I had someone ask me about water storage and the recommendations, so I thought I'd share a little there. Besides this is my weakest area of emergency prep. I fill it and forget it! then it burst over the winter, making a mess of my shed.
Water is extremely important and as much as I recommend having water stored its also important to have a filter stored as well. Remember that not all water use is for drinking but you need to store water for washing, flushing, and cleaning as well. What you're planning on using it for will/can determine what you store it in.
This weekend I attended a class on water storage. Here is a great rating system for storage containers:
soda bottles - good
glass - best (not really earthquake proof though
water bottles (polycarbonate) - best (heat and freezing will still cause leaching)
bleach bottles - OK but NOT FOR DRINKING (some say otherwise but I know I'd have a hard time drinking from a bleach bottle and so will any kids who can read)
Mylar bag - see link - best http://www.eps-direct.com/emergency_drinking_water.html
foil packaged single serve water - I've tried this and its great! Even stays cold! A retailer in Vancouver told me she had a worker who ran over a case in a fork lift and they only had six break open. Awesome deal. and pretty light compared to water bottles.
Rule of thumb for containers: the harder the plastic the better for storage
If you look on the bottom of the containers at the recycling symbols these can also help you figure out what you can store in them. If it has the triangle with a 1 in it, its for SINGLE use only. If it has a 7 in a triangle that's a much better water container.
I recommend storing 1-2 containers of water for "other uses" to every bottle of drinking water. Be sure to label drinking water.
Lastly remember water needs to be stored in a dark, cool place. Avoid high and low temperatures. I wish I could find the graph, but google isn't cooperating with my search. But on this graph as the temperature goes up or down from room temp, the shelf life decreases. At the extremes your shelf life could be cut down to a few months. This has me thinking its time to move my water storage, from my shed to the house (I just need to find a place for it).
As far as rotation goes, temperature is key. Generally every 6 months is the rule of thumb for when you should rotate, or relabel from drinking water to general purpose water. Once again, I have so major rotating I need to do!
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/personal.html
Good information on storing water, the containers to use, and where to find emergency water sources
Water is extremely important and as much as I recommend having water stored its also important to have a filter stored as well. Remember that not all water use is for drinking but you need to store water for washing, flushing, and cleaning as well. What you're planning on using it for will/can determine what you store it in.
This weekend I attended a class on water storage. Here is a great rating system for storage containers:
soda bottles - good
glass - best (not really earthquake proof though
water bottles (polycarbonate) - best (heat and freezing will still cause leaching)
bleach bottles - OK but NOT FOR DRINKING (some say otherwise but I know I'd have a hard time drinking from a bleach bottle and so will any kids who can read)
Mylar bag - see link - best http://www.eps-direct.com/emergency_drinking_water.html
foil packaged single serve water - I've tried this and its great! Even stays cold! A retailer in Vancouver told me she had a worker who ran over a case in a fork lift and they only had six break open. Awesome deal. and pretty light compared to water bottles.
Rule of thumb for containers: the harder the plastic the better for storage
If you look on the bottom of the containers at the recycling symbols these can also help you figure out what you can store in them. If it has the triangle with a 1 in it, its for SINGLE use only. If it has a 7 in a triangle that's a much better water container.
I recommend storing 1-2 containers of water for "other uses" to every bottle of drinking water. Be sure to label drinking water.
Lastly remember water needs to be stored in a dark, cool place. Avoid high and low temperatures. I wish I could find the graph, but google isn't cooperating with my search. But on this graph as the temperature goes up or down from room temp, the shelf life decreases. At the extremes your shelf life could be cut down to a few months. This has me thinking its time to move my water storage, from my shed to the house (I just need to find a place for it).
As far as rotation goes, temperature is key. Generally every 6 months is the rule of thumb for when you should rotate, or relabel from drinking water to general purpose water. Once again, I have so major rotating I need to do!
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/personal.html
Good information on storing water, the containers to use, and where to find emergency water sources
It’s great that you have an awareness of how important water is in emergency situations. For me, your main concern is to avoid contamination. Water tanks, for example, can be kept free from contamination by draining the tank immediately after a disaster.
ReplyDelete