The Most Important Preparedness Supply

• A person can survive for 3 weeks without food, but only for 3 days without water.
• It doesn't matter how much food you have stored -- if you run out of water, you're done!
• It's recommended to have 1 gallon of water stored per person per day. This allows not just for drinking, but also cooking, washing, etc.
• If you have a family of 4 and want two week's worth of water stored up that means you'll need to 56 gallons of water stored somewhere in your house.   ​

HOW TO TREAT WATER:

Before Storing Your Water
​rinse out your container with soap and water. THEN....​

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Add 8 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of unscented chlorine bleach per gallon of water to keep water tasting fresh for up to 12 months,

or....Add 35% stabilized liquid oxygen 6 drops per gallon to keep water tasting fresh for up to 5 years.

Treating Water Before Drinking
​(Just in case) 
What water should you pre-treat before drinking?

• Tap water that is no longer safe
• Old stored water that you haven't been treating
• Rainwater
• Water from a stream or lake
• Any water you're not sure about

BOIL IT

• If water is cloudy, let it settle and filter it through a clean cloth (like a T-shirt) or a coffee filter.
• Bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute. At altitudes above 5,000 feet (1,000 meters), boil water for three minutes.
• Let water cool and store it in clean containers with covers.       
• To improve the flat taste of boiled water, add one pinch of salt to each quart or liter of water, or pour the water from one clean container to another several times.

ADD BLEACH

• Use regular, unscented chlorine bleach products .The label should say that the active ingredient contains 6 or 8.25% of sodium hypochlorite. 
• Do not use scented, color-safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Use the table above to decide how much bleach to add to the water.
• Stir and let stand for 30 minutes. 
• The water should have a slight chlorine odor. If it does not, repeat the dosage and let stand 30 more minutes.

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ADD IODINE

• Add 12 drops of 2% Tincture of Iodine per gallon.
• Wait 30 minutes, then OK to drink.
• Consider adding a flavoring powder to improve taste (ie - Tang or Kool-Aid).

Source:  https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water

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WHERE TO STORE WATER

There are many storage options, and you can use more than one:

• Bottled water
• Water barrels
• Stacking water cubes/bricks
• Rainwater cisterns
• Water pillow tanks
• Hot water heater
• Bath tub (last minute option)

Pre-packaged
​bottled water

Standard ​pre-packaged water bottles are convenient, but the cost adds up and they are not very long-lasting so they are not great for the environment. The "best by" date on bottled water is usually 1 year.

55-gallon water storage barrels

These BPA-free water storage barrels can be filled with tap water and treated once per year with 2 drops of (unscented) bleach per gallon -- which means you'll need to add 5.5 ml of bleach per year! Don't store on concrete.

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3.5 gallon Waterbricks

These BPA-free water storage cubes  are called Waterbricks 
and they stack easily for storage. They hold 3.5 gallons of water per brick. Treat one per year with 2 drops of unscented bleach per gallon (7 drops)

Rainwater cistern

Rainwater collection cisterns come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Water will need to be filtered and treated before it can be drunk.

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Water pillow tank

​Water pillow tanks come in various sizes and can store a LOT of water. Store them in your crawl space, under house or anywhere you have room. This one holds 2,000 gallons! Treat yearly with unscented bleach 3 drops/gallon.

Bath tub

Your bath tub is big and holds a lot of water (40-100 gallons). If you have warning that a disaster is coming, or if the taps are still running after the disaster is over, fill up your tub!

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Hot water heater

Hot water heaters can help you in a pinch:
- Most hot water heaters in residential homes hold 80 gallons of water.
- Drain your hot water heater as needed if your plumbing is no longer working.

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