Week 4: Storing Water

This week's task: 

1. Add a 3-day supply of water to your emergency supplies.  (1 gallon per person per day).  If you already have a 3-day supply and have room to store more, increase your supply to 2 weeks worth. 
2. Print out this guide to storing food and water and put it in your emergency binder (it has important information about hidden sources of water in your home, outdoor water sources, and how to purify water in a disaster situation).

Once you have completed the task (or if you already have your water supply), leave a comment to win the February prize (to be announced)!

The Red Cross suggests that every family store at least 3 days-worth of water in containers that are portable enough to put in the car and take with you if you have to evacuate.  They recommend that you store a full 2-week supply at home.

The standard rule of thumb for emergency water is that you should plan for one gallon per person per day.  Want to store water for four people for three days?  4x3=12 gallons of water.   Want to store enough water for a family of four for two weeks?  That's 4x14=56 gallons total.

Water storage ideas:

1. Purchased bottled water.
2. Re-purposed 2-liter plastic soda bottles.  The Red Cross recommends that you sanitize these before using them.  See this guide for details.  They recommend against using plastic milk jugs or juice containers (the milk proteins and sugars cannot be cleaned out thoroughly and the milk jugs will leak over time).  It's the beginning of the month, so you have plenty of time to drink all those 2-liter sodas and still enter to win the February prize!
3. 5-gallon mylar bags.  After you fill the bags, they can be stored in cardboard boxes and stacked, allowing you to store your water somewhat compactly. (Just make sure the box doesn't have staples sticking up out of the bottom that will puncture the bag and cause it to leak - been there, done that.). When you need to use your water, the bag can lie on a table and water is released by squeezing the spout (it's works well).  The full bags are heavy (~40 pounds), but are still portable.  They are also relatively inexpensive.
4. Water Barrels.  Barrels are a good option if you want to move your water storage out of your house to your garage, yard, patio, or deck.  Make sure you purchase a food-grade barrel.  You can get water barrels in  15-, 30-, or 55-gallon sizes.  (If you find these cheaper locally, let me know!)  You'll also need a bung wrench like this to open it and a siphon hose or hand pump to get the water out.  This siphon hose works great. Keep in mind that a 55-gallon barrel of water weights 400 pounds, so you won't be moving it once you fill it up.  

The Red Cross and FEMA say that you do not need to treat stored water with chlorine if it comes from a municipal water supply that already treats its water (EBMUD treats our water).  They suggest that you replace the water every 6 months if you are not using commercially bottled water.