Priority - WATER

Water is an item you have to put a priority on when planning for emergencies due to water being one of the first issues you have to deal with. Maybe you were in a car wreck and are now stuck on the side of the road, maybe you found shelter from a tornado or maybe the city has put out a warning about not using the tap water because it has become contaminated? You will be surprised how thirsty you get after the adrenaline goes away from the car wreck and hopefully you do not have any thirsty little ones with you while you wait for a tow!! Surviving a tornado only to find your home and neighborhood destroyed would be bad enough! Having family and friends needing water would with now way of getting any would make a bad situation far worst!

Depending on how hydrated you are when the emergency starts, amount of moving around you are doing and a host of other factors determine how soon water will move up the priority scale. For just about any situation a day to three days is about how long you can go before water becomes the top priority in your life. Literally, your body will stop working without water. We need to have the ability to find, clean and store water to put off any issues until the situation goes back to “normal”.

You have to remember one drop of unclean water can give you a host of water borne illnesses. The simplest one to think of is diarrhea, something anyone who has traveled to Mexico has worried about. Other bugs you can pick up from water are real bugs, little creepy crawlers living in your gut and tearing you up!! Think of this, you have survived the immediate danger of an emergency only to become a casualty to the event from drinking bad water. Now think about your whole family getting sick because you do not know how to clean water!!!! You can put all the water you want into one end but if it coming out the other just as fast you are doing yourself no good!

Easiest answer to the need for water during most emergencies is bottled water. Wait, did you find that bottle floating in the flood water? Did you clean off the bottle before you put it to your lips? Did you forget because you were glad to find “safe water” and now you put flood water into your system without realizing it? Remember untreated water for anywhere, even the outside of container, can make you sick! Safely stored bottled water can help greatly during an emergency. Even a few bottles of warm water in the car can help if you are stranded and need to make a bottle or give a youngster a drink.

A good idea is to invest in a portable filtration system. LIFE STRAW is a good brand and the simplest to use. You have to remember this filter does not kill viruses and you have to be careful what source of water you choose to use.

There are a lot of hiking filters on the market and having one around the house is a good idea. There are even filter systems built to the needs of families. Do a little research and plan to spend a little bit of money on a system. You will be glad you did if you ever need it!!!

If you need to take water from a questionable source do everything you can to filter the water properly! Start at the collection point. Do not take stagnate, bug growing and debris filled water if you do not have to! Do not collect water from a source animal or humans have been standing in. If you can find a free flowing source or tap into a source, say a water heater, which has a better chance of being clean to start with. Either way using a coffee filters or even a bandanna to cover the container you are filling will stop large pieces of stuff from getting into the water.

If we are boiling the water do not just boil the water for ten minutes. Bring the water to a rolling boiling for several minutes. Have one spot for treated water and one area for untreated and never mix the two!!! When you’re done boiling the water take two containers and transfer the water back and forth. You can even take an empty water bottle, fill it half way with water and shake the water back and forth. This puts air back into the water and makes it taste better.

Speaking of taste, having something to add to the water is a really good idea. Adding something as simple as Kool Aid to the water will get kids to drink more and you can even find other things to add flavor and vitamins to the water. Lemon aid and sports drink mixes are a few other items you can have on hand to add.

Having clean water on hand can be a big task when you’re in an emergency situation. You will want water first for drinking but remember you will also need water for hygiene and cooking. Even the water you use to clean off a cooking space needs to be clean water and having enough water on hand can be a big project. With some prior planning you can have items on hand to speed up this process and assist you with meeting your family’s needs. Anything we can do to make the situation easier adds to our ability to take care of other issues and brings down the stress level.

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!