Be Prepared: An Emergency Water Supply
Most people don’t know what it takes to keep a clean water supply in times of crisis. This article will help you understand what you should do so you can keep your family safe during an emergency. It will teach you about the need to maintain a emergency water supply just in case.
When any kind of emergency strikes, having an adequate supply of sanitary water for drinking, cooking, and bathing must be a top priority. Although it may not seem likely you will ever have a requirement for an emergency water supply, you are unable to know when an earthquake, tornado, flood, blizzard, or other disaster will knock out your power supply and leave you without a way to obtain food or water for days or even weeks. Keeping an emergency water supply in reserve would then be a critical necessity of your ability to survive.
When making plans for an emergency, you will need to plan for a gallon of water per user per day. Keep enough on hand to tide your over for a minimum of three days. In fact, the best amount of emergency water supply to keep stored, per FEMA guidelines, would be a 2-week supply. That would mean that a family of 4 should keep 52 gallons of water in storage, plus additional for pets. It is also suggested that this water be renewed every 6 months. The expense and the storage of this much water may seemingly be prohibitive to many people. Therefore, try to keep at least 3 days worth of water in a cool, dark area.
In the midst of an emergency, if water supplies should run low, do not ration water. We all require 8 cups of water every day for optimum health. Keep on drinking enough water. It could well be that by the time your resources run out the electricity and water will be on again. If they’re not, you can always take care of finding more water when your supply runs out. You can decrease the amount you require, however, by lessening activity and staying cool.
It is suggested that the emergency water supply being stored be commercially-bottled water. Store it in its original, sealed container. Water that is open or empty milk jugs filled with tap water aren’t the recommended choices when it comes to an emergency water supply. Keeping water in a container that was originally used for milk or fruit juice isn’t recommended. Milk protein and fruit sugars can never be entirely washed from these containers, and if they are later used to store water, these containers will provide the ideal environment for bacteria growth.
