It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, dog or cat, anything with a heartbeat cannot survive longer than three days without water.
We all need it and for that reason I count it is the most important supply to have in stock. In case of an emergency, such as a hurricane, the government recommends you have one gallon of water per person per day for three days. Personally I think a seven-day to two week supply is more realistic.
The more I think about it a seven-day supply of water, that is one gallon of water per person per day for seven days is the bare minimum. I think you should have at least that, but I don’t think you should stop stocking water once you reach your seven-day storage.
You can never have too much water, never. In times of stress you will need and drink more water than in normal conditions. The problem is, water takes up a lot of space and must be properly rotated and stored to insure it says potable (drinkable).
Bottled water is the easiest to store and as long as the seal is not broken and air does not get to the water it can last longer than the expiration date on the bottle. I know there are some to say bottled water isn’t all that healthy due to the plastic leaching into the water. Whether that is true or not I don’t really know. What I do know is with the millions of bottles of water that are being drank each year I don’t think the leaching problem is all that serious or we would all be dropping like flies. Plus, remember, this water is for emergencies. If I had a choice of no water, or water in a plastic bottle that “may” have plastic leach, I will pick the bottle of water every time.
Another option is to refill soda bottles, a friend of my does this and he says he has “bottles of water stashed all over the house”. All you have to do is thoroughly wash out the bottle to insure there is no left over residue of the original substance, fill it up with tap water and seal it tight. If you do this, I highly recommend rotating the water at least every six months. Personally I think this is a fantastic idea, but to be honest, I have not done this, primarily because I don’t buy soda in bottles.
Another great option is to have some 55 gallon drums outside your home to catch rain water off the roof. You can pick up these drums pretty cheap from area bottlers. One thing you MUST make sure of is that the drums are food grade and NEVER contained any milk products or none food products.
Many of you have a backyard pool, that is a lot of water you have stored up. However as much as pool water is treated, organics can enter through dirt, sweat, body oils and kiddie tinkle. This can form chloramines which are not good to drink. Sealed water can last for years however a pool is not sealed, imagine filling up your bathtub with clean water, now imagine getting in and out of the tub multiple times, kinda like you do in your pool. Would you still think it is clean to drink? It isn’t, don’t think just because the water is clear it is clean to drink. Clear water can still be laced with cholera and make you very sick. I would boil pool water before drinking.
Finally, I highly recommend a good water filter. The water filter of choice for me is a Berkey Water Filter, this is probably the best filter to have as it has been used overseas, filtering some of the nastiest water you have ever seen and turned it into drinkable water. I would use a Berkey to filter any water collected off the roof for sure as well as if you are going to use your pool water for drinking.
In addition to all these many ways of storing up potable water, I even store up non-potable water so I don’t ever have to risk using any good drinking water for something other than drinking or cooking.
Bottom line, IMHO, never think you have enough water. Water should be a supply that you continually are adding to and rotating through. Never get comfortable and think you have enough.
5 Jan 2014
0 CommentsThe Most Important Supply – Water
We all need it and for that reason I count it is the most important supply to have in stock. In case of an emergency, such as a hurricane, the government recommends you have one gallon of water per person per day for three days. Personally I think a seven-day to two week supply is more realistic.
The more I think about it a seven-day supply of water, that is one gallon of water per person per day for seven days is the bare minimum. I think you should have at least that, but I don’t think you should stop stocking water once you reach your seven-day storage.
You can never have too much water, never. In times of stress you will need and drink more water than in normal conditions. The problem is, water takes up a lot of space and must be properly rotated and stored to insure it says potable (drinkable).
Bottled water is the easiest to store and as long as the seal is not broken and air does not get to the water it can last longer than the expiration date on the bottle. I know there are some to say bottled water isn’t all that healthy due to the plastic leaching into the water. Whether that is true or not I don’t really know. What I do know is with the millions of bottles of water that are being drank each year I don’t think the leaching problem is all that serious or we would all be dropping like flies. Plus, remember, this water is for emergencies. If I had a choice of no water, or water in a plastic bottle that “may” have plastic leach, I will pick the bottle of water every time.
Another option is to refill soda bottles, a friend of my does this and he says he has “bottles of water stashed all over the house”. All you have to do is thoroughly wash out the bottle to insure there is no left over residue of the original substance, fill it up with tap water and seal it tight. If you do this, I highly recommend rotating the water at least every six months. Personally I think this is a fantastic idea, but to be honest, I have not done this, primarily because I don’t buy soda in bottles.
Another great option is to have some 55 gallon drums outside your home to catch rain water off the roof. You can pick up these drums pretty cheap from area bottlers. One thing you MUST make sure of is that the drums are food grade and NEVER contained any milk products or none food products.
Many of you have a backyard pool, that is a lot of water you have stored up. However as much as pool water is treated, organics can enter through dirt, sweat, body oils and kiddie tinkle. This can form chloramines which are not good to drink. Sealed water can last for years however a pool is not sealed, imagine filling up your bathtub with clean water, now imagine getting in and out of the tub multiple times, kinda like you do in your pool. Would you still think it is clean to drink? It isn’t, don’t think just because the water is clear it is clean to drink. Clear water can still be laced with cholera and make you very sick. I would boil pool water before drinking.
Finally, I highly recommend a good water filter. The water filter of choice for me is a Berkey Water Filter, this is probably the best filter to have as it has been used overseas, filtering some of the nastiest water you have ever seen and turned it into drinkable water. I would use a Berkey to filter any water collected off the roof for sure as well as if you are going to use your pool water for drinking.
In addition to all these many ways of storing up potable water, I even store up non-potable water so I don’t ever have to risk using any good drinking water for something other than drinking or cooking.
Bottom line, IMHO, never think you have enough water. Water should be a supply that you continually are adding to and rotating through. Never get comfortable and think you have enough.