Emergency Water Supply

[M4armorer1199]

I live in Southern California with my wife and two teenage girls. We prepare for earthquakes and civil unrest. I'm concerned we don't have enough water stored. We have three 55 gal water barrels plus five 7 gal containers. That's 200 gallons of emergency water. I know it's a lot more than the average person has stored. I would like to have 3 months of water. How much water would you store for a three month supply? Keep in mind we have 4 people plus 2 dogs. I live close to Honeyville Farms, they have 300gal water tanks for $315. Im going to purchase one next month. So we will have 500 gallons, will that be enough ?

Thanks for your help guys.

[cobb1873]

My personal thought is to have a good system to collect rain water. Also if you have a well or cistern to be able to use them without power would be a huge plus.
Storing water is worse than food because of volume and the potential of making your whole family very ill, or having a bunch of water not fit to drink. Take this with a grain of salt I haven't researched this as fully as I should.

[M4armorer1199]

Living in Southern California we don't recieve much rain. We don't have a well because our water comes from the city we live in. Half of our garage is set aside for our preps. The water barrels and tank are in the garage. Thank you for your reply.

[jbjh]

It depends on the formula you use to calculate consumption, and whether you for stocks are primarily dried or canned. I'm not sure you can go by normal rates, as that is somewhere in the 2-3k gallon range per person, and that seems excessive in an emergency scenario. Variables abound, such as, if your prep involves generating a lot of trash, you can save water by using disposable plates and utensils.

Ultimately, you are going to have to pick a rate of use and do the math. And hope.

There are large water bladders that can store thousand of gallons that are designed to go under your house (some prep to eliminate sharp objects and hardening to keep critters out is necessary). My father uses one, in addition to his cistern at his place in HI (no ground water, the island is a sieve).

And don't forget that you have 40-60 gals in your water heater.

[NWPilgrim]

The bare minimum standard is one gallon per person per day. For 6 critters that is 6 critters x 90 days x 1 gal/person-day = 540 gals MINIMUM.

But being in a hot climate I think you need much more than that, especially if you are doing hard manual labor like clearing debris, rescue, rebuilding, evacuation, etc. Just being in the heat probably should double the standard to 2 gals/person-day. Working hard in the heat say 4 hours per day should take at least another gallon. This would be 3 gals/person-day or almost 1,800 gals. Just my estimate from being in hot weather with limited water, but someone that was in the Middle East may have a better estimate of how much water a person needs.

This does not include ANY water for sanitation. Cooking is assumed to use the per person ration, so don't be wasteful when cooking. You don't need to bath every day but you can sponge bath with just one gallon per person. And you won't be flushing any toilets. Say you sponge bathe twice per week, that is another 12 gals per week times 13 weeks = about 150 gals more.

So 2,000 gals should be pretty decent supply for you. Be sure to think of ways to conserve or avoid water use: bucket toilets (Luggable Loo) with cat litter and trash can liners. Be sure to have TP and hand wipes. Use the fewest possible dishes and utensils. BUT FIGURE OUT SANITATION FOR SURE. Getting sick from poor sanitation is a quick way to die or be incapacitated.

Many of us are used to grabbing a clean dish every time we eat throughout the day and run them all through the washer at night. I've lived in conditions with others for months where we had two pots for group cooking and each person had one each: plate, bowl, spoon, fork, cup. Each person is responsible for keeping track of their own eating gear and keeping it clean using their own water ration. If you clean stuff off right after eating it is easier and does not take much water.

If you have a swimming pool you might be able to count on it. It could well be damaged in an earthquake so don;t rely on it, but if it survived it could be a great supplement. Either use as is for washing and rinsing people, clothes and dishes, or get filters to turn it into potable water.

Besides having stored water you definitely want some filters on hand just in case you come across a water supply that if sanitized could help your out. Plain bleach, hiking filters, cook stove and pot, and gravity filters such as the Berkey. This stuff takes up far less space than stored water, does not replace it of course, but allows you to take advantage of an opportunity if it presents itself, or if some of your stored water gets contaminated.

[M4armorer1199]

How much water do you guys have stored?
How are you storing it, 55 gal barrels, large tanks etc?
Whats the length of time your preparing for?

I'm thinking three months is a good starting goal.

[Dave L.]

How much water do you guys have stored?
How are you storing it, 55 gal barrels, large tanks etc?
Whats the length of time your preparing for?

I'm thinking three months is a good starting goal.

I'm surrounded by 3 lakes and my house has a well. My goal is more of being able to pump and purify as nature has taken care of the storage part.

I do still plan to store a relatively small amount in rare cases where there was fallout from a freak nuke-plant meltdown or some other type of contamination.
I plan to get a few of these:
http://www.costco.com/newurl.product.11766218.html

[ztug]

How much water do you guys have stored?
How are you storing it, 55 gal barrels, large tanks etc?
Whats the length of time your preparing for?

I'm thinking three months is a good starting goal.

Even though you are on city water is it possible to put in a well? I have an irrigation well that is certainly drinkable if the city supply is out. A couple of valves and a hand pump from Tractor supply and I have as much good clean water as I care to pump by hand. With 4 horses, 3 big dogs, plus the people, storage would have been almost impossible.

[nineteenkilo]

We are surrounded by ponds that are within water toting distance and our residence is on a well. We also have a 20K gallon swimming pool that I refer to as bulk water storage even though the kids seem to think it is for playing around in.

I find time to float around in it with a beer to ensure its suitability for SHTF purposes. I take a beer in case I should happen to get dehydrated.

[PA PATRIOT]

Just make sure your containers are new food grade and BPA free so nothing leeches into your water.