TAG: Article How to store and preserve water
Home  |  Product Search  |  Site Map  |  Checkout  |  Track Your Order
   
We would very much appreciate if you could complete our site survey.

"Panic Bargains" Online Shopping Mall

The Panic Store Blog

Visit our Blog

Search by Keyword

The Panic Store Newsletters

newsletter

How to Store and /or Preserve Water for Disaster Preparedness

By Ken Minard - www.ThePanicStore.com

My wife and I opened our first retail water store in 1990 that purified water and sold it back to customers at 39 cents per gallon. We purified city water by using a 10 step reverse osmosis system and stored the product water in two 300 gallon tanks. We dispensed the water using a 16 foot dispensing sink with eight spigots. This is where customers would bring in their bottles and fill them up saving them lots of money compared to home delivered bottled water. We were able to take the tap water that was over 500 parts per million (PPM) of total dissolved solids (TDS) down to 1 PPM of TDS. To be considered pure water by the Food and Drug administration, the product water needs to be below 10 PPM.

In 1989 California had the largest Earthquake in the San Francisco bay since the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Our customers wanted to know how long water should be stored safely. This is how we got into the Disaster Preparedness business. Drinking water is essential to maintaining good health, cooking, personal hygiene, sanitation and first aid. Since water is essential to survival, a family should store at least 1 gallon per day per person. Containers should be new (unused) blow molded, ridged, all plastic containers made of virgin polyethylene resin with air tight seal. One of the easiest and way to disinfect emergency drinking water is to use a few drops of Regular Clorox Bleach (Not Fresh Scent or Lemon Fresh).  Most of our customers had 5 gallon water bottles that they use on their crock or cooler.

Here are a few steps that we learned that can help you disinfect and store water.

  • Fill bottle with uncontaminated water.
  • With an eye dropper add 16 drops per gallon without touching the plastic bottle.
  • For a 5 gallon bottle use 1 teaspoon
  • Stir and let stand for 30 minutes. If the water does not have a slight bleach odor, repeat the dosage and let stand another 15 minutes.
  • Seal your screw top or snap cap with plastic wrap tied off with a rubber band.
  • Date your bottle using a magic marker. (this will be good for 6 months)
  • In 6 months you can repeat the treatment (change water and treatment every year)
  • There are some drawbacks to the chlorination method. If the household bleach is over six months old, it may not have enough potency to disinfect. Clorox Bleach breaks down to little more than salt and water.

 

We recommend for families to have a 30 gallon or 55 gallon food grade water drum with a siphon pump. On ThePanicStore.com website you can find a Water Preserver Concentrate that you can use to store drinking water for 5 years from the date of water preparation. These are a few methods of storing water.

Some other methods of purification are boiling water for several minutes, Germicidal Tablets and high quality micron water filters.  

Having water available is as easy as having an Earthquake kit, Disaster kit or Survival kit. All of these kits have either 5 year pouches or boxed water in them. They are easy to store in a closet near an exit or in a car trunk. This is a reminder that after the initial Panic of the disaster is over and the days wear on, you may be on your own for at least three days due to the first responders taking care of the most critical situations. It can take several days for the full set up of out of area help like American Red Cross and FEMA.

Do not take water for granted. It may not be there when you need it. Store some water now!

_____________________________________________________