Water Storage
2016-06
Objective: Store 2 weeks worth of water for your family and gather supplies for filtering and purifying water for ongoing needs.
This month Roald Peterson taught us about water storage. In addition to storing the traditional 2-week recommended supply, Roald also trained us to prepare for ongoing needs, should an emergency extend past our supply. We have included a summary in this post, but please see the attached handouts for more detailed information, including how to treat the water you are storing.
Recommended: 1 gal/water/person/day
Needed supplies:
55-Gallon Drums (buy at caselot sales)
3-Gallon Water Jugs $7.95 – for transportation and convenient use during an emergency.
Spigot for 5-gal jug (optional) $1.75.
Life Straw – $19.95. Life Straw filters water from ponds, lakes, and streams. Is an ideal light-weight option for transportation.
Sawyer Mini-Filter – Can attach to a 2-liter bottle to filter water from ponds, lakes, and streams. Filters up to 100,000 gallons.
Berkey Water Filter – $288.50 – A great product for families. Purifies and filters all water sources. (For water to be completely safe to drink, water must be both purified and filtered.) *Hint- with this product there is no need to rotate stored water.
Additional tips:
- Fill 2-liter soda bottles with water. Easy to transport, share, and use.
- Fill up canning jars with water when not being used.
- Identify other sources of water in and around your home.
- Never store water bottles or barrels directly on concrete. Use cardboard, wood, etc to separate. (Contact with concrete will flavor the water.)
- Note that there are items to add to the maintenance chart we provided in February (for water rotation, etc.)
- Do not store water in old milk jugs.
- If you know that there will be a water shortage, plug your tubs and fill them. (This is an easy way to store an extra 55 gallons of water.)
Click HERE for our monthly summary handout (what to do, buy, FHE, maintenance, etc.)
Click HERE for EPA Water Handout (IMPORTANT: this includes bleach/water ratio for storing water)
Click HERE for Roald’s personal notes about water storage, rotation, purification, etc.