More on Water…How Much Do You Really Need?
Just Getting Started with Food Storage or Restarting?
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Yesterday we added water to our general store. Today it is time for you to determine just how much you should be storing for your family. Following are a few guidelines to consider:
Drinking- normally 8 glasses of water per day or or about 1/2 gallon person.
Flushing: Each flush can use as much as 2 gallons of water. Most people flush 5 times per day.
Laundry: If you have make a bucket washer you will need 3 – 4 Gallons of water for washing and the same for rinsing each “load”.
Cleaning and hand washing: 1/2 Gallon per person per day or plenty of hand sanitizer. Some of both is the best.
Cooking: If you are using canned fruits and vegetables you can use the juices and water they are packed in for cooking purposes and you will need less water. If you are using dehydrated or freeze dried foods you will need three times as much water for reconstituting. Again, you should calculate about 1/2 gallon per person per day under normal circumstances.
Pets: They are family members too and will need water for drinking and bathing. Observe how much they consume each day and add a little extra as you may have to resort to feeding them foods they are not as familiar with and will need more water to digest.
Bathing: You can handle this like our great grand[arents and share bath water or you can plan on bathing using just a wash cloth and a basin of water or a camp shower. Whatever the plan you will need water. Only you can determine just how much.
We have often been told 2 gallons per person per day but you know how I hate generalities. Only you can really determine your family’s needs. Take a little time now with a paper and pencil and do a little calculating for yourself. Remember it is always better to be over prepared for an emergency than to be under prepared.
For information regarding storing water please read the post post Water Storage and More
For information regarding finding water during a crisis and water when living in an urban environment see: February 2010 and May 2010 Totally Ready Newsletters
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Thanks for the guidelines! I have always thought of the guidelines for storing as kind of a basic minimum. Also potable vs. non-potable. Non-potable water can be boiled or sterilized in bottles in the sun to expand your water storage. That water can be used for bathing and washing. (Or drinking and cooking, for that matter, but it might taste funny. I don’t know. I haven’t tried it.)
Have you heard about collecting rain water from your roof? I heard that for some reason that was illegal.
Thanks!
One thing to remember when doing laundry… you don’t need to change the wash water for each load. I grew up with my mom using an old wringer washer and there’s no way that she would have changed the wash water for every load. That would have simply been too much water to carry to the machine in buckets.
Start by washing your “cleanest” dirty clothes (usually whites) and work your way through to the dirtiest.
Same goes with the rinse water. Make sure to use a minimal amount of laundry soap and you can use the rinse water for more than one load.
For bathing, small children could be “bathed” in a five gallon bucket. Again, cleanest child to dirtiest. Put some warm water in the bottom, lift the child in, get them wet, the soapy, then rinse and lift them out. We used to do this all the time when we were camping. And unless the kids were really dirty, that bath water was then used by the adults for their sponge bathes.
Until recently it was illegal to collect rain water from your roof because all runoff was considered a property of the state. The law was recently changed.
Have you considered that cars could also be used for pasteurizing water. Put a thermometer in your car on a sunny day and see how high the temperature gets. I’m sure you will see that in some cases you could even bake cookies on the dashboard. Why not consider processing your water in the car also.
Oops. The state that changed the law was Utah. I don’t know about all the other states. It is not illegal in all states. I checked with the state I currently live in and it is legal to collect rain water.
Thanks for the guidelines! I have always thought of the guidelines for storing as kind of a basic minimum. Also potable vs. non-potable. Non-potable water can be boiled or sterilized in bottles in the sun to expand your water storage. That water can be used for bathing and washing. (Or drinking and cooking, for that matter, but it might taste funny. I don’t know. I haven’t tried it.)