Our bodies require water to operate properly. After major natural or man-made disasters, water can be scarce or not safe to drink. I hope the following information is helpful to you in deciding to store water, to learn to purify water and to otherwise learn what you can do to prepare for a situation that requires you to have knowledge about safe drinking water.
Below you will find links to other websites that provide some great information about water and water storage. I have personally looked at these sites and information, and recommend them. I have no monetary incentive to refer you to these sites. My desire is to share information that would be helpful to you in preparing your water storage.
But first I want to share part of a report about the drinking water situations after Hurricane Katrina slammed into our nation, I do this to illustrate the need to store water and otherwise learn how to purify water. The amount of time for water safety quality to be reached and maintained varies with the situation, sometimes a boil order may only last hours, other times water will be unavailable for weeks, either way it is wise to have some water storage and knowledge on obtaining and purifying water.
“Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, EPA reported that about 30% of the affected drinking water and 40% of the affected wastewater facilities were again operating. However, many of the inoperable drinking water and wastewater plants serve large numbers of customers. In Biloxi, for example, officials were unable to re-pressurize the drinking water system because of broken and inaccessible water mains and valves. One-third of the sewage treatment facilities in Harrison County, Mississippi (serving Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, and Pass Christian) were destroyed or very severely damaged. Similarly, drinking water and sewage service for more than a million customers in New Orleans (discussed below) was severely disrupted.
EPA reported that by October 10 — and following a second hurricane, Hurricane Rita, that hit Texas and parts of Louisiana on September 24 — more than 85% of drinking water and 95% of wastewater treatment facilities in the region were operational.1 However, as of that date, 131 drinking water systems (67 in Louisiana and 64 in Mississippi) were operating on a boil water notice pending test results to ensure that the water has been restored to standards safe for public consumption, and 175 others (142 in Louisiana and 33 in Mississippi) serving about 200,000 consumers were either inoperable or their status was unknown. All drinking water facilities in Alabama were reported to be operational. In Texas, 45% of drinking water facilities were operational two weeks after Hurricane Rita, and the remainder were operating on a boil water notice, were not operating, or were still being investigated.”
Please note: I have not found any copyrights restricting me from sharing this information, I have listed the source of the information that I found when using google to search for drinking water after Katrina. As for the links below, I know of no restriction or copyrights about sharing links.
The list of links below is not a comprehensive list of everything available online or otherwise, it is simply a small list of links I put together that I thought would be helpful in sharing water storage & purification information.
Water storage posts and tutorials:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7534-1-4065-1,00.html (basic information about water storage)
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf (has a great diagram to show distillation by boiling water)
http://waterquality.cce.cornell.edu/emergency.htm#disinfect (directs you to a page that has links to some of the publications listed below)
http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/water-storage (Utah State University publication)
http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_FoodPreservation_2006-01pr.pdf (Utah State University publication)
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/emergency/water.html (Colorado State University)
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/sites/default/files/documents/water_storage_for_emergencies.pdf (Oregon State University)
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/emergwatersuppl.html (North Carolina State University)
http://waterquality.cce.cornell.edu/emergency.htm (Cornell, same link as above but directs you to the top of the page rather than just about disinfecting water)
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/ui338.pdf (a Penn State publication)
http://imstillplantingfortomorrow.blogspot.com/2011/07/water-storage.html (my own blog post on water storage, containers and purification)
On cleaning and reusing pop bottles: http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-tostore-water-in-plastic-bottles.html
(a great tutorial on how to prepare plastic bottles to store water)
On containers:
http://imstillplantingfortomorrow.blogspot.com/2011/07/water-storage-containers.html (my own blog post with a table of different types of containers)
http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2008/08/water-storage-methods.html (a post on methods (containers) to store water, just a note any outdoor water storage (swimming pool) may be affected during a disaster and should NOT be considered safe until further purification has been done)
http://www.connorboyack.com/drop/water.pdf (prices are a little out-dated, but the information is still very useful)
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-2-water/ (a blog page that gives key points to remember when storing water, as well as links to things pertaining to storage and purification)
On purification:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/pdfs/fs_emergency-disinfection-drinkingwater-2006.pdf (an EPA publication on making water safe to drink)
http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2008/08/water-purification.html (a post on methods of purification)
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-2-water/ (same link as above, but put under this heading as well since contains links to purification)
http://www.connorboyack.com/drop/water.pdf (same as above, contains information about purification)
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/01/15/beyond-the-babysteps-water-purification/ (post on purifying water)
Water sources in an emergency:
http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2008/09/emergency-water.html (post on water sources around the home)
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/04/beyond-the-babysteps-water-alternate-sources/ (post on alternate water sources beyond stored water)
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/06/25/water-evaporation-still/ (how to make a ground evaporation still--just a note these aren’t the most effective for obtaining large amounts of water, but better than nothing, so it is still a good idea to learn about them in case the need arises)
Water saving tips:
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2010/10/04/water-saving-tips/ (ideas on how to save water in emergencies, as well as otherwise)
As you plan your home storage, be sure to include water! In the past I did a post on ideas on how to obtain items for home storage, here is the link: http://imstillplantingfortomorrow.blogspot.com/2011/08/thrifty-thursday_18.html.
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