How Much Water?

So go ahead and check for yourself…  Google how much water to store or visit your favorite prepping website and look it up for yourself.  Undoubtedly you will find the same answer everywhere you look, two quarts per person per day for drinking plus two quarts per person per day for cooking and washing.  At the time of writing this post the temperature is 30°with a humidex of 36°.  My 2 quarts of drinking water is long gone.  Given extreme weater conditions, or your regional climate, the suggested amount of drinking water just won’t cut it.  In summertime, you sweat more and therefor need more water.  On theother hand in winter, our food preferences will turn more to soups and stews than sanwiches and salads.  Either way, think of how much water you are likely to consume.  4 quarts may be a more realistic target for drinking purposes rather than a daily total for everything.  That means that a 55 gallon barrel of water would last a familly of four a mere 12 days and not the expected 24. so for a familly of four, a 30 day supply of drinking water would equate to 480 quarts or just over 2 55 gallon drums.  Sound like a lot to store up in a closet?  Well it is.not to mention a rotation schedule to keep it fresh and the weight of that volume of water.  Don’t be fooled by what the “experts” are recomending.  Many of these recomendations are only minimums required to sustain life.  On a day like today, going about your daily business, a minimum is not going to be enough.  You could quickly find yourself dehydrated and in a life threatening situation.  Think then of the extra activities performed during a crisis situation.  Instead of driving or taking a bus, you may have to commute on foot or by bicycle.  Without the modern conveniences that we now enjoy, your calorie intake goes up and with it, your need for hydration.  Be smart and find a way to collect water as you go along as well as storing a supply.  Here in Canada, we enjoy a liberal amount of free water for much of the year as snow.  Even the west coast gets an abundance of rainfall during the cooler months.  A rain barrel should be a big priority for you as well as a way to purify the water you collect.  The amount of bacteria in rain water collected from your roof may surprise you.  Have a means of boiling the water AND some regular chlorine bleach put aside for purification.  2 drops per quart is enough to kill what might make you sick and will not too adversly affect the taste.  A good idea would be to have some drink mix such as iced tea crystals on hand to help mask any odor or flavor you might notice.  Don’t get me wrong…store as much water as you can, especially in a container size you can easily bug out with.  Rotate it regularly to keep it fresh and keep it handy in case you have to get out of Dodge, but plan to gather water to keep a supply going when things get rough.