Rotating Your Water Storage.
Storing water is essential to any real preparedness plan. You can survive for weeks without food, but only days without water. I have water and ways to sterilize / purify water stored in each of our cars and in our 72 hour kits. I also have a large amount of water stored on our patio in 55 gallon drums and 5 gallon containers as well as some 64 oz bottles and cases of 16.9 oz bottles. (you can read more about emergency water storage if you'd like).
It is recommended to rotate this water every 6 months or so. Some of this happens naturally. For example, each time we finish a bottle of juice, I fill it with new water and empty a bottle that was filled 6 months ago. Rotating through our water bottles is easy as well; we just drink them!
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| Photo Credit: jumpinjimmyjava |
But I kept thinking about HOW MUCH water we were using and how much it was going to cost my parents. Then I thought, what if we used the stored water instead? Fill up a kid's pool, buckets, water guns etc with all your stored water and have a water fight! What a fun family tradition that would create every 6 months!
A few other ideas:
- Water plants, grass and gardens with your stored water the week you need to rotate it. This way, all that stored water won't go to waste.
- Regularly use stored water for things like watering, water fights, boiling / cooking. As you empty one drum, fill it up and start emptying the next.
- Wash your cars as a family with your stored water (who knows, maybe that will turn into a fun fight too!)
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Labels: watertips
posted by Anonymous @ 8/09/2011
2 Comments
2 Comments:
It was my understanding that as long as you used water treatment with your 55gal, it didn't have to be changed but every 5 years.
Great question! Right now, there is only one commercially marketed water treatment allowed in California: Water Preserver, a liquid chlorine derivative that will keep water drinkable for 5 years. Bleach will work for 6-12 months. But even with these treatments, your water must be stored away from light and heat. That is not a reality for most people. I tend to be on the conservative side. I have to store my 55 gallon drums outside (light and heat) and many people in my area have had problems with mold in their drums. So, I rotate mine every six months and keep a filter so I can still use it if it is contaminated for any reason.
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