The problem with a city area that you may not have considered is the water source. Assuming that the zombies don't manage to muck up the pumping system during the initial problems, you're still looking at a limited supply. The water towers can only hold so much, and they're likely to run dry fairly quickly, as you can expect plenty of faucets, bathtubs and hydrants to be left running when their operators rise from the dead.
However, that's not the big problem. The big problem with city water distribution systems is that many of them are fed from some type of reservoir or river. The water is pumped through pies until it reaches a filerting plant. Assuming the plant functions well on automated, you're still likely to get water delivered to the towers, but it only takes one infected body falling into the reservoir to contaminate the entire water supply.
Certainly, you can get by for quite a while if you have a large supply of bottled water stored up. Remember, though, that in addition to the average intakes of about 2 liters per day that you need ( minimum) to replace the water you lose through breathing, moving around, eating, urinating, etc, you're very probably going to be eating a lot of shelf-stable foods, which are generally dehydrated and will therefore require more water to digest. Even if you don't dehydrate, if you don't get enough water, your system can't flush toxins efficiently and you're likely to suffer muscle cramps and fatigue, both of which are potential killers in the face of a zombie epidemic.
Additionally, that supply of bottled water isn't going to be useful at all for your rooftop garden. Assuming moderate weather and other optimal conditions, you're going to need about a half gallon of water per day for each person's share of the food. Even if you have an entire closet of bottled water stored up, you'll probably need more than that to feed the plants long enough for them to bear edible results, and that's forgetting the fact that you also need to drink water for yourself.
There are a few ways to help with this problem. Today's water filtration systems are actually very good. A Brita water pitcher costs next to nothing and a single filter can take care of about 40 gallons of water. However, while charcoal filtration is good, a single filtering session probably won't be enough to remove all the toxis that will be responsable for zombification, so I think we can safely assume that you can filter 40 gallons of water for your garden or 10 gallons for yourself. The filters aren't horribly cheap (though they're hardly expensive), but they're small and you can store a lot of them.
All of this serves to help me make the points that when the zombie plague arrives, cities are going to be death traps. Assuming we go with a "small big city," we're looking at an average of about 5 million potential zombies in an area of just a few square miles. The one thing that a zombie has in spades is patience. If it has to keep beating on the door until its arms literally rot from its bodie, it'll do it. Imagine 5 million such creatures. Eventually, they're going to get through.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-15 12:52 am (UTC)However, that's not the big problem. The big problem with city water distribution systems is that many of them are fed from some type of reservoir or river. The water is pumped through pies until it reaches a filerting plant. Assuming the plant functions well on automated, you're still likely to get water delivered to the towers, but it only takes one infected body falling into the reservoir to contaminate the entire water supply.
Certainly, you can get by for quite a while if you have a large supply of bottled water stored up. Remember, though, that in addition to the average intakes of about 2 liters per day that you need ( minimum) to replace the water you lose through breathing, moving around, eating, urinating, etc, you're very probably going to be eating a lot of shelf-stable foods, which are generally dehydrated and will therefore require more water to digest. Even if you don't dehydrate, if you don't get enough water, your system can't flush toxins efficiently and you're likely to suffer muscle cramps and fatigue, both of which are potential killers in the face of a zombie epidemic.
Additionally, that supply of bottled water isn't going to be useful at all for your rooftop garden. Assuming moderate weather and other optimal conditions, you're going to need about a half gallon of water per day for each person's share of the food. Even if you have an entire closet of bottled water stored up, you'll probably need more than that to feed the plants long enough for them to bear edible results, and that's forgetting the fact that you also need to drink water for yourself.
There are a few ways to help with this problem. Today's water filtration systems are actually very good. A Brita water pitcher costs next to nothing and a single filter can take care of about 40 gallons of water. However, while charcoal filtration is good, a single filtering session probably won't be enough to remove all the toxis that will be responsable for zombification, so I think we can safely assume that you can filter 40 gallons of water for your garden or 10 gallons for yourself. The filters aren't horribly cheap (though they're hardly expensive), but they're small and you can store a lot of them.
All of this serves to help me make the points that when the zombie plague arrives, cities are going to be death traps. Assuming we go with a "small big city," we're looking at an average of about 5 million potential zombies in an area of just a few square miles. The one thing that a zombie has in spades is patience. If it has to keep beating on the door until its arms literally rot from its bodie, it'll do it. Imagine 5 million such creatures. Eventually, they're going to get through.
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