For the 11th week: March (15-21)

Week # 11: 30 Gallons of Drinking Water
(If you can’t accomplish this in 1 week, don’t worry, just take your time and do it in baby steps.)

Baby Steps:

1. Choose Container & Location for storage
2. Collect or Purchase containers
3. Fill & Date Containers

Why store water?

• Storage of water is one of the simplest but most neglected areas of emergency preparedness. Many people store dried storage foods such as powdered milk, beans, rice, etc. which required water for eating.
• One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
• Water is more essential than food in sustaining life.

How much water do I store?
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.
If you have pets you need to remember to include about a gallon a day per dog and a pint per day per cat.

Click here to order these water tanks online. Kind of pricey but worth it!

Shelf life of water?
Water must be stored in clean containers and out of sunlight. If stored properly water should have an indefinite shelf life. It is advised that you trade out your water every 6 to 12 months. (Suggested every Oct. Conference or when you change your clocks.) After sitting for a while water will taste flat. You will need to pour it between containers to aerate.

How can I store water?

• Gallon of filtered water
• 1 or 2 liter pop bottles
• juice bottles
• mouthwash bottles
• V-8
• punch
• Gatorade
• pedialite bottles
• Any bottles that come with food liquid in them (except oil) can be used.
• DO NOT USE Milk and oil containers!
• barrels designated for water - Click here for instructions on making this horizontal water barrel storage.
• coke barrels
• food barrels, as long as the food doesn’t have fat in it
• DO NOT use metal containers!
• 5 gallon plastic water containers are available at army surplus, sporting good stores, discount stores and preparedness stores.
• Dish washing soap bottles, liquid laundry soap bottles & dish washing soap, liquid soap bottles too. After you use it all up, don’t rinse it out. Fill with water and label it soapy water. That way you will have it to use for sanitation and not have to use precious drinking water Cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, personal hygiene, etc.

Where can I store water?
Water is bulky, but in smaller containers you can tuck here and there.

• bathroom cupboards
• in the outer darkness corners of kitchen cupboards
• in the backs of closets
• corners of upper closet shelves
• book shelves
• Behind beds and under beds.
• Food Storage Room
• You can tie a piece of twine or rope around the neck of 2 liter containers, mount a 2×4 along storage walls and hook the liter bottles over nails on those boards. These can be run high next to the ceiling to use otherwise wasted space in storage areas.

Warning: Be sure and keep water out of sunlight, heat and off of concrete floors.

How do I treat water?
It is not necessary to treat water from a public water supply if it is already chlorinated.
Clorox - Amounts according to civil defense guidelines. Double if water is cloudy. After adding proper dosage, stir and allow to stand about 30 minutes.
Quart - 2 drops
½ Gallon - 4 drops
1 Gallon - 16 drops
5 Gallons - 1 tsp
Boiling - Most water can be purified for drinking purposes by boiling it for 5 to 10 minutes.
Purification Tablets - Tablets that release iodine may be used safely to purify drinking water.
Essentials of a water treatment kit -
1 bottle Clorox (Clorox will loose it’s “umph” after about 18 months, so this needs to be rotated.)
1 tsp measure
1 medicine dropper
1 funnel
Coffee filters (these would be for filtering water with debris)

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Click on the images below to view all 52 weeks at once or the recipes to go with it, in a .jpg or download the 52 Week Food Purchasing Plan (PDF) or the Custom 52 Week Food Purchasing Plan (Excel file) and calculate exactly how much you’ll need for the size of your family.

For the first week of Jan (4-10)

Week # 1: 30 Gallons of Drinking Water
(If you can’t accomplish this in 1 week, don’t worry, just take your time and do it in baby steps.)

Baby Steps:

1. Choose Container & Location for storage
2. Collect or Purchase containers
3. Fill & Date Containers

Why store water?

• Storage of water is one of the simplest but most neglected areas of emergency preparedness. Many people store dried storage foods such as powdered milk, beans, rice, etc. which required water for eating.
• One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
• Water is more essential than food in sustaining life.

Why store water?

• Storage of water is one of the simplest but most neglected areas of emergency preparedness. Many people store dried storage foods such as powdered milk, beans, rice, etc. which required water for eating.
• One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
• Water is more essential than food in sustaining life.

How much water do I store?
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.
If you have pets you need to remember to include about a gallon a day per dog and a pint per day per cat.

Click here to order these water tanks online. Kind of pricey but worth it!

Shelf life of water?
Water must be stored in clean containers and out of sunlight. If stored properly water should have an indefinite shelf life. It is advised that you trade out your water every 6 to 12 months. (Suggested every Oct. Conference or when you change your clocks.) After sitting for a while water will taste flat. You will need to pour it between containers to aerate.

How can I store water?

• Gallon of filtered water
• 1 or 2 liter pop bottles
• juice bottles
• mouthwash bottles
• V-8
• punch
• Gatorade
• pedialite bottles
• Any bottles that come with food liquid in them (except oil) can be used.
• DO NOT USE Milk and oil containers!
• barrels designated for water
• coke barrels
• food barrels, as long as the food doesn’t have fat in it
• DO NOT use metal containers!
• 5 gallon plastic water containers are available at army surplus, sporting good stores, discount stores and preparedness stores.
• Dish washing soap bottles, liquid laundry soap bottles & dish washing soap, liquid soap bottles too. After you use it all up, don’t rinse it out. Fill with water and label it soapy water. That way you will have it to use for sanitation and not have to use precious drinking water Cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, personal hygiene, etc.

Where can I store water?
Water is bulky, but in smaller containers you can tuck here and there.

• bathroom cupboards
• in the outer darkness corners of kitchen cupboards
• in the backs of closets
• corners of upper closet shelves
• book shelves
• Behind beds and under beds.
• Food Storage Room
• You can tie a piece of twine or rope around the neck of 2 liter containers, mount a 2×4 along storage walls and hook the liter bottles over nails on those boards. These can be run high next to the ceiling to use otherwise wasted space in storage areas.

Warning: Be sure and keep water out of sunlight, heat and off of concrete floors.

How do I treat water?
It is not necessary to treat water from a public water supply if it is already chlorinated.
Clorox - Amounts according to civil defense guidelines. Double if water is cloudy. After adding proper dosage, stir and allow to stand about 30 minutes.
Quart - 2 drops
½ Gallon - 4 drops
1 Gallon - 16 drops
5 Gallons - 1 tsp
Boiling - Most water can be purified for drinking purposes by boiling it for 5 to 10 minutes.
Purification Tablets - Tablets that release iodine may be used safely to purify drinking water.
Essentials of a water treatment kit -
1 bottle Clorox (Clorox will loose it’s “umph” after about 18 months, so this needs to be rotated.)
1 tsp measure
1 medicine dropper
1 funnel
Coffee filters (these would be for filtering water with debris)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Click on the image below to view all 52 weeks at once or download the 52 Week Purchasing Plan in PDF format here.

Coming next week: “Week # 2: 50 lbs of Wheat”

In addition to having a bad odor and taste, contaminated water can contain microorganisms that cause diseases such as dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis. You should purify all water of uncertain purity before using it for drinking, food preparation or hygiene.

There are many ways to purify water. None is perfect. Often the best solution is a combination of methods. Two easy purification methods are outlined below. These measures will kill most microbes but will not remove other contaminants such as heavy metals, salts and most other chemicals. Before purifying, let any suspended particles settle to the bottom, or strain them through layers of paper towel, coffee filter, or clean cloth.

1.Boiling: Boiling is the safest method of purifying water. Bring water to a rolling boil for 3-5 minutes, keeping in mind that some water will evaporate. Let the water cool before drinking.

Boiled water will taste better if you put oxygen back into it by pouring the water back and forth between two clean containers. This will also improve the taste of stored water.

2.Disinfection: You can use household liquid bleach to kill microorganisms. Use only regular household liquid bleach that contains 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite. Do not use scented bleaches, color-safe bleaches, or bleaches with added cleaners.

Add 16 drops of bleach per gallon of water, stir and let stand for 30 minutes. If the water does not have a slight bleach odor, repeat the dosage and let stand another 15 minutes.

The only agent used to purify water should be household liquid bleach. Iodine, water treatment products sold in camping or surplus stores, and other chemicals that do not contain 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite as the only active ingredient, are not recommended and should not be used.

While the two methods described above will kill most microbes in water, distillation will remove microbes that resist these methods, and heavy metals, salts and most other chemicals.

3.Distillation: Distillation involves boiling water and then collecting the vapor that condenses back to water. The condensed vapor will not include salt and other impurities. To distill, use a clean pot with a lid that has a knob-type handle in the center. Fill the pot halfway with water. Turn the pot’s lid upside-down and tie a cup under the handle, so that the cup will hang right-side-up (make sure the cup is not dangling into the water) and boil the water for 20 minutes. The water that drips from the lid into the cup is distilled.

Be sure that the water you are treating is drinking-quality water to begin with. To treat water for storage, use liquid household chlorine bleach that contains 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite. Do not use bleach with soaps or scents added. Add the bleach according to the table below, using a clean, uncontaminated medicine dropper.

Equations: 
4 drops bleach per quart or liter container of water
8 drops bleach per 2-quart, 2-liter, or ½ gallon container of water
16 drops bleach, or 1/4 teaspoon, per gallon or 4-liter container of water

When treating larger quantities of water, use the following table to convert drops to standard measuring units.

Equations:
8 drops = 1/8 teaspoon
16 drops = 1/4 teaspoon
32 drops = ½ teaspoon
64 drops = 1 teaspoon
192 drops = 1 Tablespoon
384 drops = 1/8 cup which is equal to 2 Tablespoons

Stir the water and allow it to stand for 30 minutes. Chlorine should be detectable by odor after the 30 minute waiting period. If the water does not smell like chlorine at that point, repeat the dose and let it stand another 15 minutes. Place caps on containers and attach labels describing the contents and when each was prepared.

Water stored in metal containers should not be treated, prior to storage, with chlorine since the chlorine compound is corrosive to most metals. Therefore, only very pure water should be stored in metal containers.

Water is critical. Have reserves available, not only for drinking, but for cooking and hygiene needs. A survival ration is one gallon per day, per person. Have at the very least, a 2-week supply for each person. Keep several gallons in your car, yes that’s right in your CAR and also consider water purification methods and treatments.

Water stored in plastic or glass containers can be chemically disinfected for long-term storage by treating each gallon with 16 drops of liquid chlorine bleach (Clorox or Puree type bleaches, containing 4% to 6% sodium hypo chlorite). Only regular household bleach should be used, not “fresh scent” bleach. Eleven teaspoons of bleach will disinfects 55-gallons of water. This level of treatment will prevent growth of microorganisms during storage.

11 tsp Bleach = 55 Gal of Water Disinfected

The question has been asked, “Why shouldn’t we store plastic water barrels on concrete?”

The following statement is from preparedness lecturer Kenneth Moravec:

“Concrete attracts fluids and ‘bleeds’. Anything that has been on or in that concrete will find it’s way into your plastic water barrel. This includes the lime in the concrete, any hazardous materials (i.e. gasoline, oils, kerosene or anything a contractor used in construction), algae, etc. Usually it is not enough to make the water toxic but it will taint the water enough to make the taste unbearable. And no amount of pouring it from container to container will take that taste away.”

By the way, this is also the reason we’re cautioned about placing plastic food storage buckets directly on concrete. Using 2 x 4s or plywood under barrels and buckets is an easy solution to the leaching problem.

Before filling a 55-gallon barrel make sure it’s where you want it to be; 55-gallons of water weigh a little over 460 pounds.

55 Gal = 460 lbs

Also, if stored in your garage or on your patio be certain there is something between the barrel and any bare cement surface. Wood is good and a standard pallet will hold water barrels too.

This water filtration kit was something the ward was ordering in bulk the end of 2006. If you weren’t able to get one then, here’s the info below. It’s lightweight, can be packed in a survival kit and can filter approximately 26 gallons of water.

Bota Of Boulder H2On Demand - Water Filtration system. You can order it online at everestgear.com for $9.09, outdoorcooking.com for $8.99 or buckscountyoutfitters.com for $10

Remember, this is just a product suggestion and we don’t know the service or delivery times for the sites mentioned above. Please use your discretion when ordering online. We’ve personally never tried one of these either, if you have please comment and let us know how you liked or didn’t like it.

You’re supposed to store 1 gallon of water per day per person in your 72 hour kit. Here’s what the Church says on Water Storage:

Store drinking water for circumstances in which the water supply may be polluted or disrupted.

If water comes directly from a good, pretreated source, then no additional purification is needed; otherwise, pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof, breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for juices and soft drinks.

Keep water containers away from heat sources and direct sunlight.

We try and buy at least 4 gallons of water each time we go to Wal-Mart. It doesn’t add too much to the overall bill and we get to add to our stash of water and slowly reach our needed amount for the 3 month and then the 1 year mark. Just an idea, try it and tell us how it goes.