We have a generator that can run our whole house (we have lots of power outages). It is programmed to come on for 15 minutes once a week.
Our house water is on a well. We also collect water from my boss's slate roof into a large underground tank to water the gardens. We could probably drink it with a little treatment in an emergency. Our horses' water troughs fill from springs but this year we were happy to have a 250 gallon holding tank in line with the spring before the trough. Our troughs stopped filling for a few days because of the lack of rain. We have a pump that brings that water to the barn so we could fill a temporary water trough. Another thing to think about, we had an electric well pump in N. CA (no generator) and in the middle of a shower, after I'd soaped up my hair, the water stopped. Ants had gotten in the pump box and shorted it out! We had the pump man put in an old-fashioned manual hand pump! Cherie Western North Carolina Lilja, Roka (Icelandics)and Tyra (Fjord)
