Water Storage

A sister in the ward asked me a question about storing water. While answering her, I realized it's that time of year to start thinking about Hurricane season (June 1 - November something), and where is the best place to start thinking? WATER!!!!

First and foremost, how much water should you store?

Many sources recommend 1 gallon per person per day for 14 days, so how much water would a family of three need to store?
1 gallon x 3 people x 14 days = 42 gallons of water.

Where do you store all that water?

The best answer is wherever you can. I have boxes of cheap store bought water in the corner of my sons' room and used juice, soda pop, and Gatorade bottles in the boys' closet. I have a friend who's been storing hers in her laundry room/closet.

How do you store that water?

In the Water Storage Guidelines on providentliving.org, they say...

Containers

• Use only food-grade containers. Smaller containers made of PETE plastic or heavier plastic buckets or drums work well.
• Clean, sanitize, and thoroughly rinse all containers prior to use. A sanitizing solution can be prepared by adding 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) to one quart (1 liter) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.
• Do not use plastic milk jugs, because they do not seal well and tend to become brittle over time.
• Do not use containers previously used to store non-food products.

Note: They suggest sanitizing all containers with that 1 teaspoon of bleach to one quart of water solution. I've actually never done that before, but I think I'll start...to be on the safe side.

Water Pretreatment

• Water from a chlorinated municipal water supply does not need further treatment when stored in clean, food-grade containers.
• Non-chlorinated water should be treated with bleach. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon (8 drops) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) for every gallon (4 liters) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.

Note: You should not only treat non-chlorinated water with bleach, but also all water that's questionable.

After Hurricane Ike, the mayor said not to use the water coming out of the tab. To disinfect the water, you could use this bleach method. Nate and I actually boiled it. Providentliving.org says, "bringing water to a rolling boil for 3 to 5 minutes will kill most water-borne microorganisms. However, prolonged boiling of small quantities of water may concentrate toxic contaminants if present." For Hurricane Ike, we used our water storage for cooking with and brushing teeth. We used boiled water for everything else.

Storage

• Containers should be emptied and refilled regularly.
• Store water only where potential leakage would not damage your home or apartment.
• Protect stored water from light and heat. Some containers may also require protection from freezing.
• The taste of stored water can be improved by pouring it back and forth between two containers before use.

Note: I've read on beprepared.com that "if water is: A) Free of Microorganisms. B) If the container is made of food grade materials. C) The container is clean and tightly closed. D) The container is kept from sunlight. Then it will remain safe indefinitely." Another source says to rotate your water storage at least once a year.

I personally have been rotating water every other year because most of the bottled water I've bought usually expires in two years, so I just go ahead and empty and refill my recycled bottles every other year as well.

Another Note: When ever I empty water bottles, I feel bad watching all that water go down the drain, and that's what I did until I realized I could be using that stored water to water my plants.

I kept potted plants last year, and I also had a lot of water that needed to be refilled. It was so easy to use a bottle or two of water storage to water my plants and then refill it, write on a new date, and put it back in storage. I didn't feel like I was wasting water any more, and I don't think my plants minded at all that the water had been sitting in my sons' closet for two years either.

I'd like to know if you have thought of ways to rotate your water. Have you?

Happy Water Storing!

Where to start if you don't have a food storage

I was looking at beprepared.com the other day and read their baby steps in starting a food storage.

First and foremost, they suggest starting with water, building your water storage.

I thought that was interesting, but it does make sense. You can survive something like 2 to 3 weeks without food, but you can't go more than 2 or 3 days without water.

My husband and I use three different ways to store water. Namely...

• Used juice bottles with PETE on the bottom
• 5 gallon jugs/collapsible containers purchased from an outdoors store
• Purchased water bottles, bought in bulk

Other families store those hug, blue water jugs that you see office break rooms or hallways.

If you already store water, what containers do you use? And where do you store it? We have some under the sink, in our sons' closet, and stacked in a corner.

It's recommended by numberless websites to have at least 14 gallons of water per person on hand. That's two weeks worth based on the 1-gallon-per-day rule of thumb.

After hurricane Ike swept through, Nate and I were fortunate not to loose our power, but the mayor had stated that the tab water wasn't safe to use. In that moment I was grateful for the water we had stored. We didn't have to boil water all the time before we used it. We had it already available in the juice bottles, water bottles, and jugs we had in store.

For more information on storing water see the Drinking Water post.

After you get the water taken care of or mostly taken care of, I suggest either building a 72 hour/hurricane kit(s) for your family or building a week or 2 week supply of food that you can prepare without electricity depending on what you feel prompted to do. I think both are important during the hurricane season.

Two summers ago, hurricane Ike left 19 out of 20 homes without power. In our ward, while some families just had a day without power, others went a full week or so without power.

Look here for a basic 72 hour checklist.

To see ideas for an example two week emergency supply of food, go to the Emergencykitchen.com post.

We have our 72 hour kits in backpacks and a travel bag. I've seen some people but theirs in travel carry-on size suitcases that roll.

What do you use for your 72 hour kits? What foods do you stock up on for hurricane season? I'd love to know.

Emergencykitchen.com

Hello! Here's an awesome Emergency Prep website Heather Blake emailed me about. I posted below a sample of what's on the website. Take a look!

Your Personal Emergency Plan
by Sally and Ray Strackbein (http://www.emergencykitchen.com/)

What will you do in an emergency? Can you and your family be safe at home or will you share a community shelter with hoards of people coughing, snoring, sleeping on the floor, sharing the bathroom - or having to go outside or in a corner? Remember Katrina? Everyone needs a personal contingency plan. Remember the last hurricane, earthquake or winter storm? My then 82 year old mother was without electricity for 6 days after Hurricane Floyd, even though her area suffered only moderate wind and rain. If the food or water supply is contaminated or interrupted, do you have supplies on hand to sustain yourself and your family? If the community is getting sick, can your family stay home for an extended period of time? If you need to shelter at home, are you ready? If the power fails, can you stay safe and warm? We recommend preparing for at least 2 weeks or more. Please use this list and prepare now before an emergency. If you wait, you'll be too late.

Non-perishable food has a long shelf life, but won't last forever. Use and replace your stored food to ensure that it will be edible when you need it. For more information on the shelf life of food, see Shopping and Storing at www.EmergencyKitchen.com. Experiment to discover what you like.

Important: If you don t have a manual can opener, buy one. Avoid foods that need to be cooked with a lot of water, high heat or more than a few minutes of cooking.

Communication: Select a contact person who lives out of your local area. Make sure each family member carries that person s phone number, email address, and postal address at all times. Sometimes a person out of the affected area can be reached when local people cannot. Meet or talk with child care or elder care personnel. Make sure good plans are in place for extended care in case of emergency. Be sure each family member knows when to stay put and when to go to a pre-selected meeting place. Revisit or update plans frequently.

Cooking: A Sterno Stove is a good solution for warming food. It can be purchased at any store that sells camping supplies (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, sporting goods stores). Store matches in zip lock bags or a have lighter. Heat small quantities at a time. Plan no-cook meals. Eat canned vegetables as a salad, with salad dressing or vinegar and oil. You can eat canned tuna, ham, or chicken with a vegetable salad or mixed with mayonnaise packets

Water: Store 1 gallon of water per person for each day you are preparing for. You can purchase bottled water or you can bottle it yourself from tap water. You can buy collapsible water containers wherever camping supplies are sold. Another option is to wash out soda bottles and fill them with water. If you store your own water, treat it by adding 4 drops of unscented chlorine bleach to each 2 liter or half gallon bottle of water. Don t use milk
containers (bacteria risk).

Hygiene: Have plenty of paper plates, paper towels, plastic utensils and plastic garbage bags on hand. Trash pickup may not be reliable in an emergency. Buy wet wipes or waterless hand sanitizer, available where soap is sold. Eyeglass cleaning wet cloths are handy also. Buy a supply of latex or synthetic gloves and N95 masks to protect yourself from contagion.

Warmth: Have several sets of thermal underwear if you live in a cold winter climate. Layer clothing to keep warm. Don t forget hats, knitted skull caps and gloves. It might get cold indoors. Drape blankets over your dining table and use it as an indoor tent to keep warmth encapsulated.

Power failure: Keep flashlights, battery operated lights, battery radio and plenty of extra batteries on hand. Have at least one telephone that doesn't need electricity.

Health: Prepare a first-aid kit. If you take prescription medication, get an extra refill even if you have to pay for it yourself. Buy extra over the counter medications or supplies you might need. Ask your doctor if you should have a flu shot.

Community: Attend an emergency preparedness meeting of neighbors, apartment residents or property managers as soon as possible. If there is no meeting planned, get together with other neighbors and organize one. It is very important to be familiar with your neighborhood or apartment association s emergency plans. Talk with neighbors and friends. Share ideas and plans. You don t have to do everything yourself when you plan together.

Records: Back up your home or small business computer frequently, CDs and DVDs work well for backups. Take photographs or video tapes of all of your business and personal possessions. Put important documents, your photos/videos and your backups in your safe deposit box. The lessons from Katrina and New Orleans teach us that you cannot depend on backups stored in your local area. Back up online or send backup media and photos of your possessions to a trusted person at a distant location. If there is a disaster like hurricane Katrina, you will be able to restore your data and show what possessions you owned. Update your photos periodically.

Shoes: Always wear (or have available) comfortable walking shoes. You may have to walk!

Get lots more free "how-to" tips and recipes for non-perishable food at http://www.emergencykitchen.com/

Need a speaker for your group? Call Sally and Ray Strackbein, CBCP. 703-262-0361.

Drinking Water

The information I posted here comes from providentliving.org, but I've added remarks in italics.

Here it goes:

Commercially bottled water in PETE (or PET) plastic containers may be purchased. Follow the containers' best if used by dates as a rotation guideline. Avoid plastic containers that are not PETE. I once bought some water that came in 2.5 gallon jugs that came in boxes. Unfortunately, I didn't know that they weren't PETE until I opened the boxes at home. I pretty much only use juice and soda bottles to store water now.

If you choose to package water yourself, consider the following guidelines:


Containers

• Use only food-grade containers. Smaller containers made of PETE plastic or heavier plastic buckets or drums work well.
• Clean, sanitize, and thoroughly rise all containers prior to use. A sanitizing solution can be prepared by adding 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) to one quart (1 liter) of water. Only use household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives.
• Do not use plastic milk jugs, because they do not seal well and tend to become brittle over time. We had a milk jug filled with water in our car for quite a while because our radiator at the time over heated quite frequently. I could tell that the plastic wasn't strong any more and quite frail. Of course, I didn't notice until I wondered why my road map was warped and had wet stains.
• Do not use containers previously used to store non-food products.

Water Pretreatment

• Water from a chlorinated municipal water supply does not need further treatment when stored in clean, food-grade containers.
• Non-chlorinated water should be treated with bleach. Add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) for every gallon (4 liters) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.

Storage

• Containers should be emptied and refilled regularly. But I've also read on beprepared.com that "if water is: A) Free of Microorganisms. B) If the container is made of food grade materials. C) The container is clean and tightly closed. D) The container is kept from sunlight. Then it will remain safe indefinitely." Another source says to rotate your water storage at least once a year.
• Store water only where potential leakage would not damage your home or apartment. Our water's all over the floor in the closet in Josh and Caleb's room in juice and soda pop bottles. If I make sure they're upright and their lids are screwed on tight, than I think we're save from damage (knock on wood).
• Protect stored water form light and heat. Some containers may also require protection from freezing.
• The taste of stored water can be improved by pouring it back and forth between two containers before using.

Additional Information

Note: The following links are not to official Church publications but are provided as additional resource material:

www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/water

www.redcross.org/services/prepare

I've read on beprepared.com that preparedness authorities recommend storing at least 14 gallons of water per person. That's 56 gallons for a family of 4. Storage is always a difficulty, but be creative, start small, and gradually build. Good luck.

Why do we need to store water? I just remember when we couldn't use the water out of the tab for drinking/consumption during Hurricane Ike. I was grateful to have a supply of water already safe for use.

Another good website is

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-2-water/

...the comments are pretty interesting to read through.