How Much Water to Store

NOTE: This is good information. The link is no longer working to the original blog entry, (it's one of the reasons why I wish we didn't have to worry so much about copyrighting laws ... when a link goes dead, really great info can be lost, if it's not shared/copy/pasted    )but I'm still sharing because I'm sure it'll be useful to folks!

Water, Water Anywhere?
http://bucketideasforpreparedness.blogspot.com/2008/10/water-water-anywhere.html

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According to the Red Cross and Civil defense, you need a minimum of 14 gallons per person for a 2 week period. That is enough for 1 gallon per person per day, which is bare minimum survival,

3 gallons needed for enough water for personal hygiene, doing dishes
4 gallons to have enough for more personal care, to wash clothing and minimal cleaning.

This breaks down as follows: (In parenthesis are per person needs)

Drinking- Seven gallons for drinking would give each person 8 cups per day for 2 weeks (½ gallon)

Food Preparation for a family of 6 will take about 1 1/2 gallon per day. (1 quart)

Washing Dishes - 1 ½ gallon per day (1 quart)

Personal Hygiene - Hygiene water is not optional! If you don't wash your hands you can spread diseases quickly. Tooth brushing water must be purified. Tooth brushing will take 1 cup per teeth brushing, not with running water. (brush 2 times minimum) Pour the water in the cup and swish from there. Hand washing would take absolute minimum of 2 cups. This would need to be purified too, your hands touch what goes into your mouth. Wash your hands 3 meals and 4 times going potty= 7 times minimum. (½ gallon)

Sanitation needs- you can flush your toilet with out running water, if you don't have broken pipes. We will talk about sanitation in detail later on, but several people would have to use the bathroom before you used a 2 gallons to flush it. That would have to be a personal choice. For our purposes we will say 3 flushes per day = 6 gallons. (1 gallon) (You would need to use water from left over from dishes and washing hands.)

Bathing - Can be done via spit bath..each person uses 2 quarts water to get cleaned up with, starting with the top of the body and going to the feet... You would have to save up to wash hair. (Note this water does not have to be purified like drinking water.) (½ gallon)

A bathing side note: There are also solar showers that work well in the summer time. They come in several sizes. It takes several hours and you need a sunny day. You probably need more than one per family or there could be only one shower per day “they take anywhere from 2-5 gallons depending on the size. Also if you use minimum water“ less than 2 inches you could take a bath. If water is really short, then more than one person can bathe in the same water, just adding a bit more hot water, and saving a bit of fresh for rinsing hair.

TOTAL for minimums listed above= 3 gallons per day. ( A little less with recycling)
If we were truly in a crisis situation , we would probably know after about a week that the water wasn't coming back on, with this amount of water, we would hopefully have enough time to find more resources before it ran out.

This chart shows how much water you would need for a two weeks supply for 1-2-3-4-5-6 people. (Babies would need more.)

1 gallon for each person per day

1 person - 1 gallon = 14 gallons2 people - 2 gallons = 28 gallons3 people - 3 gallons = 42 gallons4 people -4 gallons = 56 gallons5 people - 5 gallons = 70 gallons6 people - 6 gallons = 84 gallons

2 gallons each per day

1 person - 2 gallons = 28 gallons2 people - 4 gallons = 56 gallons3 people - 6 gallons = 84 gallons4 people - 8 gallons = 112 gallons5 people - 10 gallons = 140 gallons6 people - 12 gallons = 168 gallons

LDS Preparedness Manual
https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/LDS-Preparedness-Manual.pdf

Pages 110

Water Storage-Quantity

A water ration of as little as a pint per day has allowed life raft survivors to live for weeks, but a more realistic figure is 1 gallon per person per day for survival. 4 gallons per person/day will allow personal hygiene, washing of dishes, counter tops, etc. 5 to 12 gallons per day would be needed for a conventional toilet, or 1/2 to two gallons for a pour flush latrine. For short-term emergencies, it will probably be more practical to store paper plates and utensils, and minimize food preparation, than to attempt to store more water.

From Homeland Security

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/safewater/

Amount of Emergency Water to Store
Whereas a quart of water or other fluid daily will sustain life, according to the Department of Defense and the Office of Civil Defense, it is recommended that a gallon of water per day per person be stored for food preparation and drinking. A gallon provides added comfort and accommodates increased fluid needs at higher altitudes or warm climates. An additional one-half to 1 gallon per day is recommended for bathing and hygiene, and to wash dishes.

How much water should I store? The rule of thumb is to store at least one gallon per person per day for at least 3 days (for earthquake preparedness). That’s 2 quarts for drinking and 2 quarts for food preparation and sanitation. A family of four should store a minimum of 12 gallons of water. Personally, I recommend at least a 10 day supply of water and a 30 day supply if it all possible.

Use the following guidelines when storing water:

1. Store drinking water in carefully cleaned, non-corrosive, tightly covered containers.

2. Store containers in a cool dark place. DO NOT store in direct sunlight. Polyethylene plastics (prepackaged milk and water bottles) are somewhat permeable to hydrocarbon vapors. Keep away from stored gasoline, kerosene, pesticides, or similar substances.

3. Stored tap water should be rotated every 6 months. Prepackaged bottled water should be rotated once a year. Check the pull date on the container. Be sure it didn’t sit on the store’s shelf for a year before you purchased it. Self Serve Bottled Water should be rotated once a year, as long as the water treatment process includes ozonation.

4. Rotate your stored water with the water you use on a regular basis. This practice helps insure you don’t have water stored longer than one year.

I've stored enough for just over 3 weeks without outside water even though I have multiple ways to filter water and a reliable source less than half a mile down the road. In some events, it just won't be safe to go outside for two weeks and I really wanted to have a cushion so it's not a do or die situation....

Although if I have an hour or two warning, I can fill up more containers and a WaterBOB to give me more time...the 3 weeks supply is what I keep on hand at all times since most emergencies won't be polite and send you a warning beforehand.

Something to think about.. What if you need extra water for wound care or child birth ? If you don't have a rain catchment system now might be a good time to think about it. We don't have ours in place yet , but we are planning for one. I just hope the crazies that are running the world hold off for a little while longer..

How much is your daily indoor water use?
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-percapita.html

How much water do you use when you take a shower? Wash a load of clothes? Flush a toilet? Even brush your teeth? One important measure of water use is how much water one person uses in one day, or per-capita water use (per is Latin for by and capita is Latin for head). The number is usually expressed as gallons of water used per person per day.

Fill in this form to get a rough estimate of how much water you use inside your home on a typical day.   ---CONTINUED---

If you need a print out, this one is pretty good.

Water Storage Infographic
https://preparednessmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/water-storage-infographic.png  

How Much Water Should I Store?
https://www.thereadystore.com/water-storage/46/how-much-water-should-i-store/

(SNIP) ... t’s important to know how much water you should store. The Red Cross recommends a minimum of one gallon per person per day in an emergency situation. In colder or warmer temperatures the need for water is even greater. The need for water also increases with exertion.

We recommend that you have at least 3 different way to access your water: ---CONTINUED---

I found an old post from FluWikie (a prepper forum that is no longer with us. Some of you 'old-timers' may remember it):



Forum: Is One Gallon a Day Enough
http://magictour.free.fr/fw/FW0128.HTM

Good discussion on just how much water is needed, not just for drinking & cooking, but all your other water needs: laundry, flushing toilets and other sanitary needs, etc. Just how much is enough?? You'll be surprised. And there are ways to help with this big need. ---CONTINUED---