Hurricane Joaquin

Forecast has changed hourly and by source. It will weaken before impacting the coast. Whether it stays out off shore or comes in is the big unknown right now. Wish we were home in Fort Lauderdale and out of the hurricane zone. At this time we feel safe in Myrtle Beach although we actually have a commitment we'll be driving to in Charlotte. Was our first time ever taking the ICW from Southport to Myrtle today as we always run it outside. We do expect to see a lot of flooding over the weekend. May be as much in Charlotte as on the coast.

As always, one just keeps following the storm. As of this time there are no warnings or watches for the coast. It is an "aware". And subject to change at any moment. Now flood watches are out and have been out for the entire area.

Looks like it may head out to sea...

Shipping on the Great Lakes came to halt the last few days do to high winds, all navigation resumed early this morning.
Wind sends lakers to anchor

10/3 - Water levels were expected to peak Friday night as strong northeast winds will push water into the western basin of Lake Erie, causing water levels to rise and lead to minor flooding along the lakeshore. Friday many boats had gone to anchor, off Colchester was the H. Lee White, Thunder Bay and Dorothy Ann and Pathfinder, Roger Blough and Atlantic Huron. Manitowoc, Capt. Henry Jackman and John G. Munson were anchored off Point Pelee. The Tug Genesis Victory and her loaded barge were stopped in the Detroit River's Ojibway Anchorage waiting for weather to clear to enter Toledo.

On Lake Michigan strong winds caused the Presque Isle to anchor Friday between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island. Alpena and Algomarine anchored NW of St. Helena Island in Lake Michigan Friday and the Victory/James L. Kuber has been anchored since Thursday off St. Joseph/Benton Harbor. Philip R. Clarke, Cason J. Callaway and Burns Harbor were on the hook near Holland, Mich.

South Carolina coast is in bad shape right now and the storm systems are headed up the coast, not related to Joaquin. There are areas that will end up with over 20 inches of rain. Charleston, Georgetown, and Myrtle Beach have all been hit hard. Many streets and roads closed.

While physically at the moment we're in Charlotte, NC, our boat and crew are in Myrtle Beach, where we intend to return shortly, and we're all sort of stuck, waiting for conditions conducive to moving south. One thing you realize as the rain falls and the streets flood, power goes out, water may become contaminated and that is the boat is a pretty good place to be as long as you have fuel and food. You just sit at the dock and relax. Power goes out, you have gens, water bad, you have your watermaker. But you have the advantage of floating.

It is labeled a 1 in 500 year rain and extending well inland.

Good luck drinking anything made while sitting dockside particularly in a flood when there could well be raw sewage in the liquid you are pumping through your water makers.

Nothing specific just I saw a post from someone I know on Nassau who said they got off lightly compared to the islands further south

A link to this just appeared on my FB Page.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/hurricane-joaquin-missing-cargo-ship-el-faro

Watch the bit after the ship report

Have plenty of bottled water and would leave the dock to use the water maker. Thankfully not an issue at this point. Now, getting back to Myrtle Beach is our main dilemma.

If you ever do have to do it for real make sure you run well offshore of you can as the outflows nasty contents can carry some distance offshore

I would...normally drink bottled water. Still you don't want to deal with sewage for your other issues either. And your point is well made because what can often have the city water unfit to drink is the run off. Well, if it's enough that the city treatment plant can't handle it then your watermaker would have the same problem.

No one wants to think about it much less do it but RO is a good way to remove pathogens. The following is from a World Health Organization document titled:

Safe Drinking-water from Desalination (WHO/HSE/WSH/11.03)

"RO has been shown to remove bacteria and larger pathogens and all or a large fraction of viruses (Gagliardo et al., 1997; Adham et al., 1998a; van der
Hoek et al., 2000). High-quality RO processes are good treatment barriers to pathogens if properly selected and maintained.
WHO provides guidance on target removals for bacteria, viruses and protozoa, removals that are achieved by typical and enhanced water
treatment processes (WHO, 2011). Removal of viruses by RO membranes may vary significantly and is a function of the membrane itself as well as its
condition and the integrity of the entire system, including seals. Removals ranging from 2.7 to more than 6.8 logs, depending on the type of RO
membrane, have been reported at bench scale using MS2 bacteriophage as the model virus, and Adham et al. (1998b) suggested that the selection of
membranes is an important factor in determining virus removal. Kitis et al. (2002, 2003) reported removals of MS2 ranging from 5 logs for a dualelement
unit to more than 6.8 logs for a multistage unit. In pilot-scale studies conducted to investigate the potential of integrated ultrafiltration and NF
membrane systems for the removal of various microorganisms, including viruses, protozoa (Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts), bacterial
spores (Clostridium perfringens) and bacteriophage (MS2 and PRD-1), Lovins et al. (1999) observed removals, including those resulting from pretreatment,
ranging from 6.1 to 10.1 logs. This shows that membrane treatment exceeds the microbial removal attained by other combinations of process units, such
as coagulation, filtration and disinfection of surface water."

As part of the research for an article in the July 2014 issue of Dockwalk magazine "What's In Your Water?" about "tap water" quality in Fort Lauderdale, samples of potable water taken from 11 boats and dockside faucets were analyzed for biological contamination. Except for one boat that will remain nameless, all the samples tested clean. It may be of interest to some that one of the samples was taken from the discharge of an RO watermaker installed on a boat docked behind a house on the Middle River just south of Sunrise on an outgoing tide when one might reasonably expect the biological loading at that location to be greatest. The water was as clean and potable as that distributed by the City of Fort Lauderdale and purer than many brands of bottled water if we are to believe the statistics regarding the quality of much of that stuff.

http://www.ewg.org/research/bottled-water-quality-investigation

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/bottled-water-e-coli-contamination_n_7640010.html

The bottom line , if you are going to consume water, freeze it into small lumps first, add a slice of lime, then cover it with gin and tonic.

Pretty interesting read there Marmot and quite the opposite of what I have been told over the years. I will have to find someone who is going for their orals to quote that article when being grilled as to why you operate them offshore. The amount of sediment and so on in the water after a big flood event will also impact on the RO Plants ability to function but that's a whole other story.

I think it is one of those myths that are so persistent in the marine industry. Back in the days when low pressure evaporators were the only game in town it was very important to only make water well offshore in pristine feed water. There are a couple of reasons for that, there was no pre-filtration, just a strainer to keep turtles out of the feed pump and the units were operated at the lowest temperature possible to avoid fouling and carryover of salt crystals in order to make distilled water with very low chloride levels. Those factors increased the risk of pathogens surviving the process.

With good maintenance, pre-filtration and the same kind of permeate water treatment that most boats use for dock water, there is no reason an RO desalinator unit should not be able to produce safe potable water from a highly contaminated source. We can make drinking water from raw sewage now but no one wants to drink it, or at least know they are drinking it. I believe the RO myth is part of that aversion to a perceived risk.