Water Storage

Planning for Water Storage Prior to an Emergency

When planning for an emergency, one of the most crucial items to think about in terms of storage is fresh water. The "how-to's" of water storage is actually a very common question and an even bigger problem for people who have failed to plan.

It is recommended that for emergency planning, you allow for fourteen gallons of water per person for a two week emergency situation. This is then further broken down into 2 qts. for drinking and 2 qts. for cleaning and bathing purposes per day within the fortnight. This is a very nominal amount and is only used as a guide for emergencies. You need to consider that a person would normally use in excess of 140 gallons of water per day for drinking, bathing, laundry, dishes, watering lawns, etc. So, if you have the room to store more, and you have the time and money to stockpile more then it is probably wise to do so.

The easiest way to store the water for an emergency situation is in a 55 gallon, polyethylene (commonly known as plastic) water drum. Water drums can be obtained from many of the larger food storage companies or from local container companies that specialize in these kinds of containers.

When buying one or more water drums for the storage of water you need to make sure that you ask for, order and purchase food grade, good quality containers. Sometimes you can get food grade containers second hand from companies that distribute beverages or syrups. They can work just as well if you clean them sufficiently, but you do need to be careful when cleaning as you want to make sure you remove all residual smells and contaminants from the container before you fill it with water.

Most water containers come in 5 gallon, 15 gallon or 55 gallon sizes. Opting for the larger size is always recommended and each family of between 4 and 6 people should store a minimum of four of these 55 gallon water drums in case of emergency. While these water drums might well be heavy for transporting they do carry an enormous amount of water and will be far better in an emergency because you won't need to make so many trips from one point to another. If you do think though the 55 gallon drums are just to much then at a minimum use the 15 gallon size as they will still give you plenty of water storage and save time with transportation.