# 02 - Short-Term Water Storage (The Most Important Thing To Stock Before A Natural Disaster).
Many people overlook the most important thing that they should be stocking up on before a natural disaster occurs. They often think of the common things like food, batteries, gas, toilet paper, medications, etc., but quite often they overlook the most important thing. . . Water.
Without an adequate supply of clean drinking water you can not survive more than a couple days. A person can last up to a week or longer without food, but only a mere 48-hours without water. To put it plainly, if you do not have water to drink, you will die.
Now that we understand the importance of a clean uncontaminated drinking water supply, just how much water do we need to stock up?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends a minimum of 1 gallon per person per day and a minimum of 3 days worth. Remember, these are the absolute minimums that are recommended.
Depending on climate, temperature, activity, age, health, medical conditions, etc., the recommended minimum amount of water per person can increase drastically. Also, these recommendations do not account for the additional water needed for hygiene, washing dishes, watering pets, gardening, etc.
What if the normal water supply is not restored in 3 days? Do you just go without water until it is finally restored. Think about Hurricane Harvey down in Texas, they have now been dealing with the effects and aftermath of that situation for over a week and it will not be over anytime soon. The flooding caused by Harvey has contaminated many normal drinking water supplies rendering them still unusable a week later.
Unlike food storage, water is extremely cheap to store for emergencies. We recommend having at least 5 gallons of water per person per day, plus at least 1 gallon of water per day per animal. We also recommend having a full 14 days worth of water on hand just in case the normal water supply can not be restored quickly. You would rather have too much water stored and not need it, than not enough and run out.
I often hear people say that it is difficult to store enough clean drinking water and that water storage containers are too expensive. This is simply not the case though. For a little over $20 you can have between 60 to 100 gallons of fresh, clean, uncontaminated drinking water ready to be used for drinking, cooking, hygiene, etc. And it only takes about 20 to 40 minutes to get the water ready for storage.
In most disaster scenarios, you and your family would be "Bugging In" or sheltering in place in your home instead of leaving to another location. Most people overlook one vital piece of equipment that they can use to store between 60 to 100 gallons of fresh drinking water, their bathtub.
The waterBOB is a heavy duty plastic water storage container that you place in your bathtub and fill up. The bathtub itself supports the bag. The bag has a tube that you place over the faucet and secure with an included zip tie to prevent contamination. It even has a built in syphon pump with a hose attached to it for dispensing into a pitcher, buckets, jugs, cooking pots, etc.
It is able to keep the water fresh and clean for up to 12 weeks which is more than enough time for the normal water supply to be returned.
The bathroom of your home is one of the only areas in the home where the floor is specifically designed to support the weight of the up to 800 pounds that 100 gallons of water would exert of the floor. The floor under your bathtub is designed to hold the added weight of the tub being completely filled with water along with a persons added weight.
You also do not have to worry about accidental damage that can be caused by improperly storing water in your home if the water storage were to leak. If the bag springs a leak, it would simply go down the drain instead of damaging your floor.
The waterBOB is designed for one time use, and until it is needed it stores compactly and easily into its 12.5" x 6" x 3" box. Once needed you simply unfold it, lay it in the bottom of your bathtub and connect the fill tube to the faucet of the tub. Then as the water flows into the waterBOB, it fills to the shape and size of your bathtub. Just make sure that you do not overfill the bag, only fill it to the top of the tub or just under the top edge. Then secure the fill tube and the water is ready to be used when you need it. After use, simply dispose of the waterBOB. It is considered disposable and is not designed to be cleaned and reused safely.
I have used the waterBOB several times over the years for hurricanes and other natural and man-made disasters when I lived in North Carolina, Florida, and now here in Hawaii. I now always have at least 2 or 3 on hand ready to go in the event of an emergency and will never be without them again.
The first waterBOB I purchased was right before Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina in September of 1999, which caused power outages and widespread flooding and disrupted the city water supply for 6 days. Without the waterBOB in my bathtub, my family would not have had enough water to survive.
Coming Episodes:
Next we will discuss Food Storage Basics.
We will also have episodes on "Long-Term Water Storage" and "Water Filtration & Sanitization" coming soon.
NOTICE: Links in this posting are not sponsored. I have not been paid to endorse this product and receive no compensation at all from endorsing it. The waterBOB systems I have were purchased by me at Amazon through the link above.
