It was one of those many trips to San Francisco that I actually got the chance to see the great ocean that was making waves in my mind.   Haight Ashbury seemed like it was turning into another druggie sanctuary that all big cities possess.  John Lennon said the dream is over. It was a nice dream for some but there was no reality to it. That is the way dreams are most of the time. 

      Charlie Manson destroyed that in L.A. with the murdering crew he instigated.   I tried to matriculate into UCLA but could not complete the residency requirements even though Shelia my mentor was helping me.   It was truly shattering since I knew of the Woods Hole and Scripps Institute being at the forefront of research of the two oceans that border the United States.  It was the place to be if I ever was to be accepted as a researcher. I concluded I must rely on myself to realize my own dreams.
   After years of scholarly work, I was accepted at Fairhaven College. I took many classes at WWSU always looking for that golden ring that would give me that coveted degree in Oceanography. There were other things in my life that kept interfering with this undertaking. One of those things was named Susan. She was a nurse.  I met her at Needham's nursing home where I was placed due to hepatitis B which I contracted at the Arlington Ranch. I saw the full solar eclipse that year from the back door of Needhams.  When one gets hep everyone gets it. I was involved with taking care of these stricken victims of homemade cheese that Grey Owl had given to the Love Family at the Healing Gathering in eastern Washington.  

      Sue was working at Needhams. She wanted to go to Hawaii because of my stories.  I told her where to go.  Her former boyfriend needed a break. I met up with her when she came back. We lived together for a few months while I was matriculating into school. The story then becomes tragic.  The boyfriend wanted her back.  Sharing her was not in the cards.
    I was carrying 23 hours per semester so there was no time to fool around. Yet college is like the endless candy store full of temptations that lead you away from your primary goal. Few people actually obtain the degree they truly want except for the well prepared.   I joined KUGS radio station.   At 5 watts of power it was not what I would call a real radio broadcasting experience. When I joined there was one old time sound board and one antique microphone.     We limped along for a few months always thinking of expansion.  We had the room, all we needed was the funding. 

      Somehow, we finally got the funding to vastly improve the radio station. All of us had talent.  Some of us used their talent for idiocy. We even experimented with SSB broadcasting that had a following of mariners.  I chose the educational approach which was highly valued by the University Administration.  This brought even more financial backers.  Soon the radio was hosting a live sound stage that introduced a great many music groups to the Pacific Northwest.   I was one of the highly valued DJ's before the St Helen's volcano went boom.
     I settled for a communications specialty written at Fairhaven College. I spent two years pursuing Oceanography at Western Washington University with little progress. You need a strong background in organic chemistry which I brushed aside. Oceanology was also interesting but underdeveloped as a science.  

   It suddenly ended with the Mount St. Helen's eruption. This volcanic eruption was my first direct connection to the Ring of Fire. It was a scary thing.  I was living outside in a tent on a hillside when the eruption happened.  The ground shook.  We all thought they nuked Bangor which is the hidden sub base in Puget sound.  It is under hardened concrete designed to withstand  immense forces.

     I disappeared to Hawaii and the University of Hawaii.  I graduated in a profession that would support me in my older years.  I transferred all my college credits to pursue a degree in Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I graduated with a 4 year B.A. from the University of Hawaii after only two years with a membership in the Golden Key National Honor Society.   It took me 6 years of hard scholastic work to come away with this worthless piece of paper.   

     I was now a Medical Advocate and the only one in Hawaii.  At the job interviews I had to explain what a Medical Advocate is. The vastness of the field and the knowledge base one needed to advise patients is truly astounding.  I read every medical journal I could get my hands on.  I spent hours and hours compiling information that I would need to work in this field.
   These days, what is required is a more advanced degree. I was 43 then. I was tired of the educational system. I had educational debt and needed to return to the workforce to pay down the 10K I owed at a whopping 7% interest. It took years of austere living to finally pay my debt. I devoted much of my labors to the night shift at many regional hospitals in the west. The Mayo Clinic employed me for 7 years. As you age, they watch you like a hawk.  One missed step and you are easily replaced.
      In my final year, I contacted the CEO of Mayo about the rampant use of narcotics among the staff.   This turned into a witch hunt when I was called on the carpet and summarily dismissed for nothing more than reporting criminal activity among personnel.  It was all too much for Mayo to face this reality.   The DEA was investigating Mayo as well having penalized them for non-compliance in the use of narcotics to treat patients. Even PIXIS could not deter these people since the machine is audited infrequently and only by pharmacists. These very narcotics were being smuggled out of the hospital by the nursing staff and sold on the street to the many users who lurk around hospitals. This  was the time of the introduction of Oxycodone and Oxycontin which are synthetic opioids. Both of which were turning into street drugs due to the issuance directly to patients by the Clinic without outside controls. 

   The DEA sued and won a multi-million dollar settlement over this. It turned out I was the scapegoat that had to be sacrificed even though there was no proof of my involvement with the DEA.  I was involved with the DEA but not about Mayo. I had other fish to fry.
     I was involved with the narcotics squad called the Southeast Minnesota Task Force then but not the Federales yet. The SEMTF wanted to place me in a housing project to relay information on the dealers living in this slum world of Somali immigrants.

    The Somalis were ruthless about informers.  I am brave but this was a suicide assignment. When they would not foot the bill to rent the cheapo apartment I had to respectfully decline. I told them everything I knew about the hospital trade in narcotics and how to find the people who furthered distribution.  Revenge is a dish served cold.  Mayo took no action except to fire me. That was end of a job and the beginning of a new story. Retirement was looming just ahead.
      I drove my SAAB to San Diego. Crossing Kansas. I had to take shelter under a bridge as a tornado blew right above me shaking the car violently. It continued to rip up the vegetation, plow the surrounding fields and fence lines as it tumbled on in a fit of natural destruction. It reminds me of the child that throws a temper tantrum.  I continued to San Diego and bailed again to Hawaii and ultimately Australia.
        I was ready to investigate the mighty mysteries of Pacific with all her charms and fury. Not as a scientist but someone who was interested in ocean management.  I started advertising myself at the many boatyards of Ala Moana looking for passage to the South Pacific. I finally got a call to come down to Ke'ehi Lagoon where many transit sailing vessels were waiting for the perfect weather of Spring to set sail. These rag tag vessels were moored in the free anchorage.

       This is a gag inducing area of floating trash. I stepped aboard a vessel and shook hands with Brian the Canadian. We were soon under way for the Line Islands. My first indication that something was wrong with Brian when he started verbally abusing me on day one.  There were reasons for this that were evident so I told him what's what with that. I accepted his apology and told him then and there, I would not tolerate anymore abuse from him about anything since I was footing the bill for this expedition.  He retreated to his bunk to sleep off the drunk he was on. 

     One will be surprised at how few beaches there are as you drive south along the coast of Mexico and Central America.  The few that I found are very crowded with locals looking to sell something to the few tourists who make it there.  It is usually fishermen who come to these beaches.  The chance to swim are few and far between.  Just finding a place to get in is risky as the shoreline is mainly rocky.  Bring your first aid kit.  You are destined to get cuts and bruises.  Most tidal areas are covered with very sharp barnicles.  One little cut brings the sharks.   Wear a wetsuit.  The water is always cold.

     However, being near the ocean is always a joy.  Having a picnic prepared gives you a reason to take a break and get the long view.   You can always find something to explore.  Beachcombing becomes a way of life for many who have time and money to spend.  Bring your sunblock and plenty of fresh water for those long hours in the sun.  My favorite time is in the Spring because thats when new life begins.

       I remember walking back to Puerto Jimenez along those pristine beaches.  The baby Manta Rays had just emerged from their egg casings. They were schooling along the shoreline which is about the safest area. As I pulled my dugout I could see these tiny eyes watching me.  All life has consciousness and feels just as humans do.  Those who say differently are simply killers in diguise.

      We called this spur of the railroad within the L & N Swamp.  Nearly every Saturday we found ourselves in this beautiful wooded haven filled with cypress and mulberries. One day, we found  Muscadine vines growing over a barrow pit clinging to a willow.   These vines are wild grapes with a tough outer skin. If you simply pop open the grape you will find a very pleasurable pulp inside that is quite tasty.  However, if you even touch the skin to your lips you are in to a painful lesson about foraging. Your lips will become irritated and red.  Your day will be ruined.
     After gorging on muscadines we got the bright idea of fishing for these giant turtles since there were so many of them.   We brought hand lines and a scoop net.  Soon we had many turtles. We had to lug them to Frank's back yard.  We had heard about turtle soup that was served in the fancy restaurants in the Vieux Carre'. 

       We had no idea what a struggle it was going to be to harvest these turtles.  We knew we had to get the thing to stick its head out. Easier said than done.  We finally decided to use fish hooks by applying steady pressure to the head. When they finally made their appearance we lopped the head off. It takes a long time for a reptilian to finally die.  Frank would cut the heart out and put in saltwater.  It would beat for hours before succumbing to the inevitable.
    Gus, Franks' Labrador retriever certainly enjoyed everything we were doing with these critters.  All this took place under the shady willow that had been regally growing for many years long before there was a subdivision. The inner bark is a great source of aspirin for relieving headaches. This was the Indian lore we read about. Worth a try. We cherished those moments and always went home exhausted yet filled with enthusiasm.  The turtle soup was not that good. Maybe an addition to a gumbo recipe?
    I remember as clearly as in any vision in nature the lone, perfect Cypress tree standing in the middle of a ring of gold capped mushrooms as the sun filtered through the branches falling mottled and living, on this wonderful scene.   There was a little rise where the rabbits would take pause to leave their pellets as fertilizer for the plants to carry on providing sancturary to all who visited this grove. 
      When we needed poles for our Monkey Bridge project we went to the L & N. The Cypress poles were the best. Straight and tapered poles was exactly what was called for.  When we needed the foot rope, we went to the docks on the Mississippi and found a hawse that fit the bill nicely.  We set up the bridge in the parking lot at the local shopping center, anchoring it between the light poles.  As scouts, we always wore the uniform when in a public area. This was one of our best projects ever.
       I lived a long way away from Gentilly neighborhood where all my Scout friends had homes.  I had to bike at least 5 miles just to go to meetings.  It was not all bad.   I would pass through the Baptist Seminary where I found big, soft shell pecan trees. During the autumn months when the hard protective shell would burst open the pecans were readily gathered.  When I came home with a grocery sack of pecans in the Fall my Mother would bake the best pecan pies. 

       Harvesting became my specialty.  One year, I found a mulberry tree in the L & N Swamp.  Mulberries don't ripen at the same time but develop over a few weeks in the long hot summers.  The birds are always the first to eat so this is how to find a tree by the songs of these birds socializing over this delectable food.  I could tell there were a few other people interested in this tree by the footprints under the canopy.   I therefore, needed to be careful of these folks since you just never know who is going to jump out at you.  Could be trouble.... probably not, but could be.
      These mulberries were about 2 inches long   A very purple, sweet as you please, savory woodland treat.   Mulberry has a huge history in the civilized world.  The Romans and Greeks used this purple for the robes for Senators.  In Tonga, mulberry inner bark is prized for making tapa cloth. You can hear the women pounding the mulberry bark today in Tonga.  It sounds like drums ..... just the women happy in their work.  Characters are painted on the tapa using ink made from carbon left from burning coconut shells. This carbon is the best filtration ever found for kidney dialysis and brings a premium price..... if only they knew.... I dream of an orchard of just Mulberries.
    We found a hobo camp near the L & N railroad.  It was the classic, simple gypsy fire pit that caught our attention.  Nothing goes unnoticed by a group of Scouts.  After seeing this, we became interested in the hobo life. Frank disappeared shortly after this discovery.  He hopped on a northbound freight train and got as far as Vicksburg, Mississippi.  He spent a few nights outside in the cold and came back with a changed attitude.  We knew Frank would not be around much longer.  The Vietnam war was bearing down on all draft age boys.  Frank became a Conscientious Objector. Against all odds he succeeded.    For two years he drove the hospital shuttle van that ferried people from the bus stop to the hospital loop.  He married Ellen and split for SF dragging his 12 string guitar to join the hippie movement in 1967.   After a few years, he and Ellen produced a few kids and moved to Ringgold Louisiana..Now he's milking cows and wondering what the hell happened to Ellen.      

      She wound up working in the Casinos on the Gulf Coast doing whatever she could to have fun and make a living, probably dealing blackjack.  Frank turned out to have Tourettes Syndrome which is having tics in the face that are controllable with medication. Perish the thought of medication.  When I talked to Frank on the phone I told him there are treatments.  People do what they want to do regardless of advice. All of this was over 40 years ago.  Most of these people are long gone or in disrepair.  Such a vibrant start in a new direction that led to Nowhere Soon.
    I was the Den Chief for a Cub Scout Den of 8 to 10 boys new to scouting.  I had the shoulder epaulet that signifies leadership.  The Den Mother was Becky E.'s mom.  Becky was my very first girlfriend.   It was the typical love story of poor boy and a rich girl.      

     It takes a great deal of effort to maintain a friendship like this. This was the best I ever had.  Corralling Cub scouts and seeing my girl all in one afternoon.  Her Mom liked and encouraged me like no other beautiful woman has except my Mother.   Soon though, this family moved to Grand Isle whereupon we lost track of each other.  She called me one day and we tried to get back together.  The distance was too great.  She became overweight and lost her figure.  Life is about knowing when to move on.  I left for Nowhere Soon.

          We eventually found parking and began our walk loaded with picnic stuff to the river which empties into the Pacific Ocean in a dramatic waterfall.  The forest that surrounds you blocks the sunlight that filters down in speckled patterns on the forest floor. All was well and very interesting as the day was wearing on into the afternoon.  We hiked through the bamboo groves and magnificent trees.   We climbed down the huge rocks to the riverbed to have our picnic. The ocean cliffs were not that far away. The vistas were magnificent as is most of Hawaii. 

        As we were gathering our things to go back to the car, it started raining in the upper slopes of the mountains.  This was looking ominous to all of us as the rain came pelting down. Suddenly the demeanor of everyone changed.  Knowing when to act swiftly will save your life one day.
    It only took a few precious seconds to realize the riverbed was quickly filling with water. We started climbing out of the riverbed leaving behind nearly everything we brought.  The water rose so alarmingly fast.  It was swirling vigorously as we glanced back at our close call in nature.            We trudged back to the car soaking wet, cold and out of breath.  It could have easily turned out badly which was a sobering thought for this small party of picnickers.  It was a frightening thought to be swept into the Pacific in a remote area.  No rescue would have been possible.

        The wilderness is all about close calls.  Always have your senses tuned to the elements . One never knows when nature will intrude.  The mountains are particularly bad in this regard everywhere on this planet since they funnel cold air down their slopes.  Soon the air meets with the warmer air mass and begin to mix into a full on winter-like storm in July.    Be Prepared.... as the Scout motto goes. One never knows when reality will strike and when a hasty retreat is called for.
     I worked with John in his small resurfacing business of dilapidated play courts all over Hawaii.  Some of these jobs were fun. Others dreadful and labor intensive.  I finally got my fill when his kid took over and started pushing me hard. I was supposed to get $20 an hour but they were skimming and only paying me 10.  I found this out by talking with Hawaiians that run the Small Business Association Office.  This is the shame among operations like this.  I will never work labor again. Greedy bastards are everywhere.

    In the South these free running springs are called artesian wells. These Southern wells run continuously and have a high sulfur content due to the many salt domes in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Salt and Sulfur go together because of their specific gravity is close. Sulfur is found at the top of the salt dome.
    We could be thinking about a simple recharging of this valuable resource by diverting a small amount of the Mississippi into tubes that will empty into the Aquifer through drilled holes and installed tubes until the balance is achieved. Water in equals water out.  Even the waters from Lake Superior could be used quietly.   The people near the lakes will get upset at the thought of water being taken.  This would not have much effect on the Great Lakes.  Just a small pumping station running 24/7 would provide enough water to raise the level of the aquifer so that existing wells can be used by farmers, homeowners and stock men all the way to Texas. 

    One could begin with dry water wells linked into the system to pump water underground 24/7.  This would prove the method and convince detractors of its efficacy.  Everyone is of the 'show me' mindset so let's show them results.       

    There will be those who say negative things forever.  Try to ignore them. Unless they have a court injunction, go ahead with the restoration of water wells that feed farms, crops and animals, as well as the cities.    New Orleans finally stopped taking drinking water from the Mississippi simply because of the toxicity of the water. Everything and anything gets dumped into the Mighty Mississippi from it origin in Minnesota to its outfall in the Gulf of Mexico.  Old paint that is full of mercury is the most harmful.  I've heard of other toxic wastes being dumped in the river through unseen outlets.   No wonder Alton Ochsner came to New Orleans to open a kidney transplant center that thrives today.  Alton was a man ahead of his time starting with the kidney transplant movement that has progressed right to heart transplants.  

         Now the City gets its water from the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, tubing millions of gallons of fresh water derived from wells to feed its thirsty residents daily. Once again, innovation and forward thinking leads to better health for New Orleanians. Too late for many millions who suffered irreparable damage to organs and suffer from mental illness because of the toxicity of drinking water from the polluted Mississippi. Look for the book series called the Greening of America to see more of the environmental impacts of waste disposal has on human health. Rachel Carson led the way with her insightful writing called Silent Spring.
     One could use dry wells to inject this river water which will cut down costs tremendously.   By forcing a flexible tube with a jetting nozzle down the well then turning on pressurized water you would be able to jet your way even deeper right through the gravel beds.  This technique is also used to set pilings for docks in water.  The trick is to strap the tube to the piling. Connect to a high pressure source then rotate the piling.  The force of water jets away most of the debris as the piling settles into is new home.  You then add heavy material to keep it in place.  Soon natural suction takes over. You are building your dock with what is called jetting the hole.
    One could drill new wells with a bigger bores to handle the volume to actually raise the aquafer level bit by bit. These waters do not have to come from the Mississippi.  Almost any freshwater source even rainwater or any body of water could be utilized in a similar fashion. That means smaller rivers and lakes could be incorporated in this grand scheme of resource management.

          Any storage impoundment of rainwater could be used as well. Tubing water from Lake Superior could be included in this overall scheme. The lake is very deep hold many billions of gallons of fresh water. Remember the history of the California water wars of the 30's and 40's?...It was resolved in a democratic way. 

        This was accomplished with building aqueducts from the Sacramento River delta that finally gave the LA basin enough water to grow in population and feed the thirsty farmlands of Imperial Valley, all paid for by water bills and taxes. Soon Hoover Dam was built to add to this abundance of fresh water. The benefits of having water to spare and share made California the most productive state in the USA.
  The oil companies have been using the injection technique to get rid of wastewater that drilling produces.  These injection wells tend to be shallow and lock into a strata that has been studied for stability well above the aquifer.  However, some waste does eventually trickle down contaminating the aquifer for a short while.  The amazing thing is how quickly all this garbage is neutralized in the presence of limestone which makes up these underground structures.                        Limestone is naturally alkaline whereas most of the modern surface world is acidic. Acid rain has been well documented as a phenomena causing great damage to everything that it falls on.  Even though you don't hear about this anymore does not mean it doesn't happen.  The environmental rhetoric has piped down.  Industry has been forced to clean up its act.  Look up the Love Canal sometime for a reality check of how bad it was in the 50's and 60's.  The change came with the environmental movement and a series of books called the Greening of America.
      Rain, for the Midwest farmers, is based on the jet stream. If it changes even the slightest, it becomes an issue.  The jet stream has done this many times already.  Evaporated moisture mostly from the Ocean, is how rain clouds develop. The jet stream flows from West to East.  As this moisture hits the Rockies, the colder atmosphere of the mountains turn it into rain clouds with much of this water making it to the Plains. The runoff eventually finds its way underground.                   Sure... there are many factors to this circular event.   This is the original restoration project.  The water cycle is well known and taught in the 4th grade. This scheme is not a diversion project but simply a redistribution of resources managed by the Federal government.  The benefits would be immense.  Once again, the Midwest would bloom with fertility the country has not seen for many years.
       You could use the rivers in the Midwest that have the volume to support such an endeavor.  One might even be able to drill in the center of the river installing tubes that reach the gravel beds of the Aquifer.  These could be hidden from sight close to the bottom since they would act as a drain without needing the typical screen.  This would eliminate the need for debris catchments. One could specialize in a self cleaning design to eliminate sediment accumulations around the intake portal.
      Having many tubes down to the aquifer would allow even more water to be transferred during the summers when typically, the dry season rears its head. Evaporation is a big issue in water impounding. Underground there is no evaporation. Water tends to move in accordance with volume and gravity flowing from high pressure to low pressure.  This is basic to physics.  One need not be reliant on just one tube. Many tubes could be feeding the aquifer.  What can go wrong will go wrong.  This is true in plumbing, marriage and horseshoes.  Thinking about problems creates solutions.  Sharing information allows others to be part of the overall strategy of restoration. No one in their right mind would deny giving a sip of water to a stranger.                Thus the rationale for giving the farmlands a healthy supply of water to continue growing would be a popular political topic.  Needless to say, the world needs more food and water to feed its growing populations.  The US population has increased by at least a third in less than 20 years.  It becomes exponential as time marches on.  An innovative solution will give many a chance to survive.  Water is essential.  The really cool thing is when you pump wastewater underground it is very acidic.  After flowing over limestone it becomes alkaline which is a pure delight to drink.  Alkaline water is just the thing to control disease processes in the body. The water input must equal the water taken.  It is simply that way.
      If you study this aquifer you will find this all this to be true.  I've seen this recharging work on Orcas Island when I worked for Indralaya Theosophical Camp.  We faced a similar problem during the summer months.  We subsequently dug a pit down to the gravel bed which is the conduit for freshwater using a backhoe.  We diverted creek water (called ground water) into this pit.  The results were impressive.  The water table rose overnight and we were then able to fill our reservoirs easily.  This was a simple fix that worked in a rustic island setting. 

     Consider a flowing river cleans itself after only a mile after being polluted by runoff.  As the water makes its way through the gravel bed of an aquifer, it too, is cleaned of all pollutants and becomes fresh again. On islands in the Pacific there is a phenomena called a freshwater lens that serves as the reservoir.  This is because fresh and salt water do not readily mix.  Rainfall is primarily responsible for recharging this body of freshwater.  If there is no rain then the waterfalls stop and freshwater supplies dwindle until the next tropical thunderstorm dumps metric tons of fresh water on the landscape which eventually finds its way to this lens.  This has been true for millenia.  Learning how to use saltwater for many applications is the wave of the future..... you have the abundance of water in the oceans.
        The uses of saltwater are many. Humans naturally avoid saltwater but it has some wonderful qualities when using it. Bathwater is just one example.  Bathing in warm saltwater draws out many toxins in the body as well as being an excellent wound cleaner.  In burn units, patients are placed in a bath of .9 saline bathwater which aids in the healing process and helps slough off dead skin thus stimulating new growth of skin on victims.  Third degree burns are much more labor intensive.  These burns require a skin graft taken from the back or buttocks. The skin is run through a meshing device that makes it surface area greater thus when the skin begins to regenerate those small holes heal quickly.                 Consider the .9 saline solution used by MD's as universal.  Once again, boiling saltwater purifies it of bacterium.  I've heard that taking a mouthful of clean ocean water gives you many minerals that you normally don't get in your diet.  The deeper you go the cleaner the ocean becomes.       
     Goat herdsmen take their animals down to the coast at low tide so they can browse the seaweeds which enhances their health as well as milk production.  If you swim your dog in saltwater you rid him of fleas, ticks and other bloodsucking insects.  Just bring his tennis ball with you.  Keeping saltwater in a spray bottle will drive away flies, mosquitoes, gnats and other vermin. Washing your clothes in saltwater with a final rinse in fresh gives them a certain freshness that you could be enjoying.

      Most soaps do not lather up in saltwater.  The Castile soaps do, as well as Joy dish soap used by mariners to dispel oil slicks.  Do the experiment.  Go to the harbor and find a gasoline spill next to the pumping station. With just one drop of Joy you can corral a vast area of spills.  This should be in everybody's environmental cleanup kit. The formulation has been patented which makes Joy unique. Most dish soaps work this way.

    Saltwater is remarkable for holding temperatures higher than fresh water.  Once heated in the desert it could be transported to warm our cities.  The amount of salt that can be dissolved in water is truly astounding.  You can try this at home.  Saltwater is also a preservative.  It has been used throughout civilization by every population.  The evaporation process has not changed one iota. Large drying flats depend on the sunlight and its heat to drive off the water leaving a crusty layer that is ground up to make table salt.  Mexico just established a huge new industry making salt in this tried and true manner.  There are giant solar concentrators being built around the world.  These assemblages focus upon a water tower filled with thick brine. This heated brine is then used to turn electric turbines to add to the grid of cities.  This is a cost nothing operation once the plant is established.  We are on the verge of free energy which makes the fat cats nervous since they control the energy of the world.  The backlash from these people is astounding.
     Around populated areas that have saltwater access one must be very careful.  Vacationing in Hawaii is particularly risky along the shores of Waikiki.  Over the many years, staphylococcus bacterium has adapted to the seashore environment.  Always shower after your dip in the ocean.  Wading barefoot in the ocean with an open wound could get infected with Staph.  The only real cure is a course of antibiotics.  Mosquitoes bites are notorious for getting infected with staph. These insect bites are considered open wounds. Staph is very pernicious.
    There are many ways to clean water.  Take a five gallon bucket and drill some holes in the bottom. Line the bottom with gravel.  Continue filling it with finer gravel, then coarse sand and finally very fine sand leaving enough room at the top to accommodate the water. You can also reverse this gravel stack to find the ultimate filter for the type of water you are trying to clean.  Set this bucket over another clean 5 gallon pail and pour water into the first pail.  When the clarity of the water is satisfactory you then boil the water to kill off any microbes still in the water.  This works in all types of situations including swamp water.  The absolute best, surefire way to purify your water is simply bleach.....  3 to 5 drops to a gallon of filtered water makes the water sanitary. Let it stand overnight to burn off the chlorine taste.  Use your head and take precautions by double filtering. There are no guarantees when it comes to purification. Filter and re-filter is the best option. This will do nothing for radioactivity that comes in the form of fallout.  For that, bend over and kiss your arse goodbye. Just kidding...... the ocean will clean the atmosphere of radioactivity, eventually.
     Sunlight has been used as a technique to purify water.  The ultraviolet wavelength of sunlight kills most microbes.  Save your plastic bottles and refill them with relatively clean, filtered water.  Lay the bottles on their side on a corrugated piece of roofing painted black.  Let it cook in the sun for a few days. There will be some settling so you need to decant.  You can always test the water a little at a time.  It will taste flat which is normal because most of the air has been removed.  Vigorous shaking improves this. You can use this water mostly for cooking.  Your body might react to this type of purification so keeping your immune system at optimal levels is important.  Eventually you will adapt.     TheFrench, at the turn of the century, used a very fine silk net to catch debris as it comes through the spigot. Now Reverse Osmosis is the method most filtration methods employ.  Even RO has problems that can be overcome.  It can be costly if not maintained in the correct manner.  The membrane that RO uses is expensive and has a short life. It cleans water remarkably well.   The Japanese seem to have perfected filtration by building on the pool filtration methods used in the warmer Southern states.  This involves a similar filter of tightly wound cotton string on a hollow core mounted in PVC tubes which are then stacked in series. The Japanese use large diameter PVC tubes stacked in series with caps on the end.  All of these cores need replacing on a regular basis. The results are impressive.  Putting a clean sock over the spigot will certainly reduce the amount of debris in your water supply.  The animals will certainly appreciate your thoughtfulness. More milk will be produced.  More wheat and corn can be grown.  Your wife's vegetable garden will produce an abundance.

   In the South, artesian wells are the norm.  These are constantly flowing wellheads that tend to have a high sulfur content... This makes the water smell like rotten eggs.  The sulfur is the product of geological processes that formed massive salt domes found in Louisiana.   If you hold your nose when you drink this flavorful water you can build some tolerance.  Many sensitive people gag at the mere thought of drinking egg water. Desperation has its consequences.  You will get used to it.  It's great if you mix in lemonade with lots of sugar.
    In the land of hard water which is water that is heavily mineralized,, water softeners are used to prevent buildup in the pipes, pumps of pools and laundry rooms.  These come in pellets and are thrown into the holding tanks or mounted near the filtration systems. You soon regret not using these water softeners that take the iron and calcification out of the water.  Replacing your pipes is the only cure for pipe encrustation hard water causes.  When the flow slows, it is because of this process that keeps plumbers active and making money hand over fist. Now the plumbing technique is to run flexible tubes throughout the house.  Have the swage device that gives a tight fit to all your connections.  This thing is costly.  Better to rent than buy unless you are going into the plumbing business for new dwellings.

    Another method is to dig a hole near a river until the hole begins to fill with water.  Keep on bailing it out.  Soon you will have clear water coming into the Egyptian Well as this is one of the oldest methods known to man.  You should boil the water or let it sit in the sunlight for a few days.  Ultraviolet light kills most bacteria except Cryptosporidium which has a hard casing only boiling will kill.  Crypto is deadly. A secondary filtration might be useful.
    If the trees around you have vine growth on them, you can sever the vine and drain the fluid into your cup for a thirst quenching refreshment.  Most of these vines are of the Virginia Creeper variety. There are Poison Ivy vines that get big.  These poison ivy vines are rare in the wilderness.The sap is still usable  The native Americans used to wrap a Poison Ivy leaf in food and swallow it to confer immunity for the whole season.  Poison Oak is just as harsh and takes many hot soaks in Epsom salts to get rid of  the itchiness and rash that will drive you crazy. Calamine lotion works but it takes a lot of lotion to get relief.  You soon begin to love pink.
   I've heard of squeezing fish heads to get a small drink if stranded at sea.  Out of all of these methods, evaporation is by far the best way.  One must set up a solar still.  On land, just dig a hole and fill it with succulent grass cuttings then cover it in plastic anchoring it with stones.  Then place a single small stone in the center to form the cone.  Remember to place your bowl in the bottom of the hole to catch the drips that form overnight as condensation.  What you are trying to do with the vegetation is to increase the water vapor. The cool of the evening will condense this saturated air onto the plastic which then drips into your catchment system.  On a lake or a salt water bay one can take an inner tube and build a similar contraption out of wire and plastic with the same sort of design in mind.  Remember to have a catchment system in place to collect the condensation. If you have some tubing one could simply run it into the container so you can suck up the water when needing a drink.  A human needs at least a gallon of water per day.  These systems will only give you survival water.  Always be working on getting out of that no water situation.
      The Tibetans use the tea kettle approach, condensing the steam water vapor onto a sheet of cold metal.  This method works when you have enough fuel which is yak dung and plenty of time on your hands in the colder realms of high altitude.  Even mountain water contains atmospheric pollution even at extreme heights.  Animal defecation in the water is one of the primary reasons so much of our surface water is polluted. Cryptosporidium is by far, the most notorious killers of hikers drinking from lakes or rivers without purification.   Fertilizers, pesticides and other runoff byproducts of mega farming are a big factor in river pollution and fish kills.  In Lake Superior there is an island called Park Island.  It is true wilderness.  The wolves eat the Moose.  The lakes are filled with Liver Flukes in the warmer months.  Drinking lake water is forbidden because if you ingest just one larvae, it will migrate to your liver and eat you from the inside out.  The only cure is a transplant.  When I visited there the lake was filled with these liver flukes. Even the animals know not to drink from these infested lakes.
    Big cities barge their trash to offshore locations and dump this refuse many miles away from prying cameras and the people who care.  This has been documented and hopefully stopped.  Other industrial waste products are regularly dumped in our rivers and estuaries usually unseen through hidden pipes on the river bottoms or ocean floor jettisoned many miles away from shore. In the third world that Americans know so little of, this is compounded ten times by over population and complete disregard for the environment.   Even raw sewage is released into the ocean by many coastal communities around the world.   Work towards cleaning this up is the most productive thing we can do as a people. Read Rachel Carson in her book "Silent Spring" to get an idea of how complex this issue is and how long lasting are the effects of pesticides on life around the world.  An easy comparison is to look at the first pictures of earth from space.  Compare them with the most recent photos of the same areas on earth.  You will be startled and appalled. Our once thriving blue marble it turning into a Martian Desert. We can and must reverse this.
      If you have open sky why not develop your own hot water system?  Use that big pile of ABS tubing that you salvaged somewhere, coiling it up into a nice tight concentric circle having it plumbed into your system.   Then lay it on corrugated tin painted black or on the roof of some structure. Remember to orient it to the South because the sun tracks through the Southern skies in the Northern Hemisphere . That old water heater is perfect storage for hot water developed in this manner. You will probably have to organize shower times in the afternoons and evenings.  On summer days the temperature get very high so be careful.  This even works in the winter if given enough exposure to the sun's rays. A lukewarm shower is better than none at all.

Cheers good luck surviving. Educate yourself in the water cycle.

      I ran into Love by accident at one these barter fairs. His method of building a friendship is to say 'I recognize you'. This starts the relationship.  You are invited to join the entourage.  I was glad to do so. We drove to Arlington Washington to the Ranch. Singing hymns and prayers.