7/31/14
Prepping.
Water, it's all around us. Water, without it, life does not exist. humans can only survive 3 days without water and plants, animals thrive because of water. Could this natural resource hold the key to not only earths survival, but earths demise? (I want you to say that in a Morgan Freeman Inside The Wormhole voice).
I personally don't drink a lot of bottled water. I'm more of a seltzer, beer and scotch kind of guy. Occasionally I drink soda, milkshakes and other beverages but I doubt that I could live healthily on a diet that does not include at least half a gallon of water a day. As a prepared person who has done many hours of research on numerous different scenarios, one factor remains the same no matter what the SHTF incident is: Water.
There is a reason that governmental agencies such as FEMA and organizations such as the American Red Cross all include Bottled Water in lists of items that you will need for when disasters happen and if you pay attention, you will have noticed that whenever the news spreads the warnings of an approaching hurricane, the masses flock to supermarkets and raid the shelves of bottled water.
So how much water do you need?
1 gallon of water per person per day. This is the standard "formula." What it means is that if you want to have enough water for 10 days, you need to buy 10 gallons of water for every person in your family. My family has 2 adults, 1 child and 2 small pets. Obviously cats consumer much less water than my 1 year old daughter does and obviously my daughter doesn't consume as much water as I, a 195lb man does.
How much water should you stockpile?
An easy thing to do is to buy a case of 24 bottles of water and see how quickly you and your family finish the case (drink all the water). If your household finishes 24 bottles in one day, then you have a basic idea of how much water you should have. People tend to drink more fluids in the summer than they do in the winter and I recommend storing at least 15 cases of 24 bottles of water to have enough water for 3 people + 2 pets for up to 11 days.
I did the math and one case of 25 bottles of water is roughly 2.5 gallons. For my household, that means that 1 case could potentially be enough for 3 people each day.
Where should you store your water?
I recommend storing the water in your basement and keep the water out of direct sunlight. Just pick a corner or something and stack the cases of water. IF you buy the one gallon jugs or the bigger 5 or 7 gallon jugs, a shelf might be worth buying. Most basements stay very cool, but not cold. Because I live in New England, my main concern is a blackout during a blizzard. Obviously it would not be good if the water turned to ice. It is a good idea to purchase a analog thermometer and some sort of humidity gauge so that you can monitor the conditions of your basement. I like to keep my basement dry and between 50 and 70 degrees because moisture causes mold, rust and other bad things.
Transporting water.
Water is heavy. If you are transporting water with a vehicle, you should know exactly how much weight your vehicle is designed to carry. If transporting by car, you should know how much weight you can put in the trunk, on the roof, on the hood, and also what your towing capacity is. I doubt that you will just "bug out" with water which is why you need to know those things and also have an organization plan for loading up your vehicle. Too much weight could lead to tire problems and possibly even engine and transmission strain. If you are like me, you require good MPG in your Bug Out Vehicle to maximize your "escape range."
My 2014 Kia Sorento can tow a max of 1,800lbs, carry 100lbs on the roof, aprox 60lbs on the hood and another 250lbs inside the vehicle. That does not include the weight of passengers.
If transporting by boat, you need to know how much weight your boat can carry and more importantly, you need to evenly distribute the weight inside the boat.
Variety isn't a bad thing. If you plan on bugging in, I recommend having at least two 55 gallon drums and one rain collection barrel as well as your bottled water.
Purchase a water filtration pump or straw so that you can drink water from streams if you are bugging out in the woods. Purchase a big stainless steel pot that you can boil water in. Boiling water is a fool proof way to make unsafe water safe to drink. If you are storing water in barrels, I recommend buying water purification chemicals and stabilizers.
Remember, without water, there is no life.
*I will include photos of some water related gear that you should buy later.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment