This week was a doosey for Las Cruces, El Paso and Alamogordo (and I'm sure many other areas, but these are the cities from whom I've heard stories!) We Southwesterners who are not used to getting a Winter Wonderland were quite taken back when only 2 days after having 60+ degree high, we had negative temperatures for our lows. We had record snowfall and temperatures for a couple days. Unfortunately, many people were out of water for a couple days.
I was really grateful for the water storage I had, but decided that I would be even more diligent about keeping water in the house. You don't realize how many times you use water in day until you go to wash your hands, flush the toilet, brush your teeth... not even mentioning drinking, cooking, doing dishes, laundry and oh yeah... SHOWERS!!! People were going to Walmart just to buy water to be able to drink something. My mother and father-in-law went out to eat at restaurants and stayed at a hotel because they were tired of not having water in the house. This isn't necessarily possible for everyone, but water storage is so I'd like to let everyone in on the products that I personally use to give others an idea of how possible water storage really is.
Everyone can store water:
You don't have to buy products to store water in your home. Most people have Juice, Gatorade or Soda bottles in their home. These can be used to store water inside the house if you can just devote a little space in your house that isn't typically exposed to sunlight. Don't throw out those laundry detergent bottles because even though they are no good for storing drinking water, if you just fill them up with water after using up the soap (DON'T RINSE OUT) you have a perfectly good container with soapy water for laundry, dishes, or whatever purpose the cleaner serves. If you don't typically drink liquids previously mentioned and would like to invest a little money in containers, I must tell you that it is well worth it. We, ourselves, actually have a few 5 gallon water holders in the house, a 55 gallon drum in the yard and this month we will being buying the best purifier ever!
Start small and grow with whatever room you have in your budget and you'll be glad you did next time there's an emergency.
Did you know?
Most people know that the human body cannot survive without water for more than 3 days, but they don't realize how much we should each be storing. The minimum amount recommended by experts is 14 gallons per person. This is supposed to help you scrape by for 2 weeks if you only used the bare necessities for eating and cooking. Please keep in mind that this doesn't allow you to shower, wash dishes or flush your toilets so if you can get the minimum, GREAT, if you can get more, all the better for you and yours. Also, storing the water in these plastic containers is not quite a done deal. You need to make sure that you add a little bleach to fight off any bacterial growth which would later make it unsafe to drink. Many people also like to store drink mixes in case they had to live off of this water so it would cover up the taste. It is recommended that you only use name brand CLOROX bleach original scent as the others have not yet been tested safely over time. You only need to add a couple drops of bleach to 1 gallon if it is previously treated. If not, then double it. If you are going to add bleach to a 5 gallon container, it will take about 1/2 t of bleach and for a 55 gallon drum it will be about 2 T of bleach. If you have pets, don't forget to store something for them as well. Also, the best way to make sure water is safe before consumption is to boil it for at least 10 minutes.
Katadyn Pocket Microfilter #52508 Good for purifying up to 13,000 gallons!
55 Gallon Water Storage Container #52519 BPA free and good for storing outside. If this is your first purchase of a large container you might want to get the whole kit that treats the water and sipons the water and this is #52521.
Water Treatment #52534
Iodine Tablets #52536 Full strength tablet for radiation blocking and FDA safe.
5 Gallon Water Container #52522 Also BPA free and great for storing indoors.
Faucet Cap #52529 Easy water distribution from the 5 gallon containers.
water brick #52543 Water storage containers that can be connected for easy transportation stacked as high as you need!
And now, a few conversions for you:
1 person.......14 gallons
2 people.......28 gallons
3 people.......42 gallons
4 people.......56 gallons
5 people.......70 gallons
6 people.......84 gallons
2- 64 ounce juice containers = 1 gallon
1- 55 gallon drum roughly = minimum for a family of 4
Note: In freezing temps you will need to empty the drums outside to only 2/3 full to prevent the container from busting when it turns into ice!
If interested in these or any other products, just go to www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com . Thanks!
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