Emergency Water Storage

It’s possible that your local water supply won’t be available or safe to drink following an emergency. If so, you should have your own supply of water or a backup emergency supply until your water service is restored. In the Pacific Northwest, where a significant earthquake is a possible hazard, you should have enough water in your emergency supply to last your entire household—including your pets—for fourteen days. This is due to the possibility that nearby water systems and other infrastructure might sustain significant damage in the case of a strong earthquake, and the fact that it will take time for emergency supplies to get to the larger Portland metro region.

Wherever possible, store what you can. There are choices for you!

First option: Get water in bottles.

Option 2: Fill your own sterile receptacles. (In an emergency, if your house has a water heater, you might have access to 30-80 gallons of water)

Kinds of Receptacles For Keeping Your Backup Water Supply

You may use your own container or buy store-bought bottles to store your emergency water supplies. It is advisable to store commercially bottled water in its original container and avoid opening it until you are actually going to consume it.

If you decide to keep water in a container of your own, be sure it is cleaned well before adding tap water to it, has a tight seal, and is constructed of food-grade plastic or steel that is intended to retain water. Most camping or outdoor businesses carry a range of food-grade containers. You may also store water in two-litre soda bottles.

Avoid These Types of Containers:

Glass: very heavy, brittle
Previously used milk or fruit juice containers: it is impossible to completely eliminate milk protein and fruit sugars from these containers, which creates an environment that is conducive to bacterial development.

How to clean the container you store things in?

The container and lid may be cleaned with dish soap and water.
Thoroughly rinse it with fresh water.
One quart of water and one teaspoon of unscented liquid home chlorine bleach should be combined.
Transfer the bleach water mixture to the designated container.
Shake the container for 30 seconds after covering it to ensure that all of the inside surfaces are covered with bleach water.
Empty the jar of bleach water.
Allow your sanitised container to air dry.
It’s time to fill your container.

Filling your storage container with water

From the supplier of your water*

Pour water into your sterilized container until it is full.
Using the original cap, firmly shut the container. Avoid touching the interior of the cap with your fingers as this might potentially contaminate it.
To help you remember when you filled it, label and date your container.
Keep it somewhere cold and dark. Cities and other entities that offer their clients purified water are considered water suppliers.

From wells or other untreated sources

Add as much water as possible to your now-sterilized container.
If you mix in some unscented liquid household chlorine bleach, your water will be safe to drink. Add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops) or around 0.75 milliliters of bleach to one gallon (16 cups) of water.
Close the container tightly using the original cap. Avoid touching the interior of the cap with your fingers as this might potentially contaminate it.
Mark and date your container so you can easily recall when you filled it. Store it in a cool, dark place.

Where to store your emergency water supply?

Ideally, you should keep your backup water supply in a continuously dark, cold place. The amount of space you have available in your house as well as the size and quantity of your storage containers will determine the storage locations.

Store some of your water supply across your living area, if at all possible. You will still have access to emergency water even if a calamity destroys a portion of your house. For interior storage options, view the image below.

For instance, if your apartment is small, you may decide to keep your backup water supply beneath a bed or in the back of a closet. Use your water storage creatively! Utilize those little, inconvenient spots that you can’t really utilize for anything else, and store what you can where you can. Small areas are ideal for slender containers like jerry cans or bottled water.

Alternatively, if you have more room in your house, you might decide to keep larger containers in your garage or basement and conceal smaller ones around the house. In any event, you should make sure that a portion of your emergency water supply is readily available and portable in case you need to quickly evacuate your house.

When should you upgrade your water supply backup?

You should change your emergency water supply on a regular basis. The common consensus is to replace the water in your own containers every six months and to adhere to the best before dates on store-bought water.

But unlike food, water that is kept properly never goes bad. Therefore, you don’t need to worry if you need to use your emergency water supply and you’ve kept it for longer than the bottle’s best-before date or more than six months! Although it might not taste as good as the best water you’ve ever had, you can still safely consume it. If you leave it for a little while, you might be able to somewhat enhance the flavor by transferring it to other clean containers to let it come into contact with air. Additionally, as a precaution, you might wish to disinfect any water that you’ve kept in personal containers before consuming it.

Considerations while storing emergency water in bigger containers

Stuff them into the bigger storage bins. You should keep in mind that a gallon of water weighs around eight pounds, so keep that in mind when you fill your container. A five-gallon container loaded with 40 pounds might be easy for you to handle, but for storage purposes, you’ll need to fill larger containers like a 55-gallon barrel, which weighs 440 pounds.
To fill and seal bigger containers, use this equipment. Larger containers must be filled in the location where they will be stored, so you’ll probably need to run a hose from an outside faucet or your basement faucet to fill it. Make sure you fill up your container with a drinking water hose and not your garden hose. since they are designed with this function in mind and don’t include any potentially dangerous substances that might contaminate your water.
Make sure the 55-gallon barrel you use is a “tight head” barrel (i.e., it has two small, sealed apertures on its permanent cover instead of a lid that lifts off fully). Your emergency water supply may be readily inserted and taken from the barrel through the tiny apertures, which are easily sealed with caps that can be tightened and released using a bung wrench.
When you need water or need to replace it, know how to get to it.