YNAB You Need A Budget

[Cletc]

Hey all, #1 on your list of things to store in case of an emergency is water. How long would your stored water last in the event of an emergency where you didn't have access to the normal water supply?

How many gallons per person are you considering "lasting"?
Assuming twice a day showers?
once a day.
Foregoing a bit?
Eating the canned food or cooking the dry beans/rice?

How many gallons per person counts as lasting 1 day?

[DonGately]

Our stored water would only last about two days if used for drinking and cooking. However, our hot tub holds 500 gallons that is great for washing during a power outage and for getting water to flush the toilets. We also have a stream nearby so I can just use my back packing filter if need be.

[litterbug]

How many gallons per person are you considering "lasting"?
Assuming twice a day showers?
once a day.
Foregoing a bit?
Eating the canned food or cooking the dry beans/rice?

Showers??? No, if it's a disaster, I'll moisten a towel. I live in a desert city, so no water means no water. We have creeks that flow from the mountains, but they're low most of the summer and there'd be too much competition for it. Yes, it's a city, but the point is not to have to be desperate by the time help arrives.

I live alone and keep two five gallon containers of fresh water in the back of a closet, so I figure 5 days at two gallons a day for drinking and cooking. I should get a third jug to make it a week, but I keep putting it off. I empty them periodically and treat them briefly with a dilute chlorine solution before rinsing and refilling them because the water might as well taste good. You can get stackable square or rectangular containers from the grocery or camping store and some come with built-in spigots.

I also keep chlorine tablets with my camping gear along with plastic bottles of propane for my Coleman stove. Lots of candles and batteries for my headlamp and flashlights. Not enough rice and beans or whatever socked away; I've always thought I should get one of those five gallon buckets that's supposed to last a family for weeks but they don't look particularly nutritious. Freeze dried food has come a long way, so I'm thinking of finding a cheap source and stocking up. Even MREs aren't as bad as they used to be.

[JShortstreet]

Here in central Texas the rain's not reliable enough for a rain barrel or cistern. I keep a bunch of big 5-gallon jugs of distilled water in the basement, about ten of them all told. You know, though, I haven't checked them in a long time . . . I guess I just assumed that water wouldn't go bad if not exposed to air or likely to contain organisms of its own. Hmm . . . am I making a false assumption here? Maybe I should crack one of those jugs and test the water.

[litterbug]

If nothing else, water will usually taste pretty stale after a certain amount of time sitting in a plastic container. If the container and water were clean when you put the water away it should be safe; I only store water that's been run through a filter that removes all bacteria, just to be safe. If you treat the containers with chlorine and fill them at the grocery store you'd be just fine.

[jesse]

I have a repeating todo in my task mgt app to taste the water stored in my water tanks monthly. It keeps getting a smidge worse with swig--but still totally drinkable.

[litterbug]

Sometimes "periodically" means every year and a half. My stash of chlorine tablets means I'll always have safe water, but tasty water is always better.

[jesse]

Yeah, I've got the chlorine as well. Periodically is a very flexible word! Most of us might periodically exercise...

[litterbug]

Yeah, I've got the chlorine as well. Periodically is a very flexible word! Most of us might periodically exercise...

Yep, I do yoga periodically...which means when my back and hips hurt enough to keep me awake at night.

[Cletc]

how much water per person constitutes 1 day?
Can't answer without doing the math

[Cletc]

Also depends how much we use daily.
Can always use more
Can always use less.
What's the standard? definition for water per day per person?
Thx.

[litterbug]

how much water per person constitutes 1 day?
Can't answer without doing the math

1 gallon a day for drinking (less if the weather is cool and you're not exerting yourself), another gallon for cooking and washing. But I've got a lot of dry-land camping experience, where washing meant scrubbing with sand before using a teeny bit of detergent with filtered or treated water, and bathing meant using a wet cloth to scrub critical areas. Clean hair and the like are complete luxuries when water is short, so in my view the only real interest in an emergency is keeping odors down.

I've officially gone to 15 gallons of stored water, which is a week's worth in hard times.