Survival Basics: Water Storage, Sourcing, and PurificationGeorge Ure and Gaye Levy, Contributors A more reasonable recommendation is that you up the recommended amount of stored water to a two-week supply. So for two people that would be 2 people x 1 gallon x 14 days = 28 gallons. This amount should cover your minimal needs for drinking, food preparation and nominal and I mean nominal hygiene. Water Storage 1. Clean them up. Thoroughly clean your plastic bottle and jugs with dishwashing soap and water then rinse completely so there is no residual soap. 2. Sanitize with bleach. Sanitize your bottles by adding a solution of 1 teaspoon of unscented liquid household chlorine bleach to a quart of water. Swish the sanitizing solution in the containers so that it touches all interior surfaces. Dont forget to sanitize the lids and caps as well. After sanitizing the containers and caps, thoroughly rinse out the bleach solution with clean water. 3. Fill em up. Fill them to the top with regular tap water. Add two drops of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to the water, then tightly close the containers using the original caps. It is probably a good idea to use some latex or nitrile glovesat this point so that you maintain the sanitation and do not contaminate the caps by touching the inside of them with your fingers. 4. Date the outside with a permanent marker such as a Sharpie. 5. Store in a cool, dark place. 6. Important: rotate in six months. Dump the water, re-sanitize the jugs, and start all over. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to put up a few jugs at the first of each month. Do this for six months and you will build up a nice, rotating stock. Plastic soda bottles or juice jugs work well for this purpose. Water stored this way is good for six months to a year as long as it is kept in a cool, dark place. Regardless of where it is kept, the containers should be rotated at the end of the designated period. Note: Milk jugs should not be used since the milk and protein sugars are difficult to remove and will compromise the stored water because this will provide an environment for bacteria growth. In addition, milk jugs are flimsy and will not hold up, even for a short period of time. Ditto cardboard. The cardboard will eventually leak and make a big mess. Glass is okay but be aware that glass is heavy and subject to breakage. If you have the space and the budget, you can purchase food-grade plastic drums designed for water storage. These typically hold 55 gallons of water and with the addition of proper purification chemicals, will keep the water safe for up to five years. I personally have a 55 gallon water storage system. It was easy to set up and it came outfitted as a complete kit with all of the various tools and siphons I will need if/when that emergency situation occurs. Another alternative, of course, is bottled water. The same rule applies: store in a cool, dark area and periodically rotate. Here are some specific instructions for using the water in your hot water tank: Outdoor Sources of Water When using outdoor sources of water, you are going to have to undertake purification measures to make it safe. There are many ways to purify water, some better than others and some easier than others. Water Purification According to the Clorox website: When boiling off water for 1 minute is not possible in an emergency situation, you can disinfect your drinking water with Clorox Regular-Bleach as follows: Boiling water is considered the safest method of purifying water. What you do is bring water to a rolling boil for three to five minutes. The water may not taste that great, but it will be safe to drink. Factoid: To improve the taste of boiled or stored water, you can put some oxygen back into the water by pouring it back and forth between two containers. As an alternative to bleach or boiling water, the EPA has guidelines for using calcium hypochlorite, common sold as pool shock to disinfect water: Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (approximately ounce) for each two gallons of water, or 5 milliliters (approximately 7 grams) per 7.5 liters of water. The mixture will produce a stock chlorine solution of approximately 500 milligrams per liter, since the calcium hypochlorite has available chlorine equal to 70 percent of its weight. To disinfect water, add the chlorine solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated. This is roughly equal to adding 1 pint (16 ounces) of stock chlorine to each 12.5 gallons of water or (approximately liter to 50 liters of water) to be disinfected. To remove any objectionable chlorine odor, aerate the disinfected water by pouring it back and forth from one clean container to another. A good reference for this and other purification methods can be found in the downloadable and printable articleEmergency Disinfection of Drinking Water. What About Water Filters This is not to say that I dont have bottled water because I do. After all, if I have to leave my home it would be tough to drag along a 55-gallon water barrel or a Berkey. But for day-to-day drinking, as well as for long-term survival needs, you simply can not beat a quality filtration system. Summing It All Up Here in my area, there is a fellow who sells such barrels and will even add a hose bib at the bottom for a nominal cost. I am not 100% sure I would drink from such a barrel, but the water inside should be great for bathing, laundry and housekeeping chores. Another reader has suggested the use of colloidal silver to get rid of bacteria in water. I have not researched this personally, however. Whatever your water storage method of choice, I highly recommend that you store at least two weeks of water for every member of your household. Just remember, you can only survive an average of three to five days without the intake of water. Why take a chance? You can support this information by voting on Reddit HERE linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 