Long Term Survival: Water

Next to oxygen, water is the most important human need. But in a survival situation that doesn’t affect Earth’s breathable atmosphere, water is number one!

Storing Water

The human body can live weeks without food if needed, but can only survive approximately three days without safe drinking water. One of the most important aspects of emergency preparedness is stockpiling water. Preparing now will remove the anxiety of having to scramble to store it later when you are in need, IF you can find any.  When storing water, put drinking water in carefully cleaned, no-corrosive, tightly covered containers. Store these containers in a cool, dark place, do NOT store in direct sunlight. When selecting a storage area, a location inside your home will suffice, and is actually preferable. But if you must store your stockpile outside the home, do NOT place it near gasoline, kerosene, pesticides, or other toxic substances. You will also what to conceal it carefully in order to hide it from others who will be in need. Many will not have taken the time to prepare like you have.  Make sure you rotate your stock as you prepare for future situations. Tap water should be rotated every six months and commercially purchased bottled water should be rotated once a year. Purchased water has a ‘use by’ date printed on the container; find this date and write it with permanent marker, in large print near the mouth of the container. Also date the water you have prepared yourself. Begin using the stored water when these target dates are close, but make sure to refill and redate the bottles as they are used. 

Along with your stored water, have materials needed for purifying water on hand, including chlorine bleach, tincture of iodine, commercially purchased water purification tablets, clean pot to boil water in, etc. It would also be a great idea to have a water test kit stored. Such a kit will be very valuable if society breaks down and you must search for an alternate source for water.

Stockpiling water will take some time to complete. It’s best to begin in stages.

• Stage one: Store two gallons per day for three days of purified drinking water for each person. One gallon will be used for drinking ONLY; the second will be used for cooking, sponge bathing, laundry, dishwashing, etc. If any water is left over from the second group, it can be used as additional drinking water as needed (since it is already purified). If you live in a warm climate, you will need to store more water per person. You’ll need: 2 gal X # of people X 3 (days). For a family of three, that would equal 18 gallons.
• Stage two: Store enough water for a month, for each person; 2 gal X # of people X 31 (days). For a family of three, that would equal 186 gallons.
• Stage three: Store enough water for three months. Family of 3 = 558 gallons.
• Stage four: Store enough water for six months. Family of 3 = 1116 gallons.
• Stage five: Store enough water for one year. Family of 3 = 2190 gallons.