How much water should I store for emergencies?

Government sources suggests that we store 1 gallon of water per person per day for emergencies. 1/2 a gallon for drinking, 1/4 a gallon for cooking, and 1/4 a gallon for washing or 30 gallons of water storage per adult per month.

How to store large amounts of water in a food-grade barrel or Drum:

  1. Determine how much water you need  
  2. Select a high quality, large food-grade non-translucent barrel
  3. Thoroughly clean and disinfect the barrel
  4. Add potable water
  5. Disinfectant the large amounts of water if needed
  6. Store large water barrels in a clean and appropriate location

Water Storage and Purification

The average person uses 72 gallons of water per day for all their needs including cooking, drinking and cleaning.

In a crisis a suggested store of water might be 1-55 gal. drum of water per person in the family. It is recommended to store the barrels in a cool dark location on pieces of wood (not directly on concrete or dirt.). The water does not go bad but it tastes bad over time so it is recommended to rotate the water in the barrels once a year. You will need a hose or syphon pump to get the water out of the barrels.

Use only new barrels as used barrels will continue to leak out the product that was first put into those barrels.

But you must also store the ability to purify water once you initial supply is gone.

Water purification methods.

Clorox Bleach

Please do not use unless you have nothing else. At best it will cause diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, and bleeding ulcers. Your great great grandmother might have had to use this product because it was all they had to purify the water but this isn’t true today. The part of Clorox bleach they sought was chlorine. That is the part we want. But there are so many other ingredients in this product that hurt and the damage does not heal.

Boiling

It is a minimum of 10 to 20 minutes. You must have stored a lot of fuel for that. Water tastes very flat after this type of boiling.

Iodine

Bad side effects such as thyroid storm in some women. Has a particular odor and taste. Some people cannot tolerate. Never use more than for 72 hours at one time.

Purifiers

Cost lots of money and are very slow and not good for giardia.

Chlorine

This is the way almost all cities do it. Very cheap and works. Available at any spa and pool store. This is what is recommended to work. 97-99% Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione is what you will most likely find at the spa store.

Recommended dosage is ¼ teaspoon for every 55 gallons. Once the chlorine is added the water should be allowed to sit for 24 hours and then tested to measure free chlorine content. If there is no free chlorine content more chlorine must be added as there will still be some bacteria present. If you do not like the chlorine taste allow the water to stand for 24 hours with a loose lid on and the chlorine will evaporate. Be sure to measure the free chlorine before you allow it to evaporate.

Pool test kits are cheap and simple to use to test chlorine content in purified water.

Top 8 Best Pool Test Kits 2021 Reviews

A small sample of the water is measured out into the test container and 1 – 5 drops of orthotolodine is added to the test container causing the water to change to darker or lighter yellow depending on the chlorine content in the purified water. The water is purified if it turns a light light yellow in the test container when combined with the ortho tolodine drops.

If the water does not change color bacteria can still be present and more chlorine should be added to kill all bacteria. If the test results are a dark yellow the water should be allowed to stand to let the excess chlorine evaporate off before drinking.

What to look for in a large water storage barrel or drum

  • Make sure it is food-grade plastic that is BPA-Free
  • Has a top that can be closed tightly
  • Is made of durable, unbreakable plastic
  • 55-gallon water storage barrels are great for storing large amounts of water
  • Comes with a pump and hose
    • Getting a hand siphon pump, and a hose is important to avoid contaminating your water supply when accessing your water storage.
  •  Lid opener (sometimes referred to as a bung wrench or drum bung wrench)

Resource List

Here are two sources for great water filters

https://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

https://www.happypreppers.com/berkey.html