gave much thought to bug out logistics before. We have three options for destinations – Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Catskill region. The latter is the most appealing for a wide variety of reasons, but furthest away. Unfortunately, getting anywhere from Long Island requires driving through New York City – not a great option in an emergency. I've always been wary of living on barrier islands, but the opportunity to live in this house is too good to pass up (read, it's very cheap for two years while we weather the current economy and save some money while helping a family member to pay her over-extended mortgage).

I'll need to increase the amount of stored food I keep on hand, as we will have the au pair to feed (and as the kids get bigger, they eat much more!), and I need to build up an emergency water supply as I do not trust the Nassau County water supply nearly as much as I did the NYC water supply.

Issue 3: Other Issues I'm Not Thinking Of
I've never lived in the suburbs before, so I'm sure I'm missing something. What should I be thinking about that I'm missing?

A side issue: I'll need to purchase a second vehicle. Our current car is a Subaru Outback and it serves our needs well. The second car will be primarily used to drive to the train station about ten minutes each way. Would you go with a small gas-sipping car, or try and get a deal on a mid-sized, crew cab truck? I think the truck would be quite useful for hauling stuff on weekends and could probably be picked up cheaper than usual in today's environment. It will burn more fuel, but the commute is short so I'm not sure it amounts to much. Thoughts?

I'm actually very excited about the move. We'll have much more space, and we're only 2 blocks from the beach, which will be great in the summer! Additionally, there's a volunteer rescue squad in the town which I look forward to getting involved in – my EMT certification lapsed after college as I've always lived in big cities without an opportunity volunteer, and it's something I miss doing.

I look forward to your responses.

Many good questions here:

getting home -- If you can stash a bike ( folding?) for each of you, suddenly 21 miles is an easy 4 hour ride. Otherwise, the usual considerations; walking shoes, map, water. ( or just a plan to stay put till you can get decent transportation.)


communications - 1. getting in touch with your wife. your plan should include land lines, then one of you going to the location of the other. 2. reaching home -- landlines, then computer ( email) then ham gear?

Home prep -- this starts with CLEAR instructions to your au pair. As in " stay in the house unless X" In that case use X to go to X. Here is a list of friends and family.

After first reading you post, one thing popped into my head. Why walk 20 miles? Ride a bike instead. I know space is always at a premium in Manhattan (I have a brother that lives there) but you might be able to find some way to stash away 2 beater bikes so you could ride home instead of walk.

-oops, was putting my post together when the prior post was submitted....

Several nice folding bikes are readily available in the U.S. these days.

Designed by Brooklyn-based Peter Reich, the Swift folder is now sold under the Xootr brand:

http://www.xootr.com/xootr/swift/bikes.shtml

You can see examples of panniers and racks on folders on their site. New bikes still give me sticker shock although I understand the industry. I guess my wallet is stuck in 1977 and I know how good an old, discarded steel bike can be.

An inexpensive beater would be ideal if you have room to store them at work.

Congratulations on the "new" home and your move! I think a lot of the ideas already listed are very good - the bike is really good. Another thought comes to my mind that goes beyond your questions and is back to the very first word in your post: "Moving".

Is there something like a wiring upgrade that you can do prior to moving in? Can some pre-move modifications to a room in the new house create a "safe room" or a storage area for your emergency supplies? I often look around our home, which we built from scratch, and wish I had done this or that when we were building. I did route extra wires and communications lines and have some nice little touches we did but wish I had done more before we settled in.

Get the family to pitch in on the brainstorming and they will come up with more ideas too I will bet. All said and done, I would also consider your idea of the second car being a truck to be very good. The Outback is great and I like them a lot but a pickup with an open bed has a lot of use. You should be able to get a good buy on one, maybe even a 4x4. You would then be able to consider adding a camper shell or even fully decked out camper to the truck as a way of improving it for bugging out. You could live in it as an emergency measure while traveling and you could maybe store the camper and use the open-bed truck for lots of other things. Keep thinking and you'll figure out what's best for your situation and needs.

Paul in MN -

LIRR? Hahahahaaha - Oh, That's funny. My wife takes the LIRR, and I used to, and we are on one of the more reliable branches

The LIRR runs late/cancels trains all the time. Here are some of the reasons I've heard

Too Cold (winter)
Too Hot (summer)
It's spring, so the trees are dropping sap on the rails (spring)
There are leaves on the rails (fall)
It's raining (well, yeah, that happens)
It's snowing
The sun is shining in the motormans eyes

I haven't heard of an excuse (other than equipment or signal problems) that they can use on a mild, dry, overcast day - but the trains still run late/are canceled

One of the Barrier Beaches? The Rockaways? Remember, they get flooding even in non hurricanes - Winter Noreasters, days with a good onshore wind

The good thing, believe it or not, is that the subway can usually get you to Jamacia, and there is a huge bus hub there - the RR will often provide buses from there, but also plan out alternates, and things like where someone with a car can meet you

Pack a snack, a bottle of water, and if you really want to - a scanner covering LIRR chanels 1-4 (and the police frqs if you want) - you can often get enough info to "beat the crowd" by paying attention

Some thoughts:
1. Get to know your neighbors. Not just on either side of you but up and down the street and behind you. They might be sources of help or sources of misery, but it's good to know in advance.

2. Buy the truck. You can get one cheap now and gas prices are coming down. The usefulness of a truck is blows away SUV and regular cars.

3. Get a dog.

4. You siad you plan on being in the house for two years. Than what happpens? Do you know if you move into a another house or will your return to the city? That affects what long-term preps you make.

5. Water. Izzy suggested a well but is that an option on a barrier island? Aren't they just a big pile of sand? The Sportsman's Guide sells a hand-pumped reverse-osmosis desalinator for life rafts for under $800. It might be something to think about if you have the money.

6. Communication - ham radio or else just hope the phone lines/cell phones/text messaging works. Then again, a carrier pigeon might work.

-Blast

Ha, I immeadietly though of a folding bike as well.
HAM licenses aren't a bad idea either - those small ones are easily stashed in a purse or bag of some sort so you and your wife could communicate. You'd have to scope out reliability in the city canyons though.
Got an Au Pair that is survival minded?

Not sure that a well is useful on a barrier island. Fresh water floats on salt, but still....consider perhaps a desalinator . How about marine evacuation to NJ? Or is evacuating to NJ in a disaster an oxymoron? You could use your new truck to go to the north shore with your new boat, and cross LI Sound to Connecticut-(another oxymoron?). For Hurricane evac, it might be more sensible to either leave really early and go to the Catskills, or plan on staying on the island and moving inland to public shelters. LI is a big damn island, and generations of my Van Brunt ancestors weathered the storms in Southampton (except for the branch of the family that went down with the CC Colgate.. Should be some really fine beach-combing on the south shore; in Chicago, dumpster diving is the closest I can come to beach combing...

<Au Pair, huh? Swanky. Reminds me of my childhood. Ms. Kukyendall was German, though. Lol.>

Believe it or not, bringing an au pair over to live with our family is the least expensive (legal) childcare option we could find. Sure, we could pay someone cash under the table for less (and many of our friends do) but since I pay my taxes, I feel my employees should too.

Our au pair is coming from Finland, and seems quite nice and excited with good experience.

Staying put for a hurricane is not an option. I have read the emergency planning documents and scenarios, and the forcast is for 20 feet of water over our house. I'm not putting my two kids into that kind of risk.

I don't think a well is an option, as the island is just a big sand bar, but who knows. I think a generator is definately in our future, however, as is some stored gasoline.

Thanks for the ideas. We don't have any acreage to speak of, but we will have a small yard and a garage, and that seems good to me!

Somehow I have convinced myself that the LIRR will be more reliable than the "F" train. Maybe I'm in a dream world.

We're moving to Atlantic Beach, one town west of Long Beach, one town east of the Rockaways. I'll have to look into flooding in less-than-hurricane conditions.

Thanks for the tips.

Greetings!

First: There are many internet articles that are commenting and documenting the problems with our national power grid. I identified "loss of power" as the Number 1 threat that I faced when I lived on Staten Island, And I worked on Governors Island while my DW worked on the 17th floor of the World Trade Center/North Tower. Power supplies are said to become a distinct problem during the summer of 2009 ranging from brownouts to blackouts in many parts of this country. NYC and the Northeast US does not have a good track record in this category.

Second:
I agree about the folding bicycles that have already been mentioned. You can cross the East River via the Brooklyn Bridge.

I also agree that a truck would be more useful across the entire spectrum than a small car would be.

One friend of mine used to carry a heavy wooden walking cane topped with a large brass knob when we'd go to certain parts of the city. I always had my Buck 110 on my belt (early 1980's). It might be a good idea to keep such a walking cane at your office.

Third:
I would think that the best Bug Out route would be via the Varrazano Narrows Bridge to Staten Island and then across the Arthur Kill to NJ. That would run you through the least populated areas of the Megalopolis and get you into the countryside in the least amount of distance. A route that is definitely worth looking at. Otherwise I would look at getting through Brooklyn and Queens to the Throggs Neck Bridge and then you can head in 1 of many directions.

If you know of someone, or if you already own a large enough boat, I'd definitely include that as another Bug-Out option!!

Fourth:
Water has traditionally been the biggest of many weaknesses associated with possible complications involving the loss of electricity in the Big Apple. You might want to keep up to 2 weeks of water on hand at all times.

Blast's "Home Emergency Plan Binder" is definitely worth developing for your Au Pair to check for emergency plans that include instructions for her to follow.

Fifth:
On the subject of "friends" (a very dangerous word), I would sound out those work acquaintances that live near you that also commute to Manhattan. You might eventually find a few that would be interested in banding together in time of an emergency in Manhattan to work y'all's way home from work, as a team. There is some safety in numbers as long as the numbers are not too high.

Just some of my thoughts!

What part of Brooklyn? Park Slope?

I miss it sometimes - it was my first neighborhood in New York, then I eventually ended up nearby in Windsor Terrace.

Generator hooked into the house panel and water storage are both great ideas for long-term problems. Sounds like you've already got the food idea worked out. One thing I found out the hard way was that when it comes to a lot of foods, my kids are much pickier than I am. Therefore, my expanded food pantry/storage has a lot of what ends up being comfort food for them. Less tuna, more spaghettios with meatballs, the soup is almost exclusively chicken noodle, canned stew is OK but canned chicken and dumplings is not...etc. A lot of trial and error has shown me that we'll be eating a narrow menu if we have to dip into our stores.

As far as getting out of Manhattan, I have to say that the folding bikes was one of the first things I thought of, but a beater bike is also a great idea - IF you have somewhere at work you can keep them. A daypack ready to go that you can slide into an empty deep desk drawer or bottom filing cabinet drawer would be a good idea, too. Something along the lines of the much-discussed "get home bag" for both you and your wife. High on the list for the bag (and for your EDC) should be a flashlight or two. In the blackout, I was stuck on the F at Smith and 9th - luckily outside in the sunshine rather than in the middle of a tunnel or while under the river. By the time we got back onto the platform and ready to go down, the entire interior of the station was pitch black - no emergency lights or anything. Only a very small handful of people (that I saw) had flashlights of any kind. Imagine being in the tunnel with a packed train and then trying to get out in pitch black.

Another helpful item was a regular, cheap AM/FM radio with earbuds. The power went out, the train stopped, the conductor had no info for us for 20 minutes or so, but switching through the stations to WNYC (1010 WINS was down) they eventually developed the story about the scope of the blackout and that there wouldn't be another train (some people were going to stay before word got passed to them).

Sounds like you're on track to have contingencies for contacting/meeting up with your wife to get home together. As far as communicating with the au pair, it's probably a good idea to follow Wildman's suggestion - have a resource for her to know to open should things go bad, so she doesn't have to guess or remember what you want her to do to take care of the kids. Also, as far as communicating with her, I'd think HAM would be a fantastic way to get ahold of her in almost any conditions, but I would guess it's fairly unlikely that you'll be getting her up to speed on that ("what kind of a job IS this?" she'll be asking herself). What might work better is out-of-town/out-of-state contacts. Again in the blackout, most cell phone providers were out (I believe people with Sprint were making calls on the subway when everyone else was getting nothing). It probably took about an hour/hour and a half before I could get ahold of anyone, and that was my parents in Ohio and my in-laws in Buffalo. As suggested, a combination of landline and/or cell texting might work to get the word to a distant contact who can pass word on to the au pair.

Finally, for bugout preps, I've never seen a single source to match this guy's Web site:
http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/0004.html

A real nuts and bolts, step by step dissection of what to do - pick and choose from his suggestions as fits your needs, but it's really well-organized.

Good luck in the preps.

Dave

+1 on both of those. I've never lived in a densley populated area but I do know 2 things for sure. My daily driver is a big old 4X4 truck with winch, "battering ram" of a bumper and all the goodies weighing just under 700lbs. Luckily my daily commute is only about 15 minutes and driving DW's fuel effecient little 6 cylinder car for a week saved me about a whopping $6.00 difference. On the other hand if I make the decision to lock it in 4 wheel drive I AM getting where I intend to go and the only thing that can stop it is a bigger more solid truck or heavy machinery. There is no substitute for a truck and a dog can be a big deterrent to a lot of people related problems. Doesn't even have to be a big or "scary" dog. Just having one gives a lot of people pause when thinking ill intent. It will bark and make noise at someone lurking around and be far more likely to notice them before you do and even a timid quiet dog will tend to distract someone that doesn't know the animal if they are trying something.

Google maps shows two railroads. Do both run? Are they above or below ground? If I wanted to get from one end of LI to the other, I would be tempted to investigate the RR right-of-ways and see if there was enough clear passage for a 2-person dirt bike. And I'd check out the dirt bikes, too. Maybe a little extra gas, too. Be ready for whatever weather, no matter what mode of transportation you plan on using.

Maybe Finns are a little more prep-savvy than others. She needs to be understand what to do and when to do it before you get home. You won't/can't always be there in time.

Blast was right in getting to know your neighbors. Out there, neighbors may depend on each other a little more than in Brooklyn.

Maybe rainwater harvesting into a cistern or tank would be a better option than a well. Talk to your neighbors. Rainwater is 20 times cleaner than any groundwater. Unless it's outlawed there, too.

Sue

The idea of trying to leave Manhatttan during a blackout or "situation", and travel 21 miles to Long island just seems too dangerous and risky to me.

If you and your wife leave on bicycles, and aren't defeated by the terrain or weather, you might just become moving targets for some angry hoodlums. It won't take much for some folks to decide they want to take your means of transporation away from you. Also, there are even more violent things that they can do to you or your wife.

Forget about bikes, and just prepare to stay in town at a prearranged location that has been stocked with supplies ahead of time.

Buy BlackBerrys for everyone, including your au pair, as they might work when your cell phones won't. Also, check into 2-way radios.

Some 2-way radios now boast a range of 30 miles or more--which means absolutely nothing until you have tested them in the city. However, a 2-way radio might possibly work from the roof of a building, when communicating 20 miles or so out to Long Island. Regardless, this is something you should test ahead of time.

After a day or two, if the situation seems to be safe, even if public transporation is still not working, you can probably just pay someone to drive you out to Long Island.

I see getting home as the big problem. I do not think that 20+ miles is easily doable anything but the best of conditions. Are you/wife in good enough shape? Are you used to walking long distances or will you end up disabled by simple blisters? Consider that 20 miles at 3 miles an hour is 6 and 2/3 hours of straight walking: no pit stops, no breaks, no delays. In a really bad situation it could stretch out more, and I think easily end up catching you outside at night, turning it into an "overnight".

So, anything to speed the journey, e.g. bikes, is good. Have enough in your kits for an overnight somewhere while getting home.

This brings up the question of friendly "way stations" in Brooklyn (which I assume you would be passing through). Are there friends/relatives or just places where you could stop and rest and re-supply or pick up additional supplies? Or how about, if you could walk to you old home in Brooklyn, could you stash bikes/mo-peds somewhere in Brooklyn and walk there, then ride the rest of the way? If not with friends/relatives, how about a self-store unit with 24 hour access?

As far a the new house location goes, generator and water are pretty well covered, and your right about the hurricane=bug out. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island, and were always ready to leave. But if it is only a hurricane, even with 20 feet of water over your house, it won't cover all of Long Island. The North Shore is much higher than the South Shore. Consider a temporary bug out just across Long Island to someplace on the North Shore; again, relatives? friends? work associates?

As for your number 3, what else should I worry about, I feel strange mentioning this to someone from Brooklyn, but crime? Not home invasion stuff, but simple B&E. In many suburban bedroom communities, the high time for homes to be robbed is 10am to 2 pm. Everyone is at work/school etc. and no one is around; a ghost town. Consider a good alarm system, even with your au pair there full time

Just a few ideas I hope you find useful

Huh? NYC water is NOT pumped unless you live in a high rise - "natural" water pressue in NYC will bring water to about the 4-6 floor - it's gravity all the way from upstate, no pumps, so electric failures don't really cause problems in "NYC" but does in buildings. If you get down to the street, things like hose bibs and hydrants work (and yes, I carry a real hydrant wrench in the truck)

RE Getting home from Manhattan during a blackout.

I was in Times Square Subway station during the last one, and I live in Bayside, which for those of you who don't know, is about as far east in NYC as you can get (Douglaston and Little Neck are further, but that's it)

It's about 14 miles from Times Square to home (Both the one I lived in then, and the current one)

Now, DaveT can tell you, I'm not exactly in shape, unless you consider round a shape, but I started walking - I got about 4.5 of those 14 home, when I ran into a friend who was about to be picked up, and got a lift

I will stay that once you got over the Queensboro (59th St) bridge, buses were running but jammed and slow, and lots of folks were giving other folks lifts. One thing you will find about NYers - we do tend to pull together when things happen - 36 hours later, things might be bad, but for that first 24-36, we band together

Charlie's absolutely right (hi Charlie!).

Having been in NYC for both 9/11 and the blackout, I would expect there would have to be something really off the charts for you to get the whole movie scenario of 8.whatever million people in the city to all panic and riot at the same time. In both those instances, with a lot of uncertainty and fear, New Yorkers really stepped up and responded to other peoples' (and their own) needs and offered help.

I would think if there's a situation where you need to get home, long commute or not, unless the drama/danger is RIGHT on top of you, you're not going to get wandering gangs and Road Warrior behavior for...a few days at least.

Dave

Being a Manhattan resident, I think you did not give bugging out of or even within NYC enough attention. A fire in your or a neighbors home can be a bugout event. And before flooding becomes not a potential event, I'd want to be 200+ feet above sea level.

You're going to be 20 feet above sea level and are thinking of planning to bug, which is a good thing. Bugging out is a bad option but one that might be the best option, depending on circumstances. You seem to think you've planned bugging in, so I won't address that too much.

Suggestions:

1. Get the au pair on board with all plans. She should know how to take the kids and bug without you or your wife. Meet back up with them on the other side of Long Island Sound. Blast's binder is a good idea.

2. A well may not be an option for drinking water, but a well or a pump may a good idea for hygeine. Toilets flush and showers can be taken with salt water. Taking a shower with salt water, followed by a fresh water rinse works very well, and it saves a lot of fresh water. Salt water alone is tough on things, because the salt can dry and dry your skin, make your hair a funky color and harm fibers in clothing. However, I'd rather get clean using salt water than not get clean at all. Try to disinfect salt water used for cleaning, it's almost certain to be full of germs. Preparing to be able to use salt water as is for somethings is a good idea, it could save you in a black out.

3. Being able to convert salt water into fresh water is a darn good idea, but in to buy the equipment for large amounts it is expensive. There are a few ways in which to distill salt water, and most are expensive or provide little. It is probably worth having some ability to make a solar still, another kind of still, etc. If you got along with neighbors and had the technical ability to maintain is, then investing in a reverse osmosis unit as a community might be an idea. A solar still requires little and does not produce much. I think a regular still with a fire boiling the salt water might work, but distillation is something the government does not want me to engage in as I would like to do so. You could get a coil from a homebrew store, look for a wort chiller.

4. I'd take the Throgs Neck or Whitestone to bug out, but timing and traffic is a bigger issue. Also, heading in a direction other than north may allow you to avoid the trouble. In my experience, getting onto Staten Island is one problem and getting off of it is another. Consider different options for getting out. My plans include using the first choice of using a car, if I bug early and have time to get out. The plans also include Metro North, and DW has strict instructions (more like a suggestion) to take trains to certain destinations. I like the Harlem line. If that fails or is to busy to take people, then the 2 and 5 trains will get me to high ground in the Bronx, close to a Metro North station and near the Westchester border, where I can find some help from friends. If I can get north of White Plains, I can walk to my parents or friends in a day. But heading into New Jersey is also an option. Getting across the Hudson and heading west, south or north may be options in different circumstances. Plan different options. My standard thing to think of is the instance of a tsunami being caused by the Cumbra Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands and the worst forecats about that being true. If I can make it through such an incident, then I think there are few things I cannot live through. If you read the worst forecasts for such an incident, a one hundred and fifty foot high wave is mentioned.

5. Wildman is right about having lots of water and his comments about power.

6. The comments about being able to get home are also on. During the 2003 blackout, my entire office found ways to get home, and almost everyone lived well outside of the city. I was one of the closest in Astoria, and no one needed to stay at my place.

KC2IXE,,

I lived in the high rises @ St. George, SI; on the 15th floor.

The residents of a high rise building will continue to use water as they always have until,,,,suddenly, no more water comes out of the tap, because the tank on the roof has been emptied.

No electricity = no water can be pumped to fill the tank.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this score.

I did say "low rise" building under say 5 stories. Ebven the lower floors of High Rise building use a pump for the tank, and feed from there. Often there is a hose bib on the building that is on city water pressure, and I can guarntee you in the boiler room somewhere is a feed that comes off city water. The hydrants out on the street WILL have water. You may have to carry it up, but the problem isn't GETTING water, but in moving it up.

Basically, if you live in a 4 story or less building in NYC, you won't have water problems - taller, you may/will. One of the interesting "jokes" is that the water pump in most buildings is NOT that large, as the tank acts as a buffer - the pump doesn't have to meet the instantanious need of the building, just the average sustained need, plus some safety factor

Funny story from 2003 - I was sent out to do Comms for the Red Cross - That night, we had lots of demand for bottled water from folks walking home, until around 11pm. The next afternoon, I was sent to one of those "buildings without water" - seem when the electric came on in the early AM, they were still complaining about "we have no water" (BTW the Burger King and the Super Market across the street were working, and the super had a hose bib open) - I got there (circa 2pm-ish) an the water crisis was over - seems the super went through the building and had folks turn off their faucets for an hour or so - to allow the tank on the roof to fill. Something like 90% of the apartments left a faucet on to "know when the water came back" - they were draining the water tank faster than the pump could fill it

So - I'll say agin - storing "emergency" water in NYC isn't a HUGE deal - if you can get to ground level, you will get NYC water, by pure gravity - the only problem is getting water from street level to your apartment - and you only need to store as much as "how often you want to climb the stairs"

Thanks for the clarification Kc2ixe.

For lots of purposes, I might accept that, but I still think storing water and trying to have some means for treating brown or other water is a good idea, if only because having a contaminated water is a possibility. I know casualties can occur, and I simply do not want to place all my eggs into any one basket. I think the most likely thing would be something like a water main break. Also, I know how it would be very tough to introduce a contaminant into the water supply of any large city in amounts to have a dangerous result; the resevoirs are so big as to require really large amounts of any contaminant, and the systems after treatment are tough to attack. However, Also, if DW and/or I need to bug out, I like having some water to take with us.