Keeping emergency water

[lockinsideout]

Given the advice to have some emergency food and water for a few days. What do people do about water? I never buy bottled water. How long does it keep? Are we meant to keep replacing it? I hate plastic, so don't really want to do that.

I have the space, so keep 25 litres in a plastic tank and change after a few years if I remember. Probably will never use it, but it would be preferable to having no water at all in an emergency.

I don't consider myself a "prepper but thinking through solutions to likely scenarios is quite easy and might make a real difference.

Simplest way is buy largest plastic water bottles at the supermarket and store them. They last several months. Being anti plastic is just going to make your life harder on this. You could buy once and refill but you would need an effective mechanism to seal the bottles completely.

Having several elderly relatives got me into keeping an emergency grab bag handy for throwing in the car for the inevitable medical events and hanging round hospitals at 3am.

(6 pack of water, toothbrush, toothpaste, handgel, pen, deoderant, baby wipes, notebook/pen, hairbrush + bobbles, power bank, phone charger, £20, mints etc if you're interested in the full contents!)

I haven't specifically stockpiled beyond keeping the above pack of water handy.

The water generally has a few years on the expiry date and I always replace whatever has been consumed so haven't had to throw much away over the years.

I do understand your environmental concerns but I do think if everyone just does their best to keep usage of plastic low we're already doing our bit. It's probably not possible to be 100% plastic free.

We have 20 l bottled water. Often the water system breaks down and it's handy. Cheap. No big deal.

We live in Kent so our water is constantly off for days on end very randomly, south east water are just dire! So we have 24 x 2 litre bottles in our laundry room.

We also have a water butt to provide water for toilet flushing, but it's not ideal - this messes up the plumbing! It obviously isn't available in drought either.

It's the washing that's the killer. After a week with no washing machine or shower, having to use bottled water to wash up plates etc. it's pretty impossible to live to any standard on bottled water alone.

We live on tank water. we only have what the rain gives us. If there’s a power cut the pump doesn’t work do even if we have water we can’t access it. As such We always have the emergency amount available in the event of a power cut or the tanks run dry. 3 litres per person per day of potable water for minimum 3 days. That mean we have 40 lites of water on the premises. Plastic is the only way to store and for a once off who cares.
Im in NZ so we have different products but I prefer the bladder boxes (like wine boxes) easier to store. Otherwise we have 10 litres in big bottles in plastic that are decanted via a usb pump and big cases of 2 litre bottles. Most are out of date but I’m not concerned as we’d buy new drinking water. This is mainly for washing and flushing. Another option is to get a big beer/wine fermenting vessel and fill with tap water but will go mouldy much quicker so needs replacing frequently.
Having big 20-40 litre vessels available is key as when we had a drought and a power cut we had to use the emergency stand taps provided by civil defence that we used for washing and flushing. If we didn’t have those available we’d be screwed.

I also live in Kent and have been thinking about this (luckily we haven’t lost water so far!). When the use by date is close, do you just use that water, and then buy more?

Being anti plastic is just going to make your life harder on this

Oh god what do the government think is going to happen?

Bottled water from supermarket lasts a year or two, put it on the garden for the plants when you replace

Omg.

Really?!

You wouldn't just think "water can only be stored safely for a certain period, but hey this is an adequate container and I have these things called taps which I can get stuff called water out of".

You would have to BUY more plastic bottles because they have best before dates on and you don't know how to keep and store water without this information?!

We buy the 5L plastic bottles from the supermarket. I think the expiry date is normally about a year. When it’s coming up to its date we just use it and buy some more. I generally try to avoid plastic but this is by far the easiest way of doing it and I’d prefer not to be caught short without any so am just pragmatic on this one.

@RedToothBrush the expiration dates on bottled water relate to the longevity of the bottle, not the water.

I’m Not sure I’d get rid of water past its use by date. Surely if you are prepping you’d keep it for washing, washing up, loo flushing etc? And to be honest I didn’t know water had a use by date.

Maybe a LifeStraw or similar would be a possibility instead, I think the unused shelf life for them is indefinite? Then in an emergency you could get water from any source (rainwater, ponds, lakes, streams etc) and make it safe to drink.

DH has some of them for his very long hikes

Honestly. This is flaming ridiculous.

If I'm in a situation where I care about the planet THAT much, do you think I'm going to be arsed about that if I need emergency water?!

A bottle is a bottle. You can sanitise it, if you need to.

I'm going to die a lot quicker from the lack of water than from the likes of micro plastics.

Plastic bottles seem to last a long time in the ocean.

Thanks all this is informative.

South east water are so awful that we will use it within a few months. The annoying thing is that there is a leak in my road out of a water main that has run down the street for about 18 months. It's been reported a lot but nothing ever gets done.