Pt.4 Just enough clean water for drinking could be a gallon or more per day per adult and a little less for children. Then, there’re your pets. And when it’s gone? How long can you live without water? If you are not moving around much and are enjoying moderate weather you have perhaps a few days before the stress and dehydration begins to weaken you. It is vitally important to keep yourself, your family and all pets hydrated.
For drinking, cooking and the always necessary personal hygiene I would advise pre- storing at least enough clean, potable water to last for a week to ten days. Plan on a minimum of two to three gallons per person per day and let your conscience (and good sense) be your guide when it comes to your pets. Do not let them suffer. Keep them healthy and they could very well save your lives.
Do the right thing. So, four people and a dog? 5 drinkers X 3 gals. X 10days=150 gallons. Plus a fudge factor. And down the road a little we will discuss a ‘Bug Out bag or system’ which will contain an additional store of water. More water is always better. Wait a minute. We don’t have room for all that water. Where will we put it. What will we put it in? The following is for people that didn’t prepare soon enough and suddenly realize they need to store water. The hurricane is on it’s way, the stores are boarded up and you are stuck behind. What to do? There is the bathtub to start. They hold a lot if you have enough forewarning to fill them before the water stops. If you have ample time, sterilize all water containers before filling them including the tub. Pots, pans, buckets, rinsed vinegar and soda jugs, everything helps. Got trash cans? Line them with clear plastic, heavy duty can-liners and fill ‘em up. If you know how, treat the stored water. Army surplus and sporting goods stores have water purification tablets. Buy some now. Remember, your list? Last, cover the containers. An average outside trash can should hold 25 gallons or more. Done? A few trash cans full, your pots, bins and buckets plus the tub and you are set. Or are you?
Draining and drinking the funky water from the water heater or from the tub and other odd containers should hopefully be a last resort. After a day or two and assuming relief supplies are beginning to show up, that water can be used for keeping yourself clean and if things look like they will normalize soon, flushing the toilet. Plan ahead. Most people keep bottled water around the house. My wife and I keep a dozen or more cases of half-liter sized bottles of fresh water stored here and there as a matter of course. We get them at Costco for less than $4.00 per case. At 32 bottles or 16 liters (A little over 4 gallons) Each case will give one person enough drinking water for 4 days. A dozen cases work out to close to 50 gallons and in ideal conditions enough to water 5 drinkers for 10 days. Medium sized bottles of water are easy to drink from, reusable and start out sterile. Plus they give a feeling of normalcy. Little things like that matter a lot. Stock up now. Bottled water is cheap and easy to store. Add this to your list.
*Important note from the author: Please know that this survival series is meant only as a very basic look at beginning survival tactics. It is meant to prime your pump. As always, for more inclusive information about these subjects Google them up or go to your local library. Ask people who are well versed in each area. Check out Popular Mechanics on line as well as the websites of other popular technical and survival oriented magazines. Spend some time at the Center for Disease control’s website and others of the federal government. All bits of advice I give are designed to be nothing but my personal observations and common sense opinions for solving and/or preparing for problems which may or may not arise in the course of a local or national emergency. My hope is that you will become interested and use these suggestions as springboards into more intense study and if worst comes to worst and terrible times arrive you and yours will be somewhat better prepared to deal with any ensuing chaos.
To digress for a moment, let me say this. We 21st century Americans are spoiled for the most part. Not due to any particular fault of our own but because of the years of liberal-socialist, big government policies forced upon us by both political parties. We, for the most part are no longer allowed nor feel compelled to “fork our own broncs“, to fight our own battles, to promote and protect our own welfare. We saw the result of this in the days of ‘Katrina’. Too many of it’s victims had no idea at all of how to take part in their own survival, and worse, they had no desire.
Besides the many thousands of hardworking New Orleans citizens who owned and rented homes in the flooded wards, thousands more had been warehoused in public buildings and supported by welfare dollars for so long that they were for all intents and purposes, ruined by the experience. In the following days after the hurricane crime and looting was rampant and people died. While the law abiding worked to save themselves and others the law of the jungle prevailed for thousands more. And we saw it all in living color in the comfort of our own dining rooms over chicken and mashed potatoes. More Later.