Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Way We Use Water

Originally posted at The ReadyStore Blog

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The Way We Use Water

Water is the most essential thing you can store in times of emergency. Let me say that again, water is the most essential thing you can store. You can live for weeks without food, but only about 3 days without water. Think of the ways you use water every day: to brush your teeth, to wash your hands, to flush a toilet, to wash dishes, to run your washing machine, to fill a pot for dinner. We use water and we use a lot of it.

It takes about 35-40 gallons of water to fill a bathtub and we use about 5 gallons a minute when we shower. Because water is so accessible and so cheap, it is often hard for us to imagine a time when water might not be available. In areas that have had to enact a boil water order due to an emergency situation, it takes about an hour and a half for bottled water to sell out. Make water storage a priority. 30 gallon drums, 5 gallon stackable water containers and filters such as the MSR miniworks are great ways to get your water storage going.

We need to store a minimum of 14 gallons per person in our household which equals out to a 14 day supply. Half of that is set aside for drinking water and the other half is for things like bathing, laundry, and food prep. Take steps to make water storage a priority and make this essential resource a necessity for your personal preparedness program.

1 comments:

foodstr2 said...

Marni,

Storing water is only a short-term solution. To keep it from growing harmful things, you need to add poisons to the water, which aren't good for someone to drink.

A better solution is to get a quality water filter (a Gravity Water Filter uses no energy) like the AquaRain which will filter up to 32,000 gallons.

See http://www.internet-grocer.net/aqua.htm

 
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