Water questions

[Westside]

Thanks for all the help. Now that I am starting to get the wife on board with this. I am thinking about water needs and storage and I have a few questions.

1) how much water do I really need per adult per day?

2) How long can I store water in different containers?

3) What have you found to be the best way to store water?

4) Do I really need to store water or just have a good filter and plenty of filter media?


I have a house on a retention pond so I could filter that water and have a large supply. Plus I have my "Victory Garden" and will be canning for my first official time this fall. Better to be prepared and know what I'm eating then caught wanting.

 

[gunman41mag]

Thanks for all the help. Now that I am starting to get the wife on board with this. I am thinking about water needs and storage and I have a few questions.

1) how much water do I really need per adult per day?

2) How long can I store water in different containers?

3) What have you found to be the best way to store water?

4) Do I really need to store water or just have a good filter and plenty of filter media?


I have a house on a retention pond so I could filter that water and have a large supply. Plus I have my "Victory Garden" and will be canning for my first official time this fall. Better to be prepared and know what I'm eating then caught wanting.

I was told to add 8 drops of regular COLROX BLEACH {don't used the one with lemon scent}per gallon of water & it will kill any bacteria in the water

 

[rlspach]

I bought one of these; works great.

Water Storage - High Capacity Water Storage | SureWater

 

[dukeboy_318]

Thanks for all the help. Now that I am starting to get the wife on board with this. I am thinking about water needs and storage and I have a few questions.

1) how much water do I really need per adult per day?

2) How long can I store water in different containers?

3) What have you found to be the best way to store water?

4) Do I really need to store water or just have a good filter and plenty of filter media?


I have a house on a retention pond so I could filter that water and have a large supply. Plus I have my "Victory Garden" and will be canning for my first official time this fall. Better to be prepared and know what I'm eating then caught wanting.

Well the answer to number 1 depends on how much activity you plan on doing, they say a 1/2-1 full quart an hr but no more than 12-14 quarts in a day during heavy activity. So what i did was plan on 2 gallons per person per day. FYI, Walmart is having a sell on gallon jugs on spring water, .49cents a gallon. At least my local walmart is.

#2: Ive heard filtered water can be store up to 6-12 months not sure about unfiltered water.

3. I simply buy the gallon jugs. I do have a couple 5 gallon water cans, mil-spec that I have filled, I rotate them out with fresh water and wash them out with bleach very other month.

4. You should have both, especially if you depend on city or community water. If you have you own well, it wouldnt hurt to have some stored and have some filtering stuff as well.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

4) Do I really need to store water or just have a good filter and plenty of filter media?.

I think the answer to the other three , depends on the answer to this question .

Do you think your house is "zombie" proof / secure enough that if the S ever HTF that you could stay where you are OR will you be "runnin for the hills" ?

A general rule of thumb is a gallon a day per person . This amount will fluctuate depending the time of year and activity level , etc .

It's generally a good idea to have redundant / back up systems when it comes to water supply / procurement .

You have a pond , great . Do you have rain barrels to catch the rain ?
Always have a good filter .

Another rule of thumb , two is one , one is none .

Inevitably , Murphy's Law WILL show up and wreck some part of your plans so redundancy is key in vital areas of "prepping" such as water .

 

[snorko]

Timely reminder that the S does not have to HTF for this to be important. Due to some Ohio River overflow near the treatment plant, all of Evansville, Vanderburgh County and parts of Warrick and Gibson counties are under a boil order. That is over 175,000 people...

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I was told to add 8 drops of regular COLROX BLEACH {don't used the one with lemon scent}per gallon of water & it will kill any bacteria in the water

Liquid bleach has a shelf life of about 6 months, then it is just salt water (not the edible kind of salt either). If you buy pool shock crystals they will store almost indefinitely and can be used to make liquid bleach for water purification. Here is a link with the basics.Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water

Purifying by adding liquid chlorine bleach
If boiling is not possible, treat water by adding liquid household bleach, such as Clorox or Purex. Household bleach is typically between 5 percent and 6 percent chlorine. Avoid using bleaches that contain perfumes, dyes and other additives. Be sure to read the label.
Place the water (filtered, if necessary) in a clean container. Add the amount of bleach according to the table below.
Mix thoroughly and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes before using (60 minutes if the water is cloudy or very cold).
Treating Water with a 5-6 Percent Liquid Chlorine Bleach Solution Volume of Water to be Treated Treating Clear/Cloudy Water:
Bleach Solution to Add Treating Cloudy, Very Cold, or Surface Water: Bleach Solution to Add 1 quart/1 liter 3 drops 5 drops 1/2 gallon/2 quarts/2 liters 5 drops 10 drops 1 gallon 1/8 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon 5 gallons 1/2 teaspoon 1 teaspoon 10 gallons 1 teaspoon 2 teaspoons

 

[ATOMonkey]

Store your water someplace dark. It tends to turn green otherwise.

 

[gunman41mag]

Liquid bleach has a shelf life of about 6 months, then it is just salt water (not the edible kind of salt either). If you buy pool shock crystals they will store almost indefinitely and can be used to make liquid bleach for water purification. Here is a link with the basics.

THANK YOU for the info, I'll look into getting pool shock crystals

 

[Icarry2]

Just an idea, if you have the room, the bigger the tank you buy the cheaper they get. Check any rural store, like TSC, Big R, Rural King, you can get a white 1500 gallon plastic tank for under $600, but I would not let it be in the sun or cover/paint the tank, green or black, light lets stuff grow in water sitting in a white container unless you heavily treat it.

They make smaller ones then 1500 gallons if you were wanting to put it in your basement or whatever.

You can also pipe into it with a pump and have a ready back up supply of water pumped through out your home just like normal with some simple pipe modifications.

Two is one, one is none..

One key I have seen here many times, have back ups for your back ups..

City water feed as primary

Well or pond as backup or a second pump system to utilize the same well.

Capture rain water (use for watering your garden if you have one)

Stored water (1-2 gallons per day per person, 3 day supply)

I have been looking into some of this as well and I think a key is to rotate your stored water supply, I usually dump my 6 gallon cans in the washer for doing laundry then refill them with my well water and treat them. Keeps the well moving water and keeps the water fresh.

Just my two pennies, and I don't know anything..

 

[shibumiseeker]

Shibumi's Survivalist Water Storage Primer:

People just starting out go through a lot of effort to figure out how to store water and keep it drinkable. They make it a lot more work and a lot more expensive than it needs to be. They try to sterilize it before storage to allow it to be stored forever and spend endless time debating the best methods.

IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE THAT COMPLICATED!

Really simple: Figure out how much water you need for your drinking (not cooking, not washing, DRINKING) needs per person per day for a week or so. In Indiana that'll be 1/2-1 gallon per person per day (washing and cooking water will be on top of that) for about a week. Then buy as many 5 gallon containers as you need to fill that requirement, or save that many 2 liter bottles. Fill them from your regular water source. Store them in a dark location. Rotate that water out every six months or so. That takes care of drinking water. Don't bother treating it with anything if you are on a municipal supply, you might want to add a little bleach if you are on well water, though it probably doesn't matter.

Now figure bulk storage, however much you want to store for however long you plan on needing water. Figure 1-2 gallons of water per person per day. Fill that up (whether it's a pallet of 5 gallon containers or larger tanks, whatever), don't bother treating it. Then if SHTF, you can treat/filter the water you actually DRINK. You don't need to bother treating it if it used for cooking or washing.

That's it. It's that simple. Always remember you have 30-80 gallons of fresh water in your water heater. Figuring out how to drain it before SHTF is a good prep idea.

 

[Westside]

Shibumi's Survivalist Water Storage Primer:


That's it. It's that simple. Always remember you have 30-80 gallons of fresh water in your water heater. Figuring out how to drain it before SHTF is a good prep idea.

That's true unless you have a new tankless water heater.

I thinking a couple of 7 gallon storage jugs in the storage closet is a good start.

I still need to figure out how long I need to plan for, right now I'm thinking three months.

 

[navarre1095]

Here's a couple of links on that subject.
Zombie Squad • View topic - Disaster plan for Water Utility Customers.

Zombie Squad • View topic - Long Term Water Treatment

Zombie Squad • View topic - Venetian Filtered Cistern

Did I mention that I treat water for a living?

 

[CarmelHP]

Addendum

DON'T buy the green (5 gal IIRC) water containers from Wal-mart. I bought 5 and all leaked withing a few months.

DO have a secondary treatment method. The water I store is meant to either be filtered through the big Katadyn or have sodium hypochlorite added before consumption. Usually your biggest problem with stored tap water will be flora.

 

[sbcman]

Timely reminder that the S does not have to HTF for this to be important. Due to some Ohio River overflow near the treatment plant, all of Evansville, Vanderburgh County and parts of Warrick and Gibson counties are under a boil order. That is over 175,000 people...

Right on- and it's good to see someone else on here south of I-64

There's lots of ways to loose water. I woke one morning a while back to find we had no water in the pipes- none, zilch. This was alarming because I had a wedding to perform at noon (I'm a preacher). I didn't know what had went wrong till I looked out a window and saw the field below me flooded with water. Going out, I found a hole about 10 inches across that had blown through the backyard scattering rock and mud- the main had ruptured!

No need for panic. Grabbed one of trusty 7 gallon Wal-Mart water jugs, went into our preps and grabbed our portable shower. Put water into our 2 gallon heater, mixed in some cold, hung portable shower in shower and came out clean as a whistle.

Came out to talk with the water company guys before leaving and all they could say was, "how did you get water??" I did not inform them

All that said to say this- keep that water stocked because there are lots of ways to loose it when you need it that do not involve a collapse.