Preparedness tips for sourcing and storing water
None of us can live long without water
Water is one of the most critical commodities to have on hand in a prolonged emergency or societal breakdown situation.
Sources of water
While I know that there are many ways to source water for drinking, washing, flushing toilets, and food prep, here are a few sources I chose for my family.
1. Municipal water: This is our normal daily source of water, we have a whole home filtration system as well as a reverse osmosis system under our kitchen sink. This means that as long as we have water pressure in the house, we can produce and store clean drinking water. I always keep extra replacement cartridges for the RO filter, and extra pre-post filters for the whole home system so that we can change them and keep making clean water for an extended period of time.
2. Rain barrels: We have gutters on our house that route rain water from the roof into a system of rain barrels so we can collect and store a few hundred gallons. This can be used as-is to water plants and flush toilets, but needs to be filtered prior to use for drinking, cleaning, or food prep.
3. You could choose to add another source like drilling shallow well on your property to provide an additional source of water. This water would also need to be filtered before being used for most applications. These wells may only be able to produce a few gallons at a time, and may need minutes to hours to refill and be ready to produce additional water. This may also be illegal in your area.
4. For filtering the rain barrel and shallow well water, I have chosen to use a gravity filter similar to a Berkey filter. The one I got from 4Patriots has a better filter cartridge than the Berkey, so I have the filter, and I bought a couple extra cartridges. To help the cartridges last longer, I also purchased a bag-style gravity filter to handle the first-pass to get rid of silt, sand, and any large particulate contaminants so that they don't jam up the more expensive 4Patriots filter.
By having multiple sources of water you help ensure that you have control of your water supply. You won't be reliant of waiting in long lines for government hand-outs of bottled water so that your family can survive.