Drinking Water and Emergency Preparedness

During an emergency or natural disaster, the water supply to your home may be stopped or become undrinkable due to contamination. As a result, you may need to be able to provide your own drinking water until your regular water supply is restored and deemed safe for consumption.

Alternative Drinking Water Sources

There are actually many potential sources of water in emergency situations. In addition to any bottled water that you have on hand, drinking water can be obtained from ice cubes or canned goods. Even rain water or the water in your hot water tank or the toilet's water storage tank (not the bowl), can be used in an emergency situation if purified through boiling. Water from waterbeds or swimming pools should not be used, as the water may contain impurities that could be harmful if consumed.

If you have city water, some water suppliers will recommend that you shut off the water supply coming into your home if the water supply has been contaminated (the shutoff valve is usually near the water meter). The valve can be turned on when water is needed for non-potable water requirements, such as flushing toilets.

http://www.nsf.org/consumer/natural_disasters/disaster_water_safety.asp

Water Challenge

Emergency Essential's Water Challenge:
One Gallon of Water for a Day

Make this activity a fun, learning experience for your family and they will come away knowing more about what to expect in an emergency when water becomes scarce. Similar to other emergency drills such as earthquake, fire, and tornado, this drill is intended to familiarize your family with a difficult situation. They may also become more confident and prepared to deal with other challenges that could arise. Use wisdom and caution when trying out this challenge. Keep members of your family well hydrated and it will be a good experience for everyone.

This activity is also a great way to introduce the principle of preparedness to your children. Let them help prepare the storage water, teach them about the importance of clean water and its scarcity during emergencies and show them what storage options are available (opaque containers to inhibit algae growth, smaller containers for easy carrying, or large containers with siphon pumps, etc).

It is far less stressful to challenge your family to survive on your emergency supplies voluntarily than to have to turn to those supplies during an emergency. You may have practiced fire drills with your family, planned escape routes and a meeting point somewhere in the neighborhood, or practiced climbing down fire escape ladders from a bedroom. You may have experienced earthquake or tornado drills, and other role-plays to prepare for whatever disaster might occur specific to your area. If you feel your family has those drills down to perfection, or you are concerned about being prepared for all situations that may arise, Emergency Essentials suggests this challenge. It's a simple water challenge but you may be surprised at how revealing it can be.

The Challenge

Consider living at least 24 hours with only one gallon of water per family member per day. For example: a family of four would need to live off of 4 gallons of water for a 24 hour period.

You may be thinking this would be easy. Anyone can go without cooking or extensive cleaning for 24 hours. You can expect that your children will have no problem drinking less than a gallon of water per day. However, consider average water usage in non-emergency situations: brushing teeth, 1 gallon; washing hands, 1 quart; taking a bath, 35-40 gallons, taking a shower, 5 gallons per minute; laundry, 19-45 gallons, washing dishes, 10-15 gallons. When you begin to consider sanitation, cooking, and washing clothes you'll notice that one gallon of water is an absolute minimum.

After completing this challenge you may want to take some time to evaluate what occurred and re-evaluate your family�s preparedness plans. Were the proper tools available to cope with limited water use? Would one gallon of water per person per day be sufficient for your family? Most recommendations are for 2-5 gallons of water per person per day in an emergency. Discuss the results with your family and adjust your plans accordingly.

Idea courtesy of www.beprepared.com.