As I mentioned yesterday, I had THRIVE Party Thursday night. There were some great ladies there, and in the last couple days, I've been in contact with a couple of them who had some questions about preparing.
One of them asked if I had any advice about water storage, because her husband was very interested in that aspect of becoming prepared. He had recalled attending a class in the past in which they spoke of things you can put into water to purify it.
So today I did some research to help her know what some of her options are!
My first piece of advice echoes what disaster-relief agencies such as FEMA advise: You want to have at least 1 gallon of water per adult per day for at least 3 days. I recently read in a FEMA handbook about preparing that a typical adult should drink about 1/2 gallon of water per day (it can be more for children or people who are ill). But you would also want some water for other uses, such as brushing teeth, sponge-baths, and cooking. That is why a full gallon is recommended for each day. A 3-day water supply per person is a bare minimum, of course.
I referenced how we handle our water storage in our home while I spoke of our 72-Hour Kits and having water included with them. What we do is store our water in clean gallon jugs. In order to make sure our water is rotated and stays fresh, We use this water for cooking (when we make soup or pasta or rice). We then re-fill the jug when it is empty and it goes back into the rotation. We currently have 7 gallons of water on-hand. But this really isn't a long-term store of water. This is actually very minimal for us -- and not quite sufficient since we have a toddler.
That said, there are many ways to store larger amounts of water for the long-term storage. Jugs are still an option. However, having 50 gallon jugs sitting around and finding a place to put them (especially in our apartment) would be a challenge. So what are my options?
One option is to have a very large water barrel, such as this one. And if you want to have the whole kit to easily access that water, it's available here. The large barrel will hold a large quantity of water to help you survive for a while until you could find another source of clean water again.
Another option is to have water filters. This is probably the direction my family will go. I like the idea of being able to get water from a stream and then filter it to make it potable. This is one of the filters I am considering because it is rated to filter so much water. I also like that it can remove 99% of viruses in addition to other bacteria and pollutants.
A third option is to have either drops to treat water such as these or tablets such as these. The drops don't seem to purify as much as water filters or even the tablets, though. So just a heads-up on that.
I definitely plan to do more research to determine what will be the best option for our family. And when I decide, I'll let you know!
Thanks for the question, Andrea! I really appreciate the opportunity to research more and learn!
Do you have any questions or want to get prepared yourself? Just contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!
No comments:
Post a Comment