Water Storage
During times of serious emergency, the normal water supply to your home may be cut off or become so polluted that it is undrinkable. In fact, a supply of water could be your most precious survival item! Again, the time to prepare is now, not after a disaster or disruption strike when none may be available.
Health department and public water safety officials use many safeguards to protect the sanitary quality of your drinking water. However, this protection may break down during emergencies caused by natural disasters.
You and your family may then be on your own to provide a safe and adequate water supply. If you have to leave your home, finding and decontaminating water will be a major problem. Remember that typhoid fever, amoebic dysentery, diarrheas, infectious hepatitis, salmonella and giardia are diseases often associated with unsafe water, not to mention the many kinds of parasite that may be contracted. Don’t take a chance. Under emergency conditions, no water can be presumed safe. All drinking and cooking water must be purified.
Water storage for emergency use is extremely important because water is more essential than food in sustaining life during emergency periods. You can live for 4 to 6 weeks without food but it is impossible to survive more that 3 or 4 days without water.
Within three days of sustained water depletion or loss, the body and organs can experience severe damage. Blood loses its density; the potential for heart attack and stroke increases; the kidneys begin to fail; and the mind begins to hallucinate. It is obvious, then, that in a challenging situation, finding, storing, or treating water is critical.
Because water is so essential for survival, it is necessary to have both a stored supply of drinking water and a way to treat water for your continuing needs.
Store as much drinkable water as is convenient to maintain. The average water need for an average sized person in an average climate is approximately one gallon of water per day (two quarts for drinking and two quarts for cooking/sanitation). Most preparedness experts recommend storing 14 gallons of drinkable water per person. A minimum of 50 gallons per household should be stored. This does not include the water in your hot water tank, pipes, spas, pool, water bed, aquarium, etc. Hot environments and intense physical activity can double that amount. Children, nursing mothers, and ill people need more.
The exact quantity depends on the size of the person, amount of exertion, weather and perspiration loss. If there are family pets, include sufficient water for them. A family of four would thus need at least 56 gallons of pure water for their 2-week reserve supply.
Related Posts
