Emergency Water Storage: Why You Need It and What to Consider

Disaster can strike at any time. Are you prepared? A large part of emergency preparedness is having

water storage for your family. When your water is cut off because of disaster, you’ll want access to

enough clean water to help your family survive.

Here’s why you should store water:

Benefits

Peace of Mind: Knowing that your family will be taken care of if a disaster were to occur will keep you worry-free.
Emergency Survival: Humans can go a lot longer without food than without water. Though the amount of time someone can go without water varies (based on physical circumstance, health,age, etc.), you’ll probably only survive 3 to 7 days without it.
Cleanliness: Water is not only for drinking. During an emergency, you’ll need water for personal hygiene and cleaning.

Things to Consider

Though storing water is always a good idea, it may take some preparation. Here are some things to consider about your emergency water storage:

Amount: It is recommended to store at least one gallon of water per person to last for three days.
Purity: You want the water you and your family drinks to be pure. If you’ve gotten the water from a public source or from commercially bottled water, you will not need to disinfect it. But if you’ve gotten your water from other sources, you will need to purify it. Consider buying a water filter if you’re worried about the purity and shelf life of your water storage.
Storage Space: If you were to store water to be used for 2 weeks, this amount of water would weigh 116 pounds. That’s only for one adult. How many hundreds of pounds of water will you need to store for your whole family? This could cause a problem if you’re living with limited space. Consider using an outdoor storage option.
Cost: Water is free, but water containers are not. Water storage can be costly, especially because you need water containers that won’t leach poisons into your water. To cut down on costs, consider using 2-liter soda bottles to store your water. (Never use milk or juice containers, containers that have held cleaning products, or containers made of soft plastics).

Storing water now just might save your life tomorrow (and the lives of your loved ones). If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call us. We want to help you have the water you need when an emergency occurs.