After surveying the ward, we know that many of you have 72-hour kits and different types of emergency equipment. A smaller number of you have varying amounts of food storage, but only a handful of you have water storage.
This is not surprising. Church materials stress food storage, and government materials stress 72-hour kits and emergency plans, all of which are valuable. However, water is just as essential for survival as food, a lack of water becomes fatal sooner than a lack of food, and it is easier to take for granted. Every food item in your house was placed there by someone, whereas with water we become used to having clear safe water coming out of the tap on demand.
Water service can be disrupted by earthquake, severe freeze, flooding, or other acts that can lead to contamination or pipe damage. We could go for a long time without any of those events occurring in a manner severe enough to affect the supply, but being prepared means that you do not have to be caught off guard by the unpredictable.
As you may remember, the guidelines for food storage have changed from an emphasis on a one-year supply to three months, but there is still a subtext that more is better. The guidelines for water storage have been reduced as well. From the standard recommendation being a two-week supply, most sources now recommend three days.
The original justification for the two week recommendation was that if the water supply was disrupted, it could take up to two weeks to repair. It is possible that repair methods have improved, and it can be done more speedily, but it is also likely that people get so intimidated by the prospect of acquiring a two-week supply that they do nothing at all, and so reducing that amount makes it something that people can and will do.
As always, any steps for personal preparedness should be done in wisdom and order, remembering that we can receive inspiration for our individual needs.
Regardless of how many days and how many people you are supplying, the general rule is one gallon per person per day. This is assuming that a half gallon will be consumed and the rest will be for washing. That being said, you must drink enough to meet your thirst. Having saved water for tomorrow does not benefit you if you are dehydrated today.
Storage containers should be food grade, with the preferred material being polyethylene terephthalate. Also known as PETE, this plastic is number 1 in the recycling logo, and is the same material that 2 liter pop bottles are made from.
These bottles are excellent water storage containers, and easy to come by. One thing that may be confusing is that when you purchase water it frequently comes in the number 2 HDPE (high density polyethlylene) containers, but this material is not adapted for long term storage, being too easily subject to contamination and leaks. Fortunately, most of us locally have access to excellent water from the tap, so buying water is not necessary.
If I were a young single adult storing water just for myself, I would gradually collect six 2 liter pop bottles. Emergency supply sites do sell 5 gallon jugs, and that would meet my needs as well, but the pop bottles would be cheap and easy.
As I collected each one, I would sanitize it by adding two teaspoons of liquid household chlorine bleach and filling with water, letting it sit and then rinsing it well. I would then fill the jug with water, and mark the date. Many sources recommend rotating the water every six months. You should not need to sanitize the bottle again, but it is a good chance to check for leaks and odors. When I had collected the six bottles, that would be about three gallons, and it would be a really good start.
Knowing that my needs could eventually be more, I would probably also make sure that I had a few ice cube trays in the freezer that I kept full, and I could also make sure that my water heater was kept cleaned and flushed, because there is another 30-60 gallons in there (check instructions specific to your heater). I would not get excited about a water bed or swimming pool, because the chemicals used in them make the water unsafe for drinking. However, if my food storage contained canned fruits and vegetables and soups, the liquid in them could stretch out my hydration, so that would be a good investment.
Although I would mentally know that you can use the water in the toilet tank (not the bowl), I would probably not be able to bring myself to do it. However, when looking at camping supplies I might pick up some water purification tablets in case I needed to collect water at some point and was not sure about its purity, or I might check my old scout or girls camp manual for more on water gathering and purification as well.
All of these are small, simple steps that should be doable without a great investment of time or money, and they can make a huge difference under the right circumstances.
If your household consists of four adults and four animals, it does become more complicated, but can still be broken down into small, manageable steps. Incidentally, when storing for a pet the amount should equal about 2 ½ times their daily food intake. So, if Rover eats two cups of food a day, he will probably need at least five cups of water a day.
Here are some other sources:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7534-1-4065-1,00.html
http://www.ocem.org/pdf_resources/17-Food_Water.pdf
http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_91_,00.html#water
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/watermanage.shtm
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