Welcome back to the 72 hour emergency kit series! This week we’re getting water in our kits. Water for emergency kits is another topic I cover in detail in the first chapter of my book, Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival, so if you want more than we’re covering here plus options for water storage that doesn’t need to be portable, get the book!
Having clean water in an emergency is a BIG deal. You don’t want to survive the emergency just to get super sick or die from drinking contaminated water, do you? Me neither. Having water in your emergency kit is even more important than having food. So why did I make food week one in this series? Because we’re going in “no particular order”. ;)
If you want your emergency kit water to be portable, you have two options. Carry water, or find and purify water.
Options for Carrying Emergency Water
It is recommended that each person needs 1 gallon of water per day for an emergency. This is for washing and drinking. If you’re going to add dehydrated meals to your kit, you’ll need more water for cooking. So, ideally, you’ll have three gallons of water per person or more in your emergency kit. You may not end up carrying that much water, but here are some options for emergency water that can be carried with you.
1. Large containers. If you have more than one person to supply water for, you might opt for a 5 gallon jug of some kind. These will be heavy, but are pretty easy to grab and go with as long as you have some type of transportation.
Slightly smaller and far easier to carry, are WaterBricks. I really like the design of these. They carry close to the body and can stack easily and each holds 3.5 gallons which would be perfect for a three day supply.
You could also carry water in gallon jugs or 2 liter bottles. I’ll have a tutorial later this week for making a 2 liter bottle carrier that will allow you to easily carry two in one hand.
2. Commercial water bottles. Available at any grocery store, I like these for the simple fact that you can open and close them when you want. If I don’t want to drink the whole bottle, I don’t need to. I can sip it out over the day. Especially good for kids. These might develop an off taste over time. They aren’t “bad”, they just taste funny, so I rotate these out fairly often.
3. Emergency water. These are packaged in specially lined containers similar to juice boxes or pouches. They average a 5 year shelf life and don’t develop the off flavor nearly as quickly. However, once they’re open you need to consume it all or pour it in another container since you can’t reseal them.
Options for Finding and Purifying water
You may have figured out by now that three gallons of water per person is going to weigh a lot and be pretty bulky. Don’t despair! You can get additional water by finding and purifying it. Be sure to locate and map out water sources along your evacuation routes so you’ll know where you can find water. You will also want a container to carry the water in so you don’t have to return to the water source too often. A stainless water bottle is great since it can also be used for boiling. But there are other methods of purifying water on the go.
1. Boiling. You will need a way to heat the water–either fire or a stove–and a container to boil it in. Stainless water bottles are great, or you can opt for a small pot or metal cup.
2. Water purification tablets. Super small and lightweight, these add almost nothing to your kit, but have the great benefit of providing safe drinking water. Follow the directions on these! Most times you’ll need to wait a specified amount of time after treatment before drinking the water.
3. Straw filters. Lightweight, compact, and relatively inexpensive. These filters are easy to use by anyone about age 5 and up. Since you’re sucking the water to get it through the filter, you won’t be using this water for cooking or sharing.
4. Bottle filters. Put dirty water in and suck clean water out. These filters are kind of like the straw filters with the added benefit of having a container for the water attached. Some can be squeezed to push water through the filter so those could work to provide water for cooking or pouring into other containers for more than one person to drink.
5. Pump style filters. Definitely more expensive than the straw or bottle filters, but these give you the option to pump water into various containers for multiple people to drink or to cook with. If you’re evacuating as a group, it might be worth the investment to have one person carry the water filter rather than providing each member of the group with an individual filter.
Want more visuals? You knew a video was coming, right? Here’s a mini class on water for your emergency kit:
What water options do you like for your emergency kits?
Keep preparing! Angela
***************************************************************
Subscribe to my email newsletter for updates and special deals.
Please be sure to follow Food Storage and Survival on Facebook which is updated every time there is a new article. You can also find me on Pinterest, and purchase my book, Food Storage for Self Sufficiency and Survival on Amazon.
***************************************************************
Shop the Thrive Monthly Specials or my favorites, the freeze dried vegetables and yogurt bites!
***************************************************************
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Angela
I have all these ways for all of our different types of situations. For the house, rain barrels, a large filter system, water bricks, and many other containers of water large and small. For our Git Home Bag, we carry one 16 oz bottle of water, 6 purification tabs, a metal water bottle that we can boil water in, and a life straw. For our car kits, 4 bottles of water (one per person per normal car load) 12 purification tabs, a Sawyer mini water filter and two water bags that can attach to the mini and two metal water bottles. For the main bug out bags one of us has a Katadyn hand pump and the other a larger Sawyer complete system with water bags, Life straws, purification tabs, pool shock, small bottles of bleach with eye droppers, coffee filters, and various water bottles or canteens. I do not though believe in or have boxed or packets of water.