Water

One of the exercises in last week's 7 Day Challenge from the Food Storage Made Easy website was to act as if there was a water outage for the day.

At the time, I had no water stored at all. Had that been an actual emergency, I'd have been in deep trouble. To make things even worse, I had empty water containers in the garage. I'd have been kicking my dry, parched, dehydrated self.

Happily, those containers are now full and I have 36 gallons of water at the ready.

 

Thirty-six gallons is a start, however it's not nearly enough for us. Our three horses will need a bare minimum of 30 gallons of water every day. Add to that one gallon per person per day for drinking and cooking, plus another one gallon per person per day for basic hygiene. Realistically, we need about 50 gallons of water per day.

 

I have found a unique bucket designed to fit into modern well pipes. Lehman's Non-electric sells a nifty one for $70. A real bargain considering that's about the only option we have for getting water from our well in the event of a power outage.

 

Rain barrels are also in my plans for water storage. I'd put a few at the house and a few more at the barn.

 

 But I digress....I was talking about storing water in containers.

 

We have well water, so it is not chlorinated. I added 16 drops of regular, unscented household chlorine bleach to each gallon of water in those containers.

 

 



 



The bleach helps keep icky bacteria from growing in the stored water. I will still boil this water before I'd use it for drinking or cooking.

 

 

It's a good idea to rotate your water storage just like food storage. Water in containers such as these is probably good for six months. After that, use it up and fill the containers with a fresh supply.

 

I strongly urge you to educate yourself on safe water storage. Below are a few links to helpful sites. I cannot be held responsible for any mishaps or illness you may experience if you store water based on the personal experiences I have detailed here. Please read what experts have to say on the subject!

 

Food Storage Made Easy - Water Storage

 

 



FEMA Web Page on Water Storage

Over the last year or so, I've been saving empty 2-liter soda bottles and have a few dozen on hand. I filled those up with water and eight drops of the bleach for safety. Soda bottles and plastic bottles from juice are fine for storing water. Don't use milk jugs though. It's impossible to get them completely clean from milk and the plastic is the kind that degrades quickly.

I know there is much more to do before I can feel comfortable with our Plan B for water. But at least I have some water stored now.