A Month of Water

Hello all,

The month of February is set aside to consider water (Do 1 Thing)...

Many people I'm sure have heard the old saying a person can survive three months without human contact, three weeks without food and three days without water.  Clearly water is incredibly important.  Most government organizations recommend keeping 72 hours of water on hand for emergencies.  That's at least one gallon per person per day.  So a family of 5 needs at least 15 gallons of water.  Easy enough.

But, if you read just about ANY emergency or survival book, magazine, blog, website, or other documentation they all range from 14 to 30 days of water storage.  And of course if you happened to be a member of the Mormon church, its more like a year!  Again, just one gallon per person.  But for a family of five, that can be up to 150 gallons of water in storage for 30 days.  That's just a little more tricky to maintain.
Do we really need one gallon per day?  Well, first consider even just the first few water needs (drinking, cooking and cleaning) and you can see how even one gallon per day might not be enough...  Some experts recommend even 2 gallons per day per person.  But maybe consider this in another way.  Here's some ideas on water management, especially for those of us living with water around us.

1. Remember, if you're on a deep water well, without electricity, you've got no running water.  It's a little more difficult to keep an emergency generator for the water system, so just be aware of how much wattage it would take to keep the water pump going.
2. Focus on storing water you NEED to LIVE, meaning potable water FIRST!  Any time you go to the grocery store, look for the special sales, like 10, 1-gallon, stack-able containers for 10 dollars.  We see this all the time at Safeway...  Pick up four or five gallons each visit, and before you know it, wham, you've got 7 days of water for the average family.
3. Know the difference between FILTERING and PURIFICATION.  Filtering is used to remove unwanted particles from the water.  Purification is a means of cleaning the water to make it healthy for human consumption.  Each is important, and to make water truly "potable", both filtering and purifying should be used.  Dr. Arthur T. Bradley has a great, simple writeup of these differences and the importance of each in his book "Handbook to Practical Preparedness for the Family".
4. Make sure to distinguish between "potable" or drinkable, water versus "non-potable" in your storage methods.  If you just need water for flushing toilets, use rainwater, or water from the river, or next-door-neighbors swimming pool.  
5. Try to establish consistent forms of water provision.  There are videos on youtube that show a person how easy it can be to drill a shallow well with some pipe and an existing small amount of water.  Again, this is mainly for non-potable water, but with the right process of filtering and purification that water too could become potable in extreme cases.
6. Consider multiple uses for the same water.  For example, used cooking water might be filtered, then given to the animals to drink or used in the garden.  
7. Maintain multiple water filtering and purification forms whenever possible.  Have personal mini filters (like the straw-like filters) in emergency packs. Have family water filters, like the Berkey Filter System for home use.  Keep backup filters for each system you utilize.  Maybe consider making your own water filtration and purification system.  
8. If you're a soda drinker, consider using the two liter bottles to store more water.  Wash and rinse them first to get rid of any taste.  Fill them up with clean tap water and insert about 8-10 drops of household bleach.  Cap the bottle and shake for a bit.  It also might be good to rotate bottles like this every six months or so.

Happy Planning!

The Marshall Clan!