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Water Storage For Newcomers.

lonewolf

lonewolf

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I want to talk about water storage for those small events and inconveniences of life.
The Human Body is about 50-65% water depending on your weight and gender, we lose a lot of water through sweat, pee and excrement, and on average we need to drink about 2.2 litres(for women) to 3 litres(for men), although for survival purposes we can exist on 2-2.5 litres per day, thats not moving about too much, not exerting ourselves,sitting in the shade, not doing heavy manual labour, that dosent include bathing, cooking, washing up or washing clothes, flushing the toilet, so some people like to allow as much as 5 litres/1 gallon, that's per person per day.
I think for most events of the minor variety mains water wont be lost, mains water will probably exist for some time even after electric power is lost, but it may be advisable to have some bottled water on hand "just in case", say maybe 72 hours worth about 15 litres/3 gallons, this should take up too much space, and should be kept in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight.
 
As nothing has yet been added ref making whatever water you have safe to drink i'll throw my comments in.

All the understanding of how much water you may need to survive or having plastic containers on hand needs to be combined with what you need to do if the water source you have got access ( if utilities are still running ) to is contaminated or suspected to be so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelford_water_pollution_incident

By using common Household bleach you can make suspect water safe to drink ,Add 1/4 teaspoon (or 16 drops; about 1.50 milliliters) of bleach for each gallon of cloudy water (or 4 drops of bleach for each liter or each quart of cloudy water). Let it stand for 30 minutes or longer before you use it. Store the disinfected water in clean, disinfected containers with tight
 
Offgrid hero said:
I only learned the bleach trick very recently it's a good tip ,unsented bleach of course
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Yes. A bottle of common household bleach then means potentially plenty of drinking water. I've tried storing water like LW suggested above but I find it impractical for myself. That being said I have 8 NATO watercans for replen outside.

Applied Knowledge is power - Bleach is one of those little gems!!
 
as i was talking about bottled water- available in all supermarkets for a very cheap sum, I don't think treating it is high on the agenda, that's only for water from non mains sources, which of course should always be taken with a degree of suspicion and always but always filtered and treated before use.
 
lonewolf said:
as i was talking about bottled water- available in all supermarkets for a very cheap sum, I don't think treating it is high on the agenda, that's only for water from non mains sources, which of course should always be taken with a degree of suspicion and always but always filtered and treated before use.
Click to expand...

I disagree - I think talking about treatment is more important than anything else. Its teach a man to fish rather than give a man a fish.
 
water only needs to be treated if its from a suspicious source, bottled water is safe to drink without any such treatment.
 
LW I really can't be bothered to argue , if you disagree - fine. I disagree with you and guess what - that is also fine.
 
i think your trying to muddy the waters so to speak, and your confusing water storage for minor events with something more long term, which wasn't what I was talking about.
if you want to add bleach to bottled water then go ahead, but its a bit "coals to Newcastle".
 
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Everyone I know has Bleach in the house as a domestic chemical.

Not everyone I know has space ( more true of modern houses + flats ) or the inclination to store 3 gallons if water per person in the house - its a question of yes maybe they should but will they. The space for 3 Gallons of water just sat there may well cause differences of opinion in the family unit if not everyone in the home is on board with prepping.

Teaching the relevant information about Bleach is till relevant and give people the power. The Knowledge to use a bottle of bleach with applied knowledge I would say is priceless - and worth the instruction.

Please consider your new tag line in reference to what you are stating.
 
remember not to use normal household bleach, it should be the unscented kind. or at least that is what I was told, I don't believe in drinking water with bleach in myself, I had a workmate who drank bleach and it put me right off.
 
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New plastic garbage bins are good for collecting water & storage. If you know a crisis is coming, fill the bath if you have one. 44 gallon drums with the top cut out & large garbage bags inserted also work well. If you have to leave home & carry water, get your hands on some of those plastic wine flagon bladders. They hold quite a bit & weigh next to nothing empty.
Here is a link to a great article on safe water on our group's forum: http://eighteenthcenturylivinghistory.freeforums.org/safe-water-t396.html
Keith.
 
It is a good idea to be mindful of the water resources you already have. If you are a house dweller and choose not to bug out you will have, on most properties, a water tank of between 40 and 100 gallons in your loft. If TSHTF stop flushing the loo and keep that water, which will have been treated for drinking. If the power goes off the contents of the hot tank will gradually cool (no matter how well insulated) and can be used as general, but not drinking of cooking, water (this is because the inside of a hot tank is a breeding ground for all sorts of nasties you would not wish to ingest - this is why the advice is to keep the temperature in the tank higher than one would normally wish as it kills, or at least stuns them). This method will get you through 3 to 5 days on average and gives you a little time to make implement other solutions.

Dump the contents of your wheelie bin and put the gutter downpipe into it to catch rainwater for general use. You can also put any buckets/containers out on a rainy day and put out a tarp or plastic sheet to make a dew trap (corrugated iron works well for this also).

It is worth reiterating that any water consumed in a crisis situation should be purified either by boiling or one of the methods previously listed within the thread.
 
Sorry if someome has.mentioned this but how long does it take to boil rain water until it.is drinkable?
 
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