Basic Prep 2: Water

Water makes up about 70% of the human body. It is essential to our health and survival. The body can go without food and water for an average of only about 3 days, but studies have shown the longest a person has gone without water alone is up to 10days! This depends heavily on several factors such as your health, intake of food and nutrients, and your level of activity. Obviously, the more active you are the more water and hydration you will need. In times of distress, anxiety, worry, and panic you will need more hydration. When dangerous and/or catastrophic events take place that directly affect you, your body will kick into survival mode. You will need a source of water. You will need to monitor your level of hydration. To aid you in monitoring your hydration level, below is a urine hydration chart:

Short term events may seem rather survivable, as most can go without water for a short period of time as stated above. However, there is no guarantee such events will not be prolonged, and things can escalate very quickly! Therefore, you need to plan accordingly.

When events occur, there will most likely be widespread panic and maybe even chaos. You do not want to have to go out to the store or be forced to stand in line for water rations. To prepare yourself and your family, I recommend that you consider the following key points. Keeping in mind that you should have at least 1 gallon per person, per day:

1. Short term water supply (3-7 days) – This will include your average bottled water, canteen, or hydration pack for the bugout bag and vehicle. You need to be able to access this quickly. I wouldn’t recommend sugar drinks and to just stick to water. Keep in mind the ratio above. A family of 3 for example would require at least 21 gallons of water for a 7day supply.

2. Water filtration (3 days +) – Once you’ve exhausted your 3-7-day water supply, you’ll need to have a way to access clean potable water. The problem is that you may not be able to reach a fresh and clean water supply for various reasons. The power may be out and you’re on a well, or maybe there is civil unrest and you cannot reach a water supply safely. No matter the reason, the answer to this is to always keep handheld water filtration units available. Water sticks are a great tool to have. They are small, cheap, have a high rate of filtration, and usually support filtering up to 100,000 gallons! I have a few options listed on our “Prepper Items” page. I would recommend having one for each vehicle, one for each person’s bugout bag or for the home. There are very elaborate and expensive water filtration systems on the market for your home. Until you reach a high level of preparedness, I do not recommend exhausting your bank account on this type of system; however, you know your budget and should do what makes you comfortable. I do not recommend an expensive home system because there is no guarantee you’ll be in your home, or be able to stay in your home, should a catastrophic event occur. How will you get repair parts and filters for such a system? Most likely there will not be any supply stores open.

3. Long term water storage – As mentioned above, water bottles and gallon jugs that you purchase at the grocery store are not intended for long term water storage. They are meant to break down and decompose for recycling purposes. If you keep them much past a year they will begin to leak. There are several approaches you should take to ensure you have a good amount of water stored up. Using the rules mentioned previously, you need to have 1 gal for every person in your household. I recommend you store at least two weeks’ worth of water as a base. I have a BPA free 5-gallon jug that I use and have listed it on our “Prepper Items” page for you to purchase if you’d like. Another great option is to purchase large chemical containers and connect them to a water collection system. I will discuss water collection systems in another post as there is a lot to cover. A good rule is to always keep at least 20 gallons of water stored in a dark and climate-controlled location. Using the container and having them on a good rotation program is one way to keep them fresh.

4. Water purification – There are several ways to purify water should you not have a clean supply or a way to filter a dirty water supply. You should also know that what you store up will need to be purified as well, if you don’t use them via the rotation method mentioned above.

   • The first and most obvious way is to boil the water. Outside for the need of a container to boil the water and the need for a heat supply, this is self-explanatory.

   • Water purification tablets can be used to treat water collection or water that has been stored. I have some options posted on our “Prepper Items” page for you to purchase.

   • Bleach is a great and easy way to purify water. Below is a recommendation for purifying water with bleach, should you not have the bleach container, or if it doesn’t specify

5. Rapid deploy rain collection for emergencies – Should you find yourself without water or a water source, you can collect rainwater rather easily. Using your tarp, heat blanket, or a small piece of plastic (utilizing supplies that you learned about in my Basic Prep 1 post) you can fashion a makeshift hopper or funnel to collect water. Use a small bottle or pool the water in the material of choice and directly drink from that.

As I’ve said before, gaining knowledge and training is far more important than having all the cool and expensive “gadgets”. Think outside of the box. The methods above work great, unless you’re dealing with something related to Nuclear fallout or biochemical attack. Those topics will be discussed in anther post. Water is the second Basic Prep for a reason, know your body and its limits!