Water

[building2017]

We are a family of four and I'm thinking about how much water to store in the event of main supplies becoming unavailable.

Am I right to think approx 3 litres per person per day? So if I wanted to store 10 days worth I should have 120 litres?

Thanks.

Yeah, it's a lot but then himens use a lot. Drinking, cooking, hygiene etc. Perhaps look into rain barrels and a filter to add an extra level of protection.

Don't forget to include pets in your calculations!

Turns out you can buy 10l boxes of water for camping etc, so I will get 12 of those to keep in the shed. They will stack nicely out of the way. Thanks for reminding me about pets too.

@building2017 ones I saw are £5 each, you can get 4 x 2l bottles (wrapped so they will stack) for £1.05. Easier to handle, loads cheaper and if you open the boxed ones you'll have to use the full 10l.

Remember that you'll need to forego bathing for the duration. And, particularly, using toilets. It's staggering how much water a cistern takes for just one flush - I'd be going round the house taping up toilet handles - just to remind people - the second water failed.

Gosh, yes, good tip about the toilets. And I've added the bottled water rather than the boxed to my order. Will gradually increase my stash over the next while.

Remember to buy only date stamped things that can be worked into your normal living arrangements if necessary. No point in having a cupboard full of things that are too aged to use.

Look at boiling and purification options for contaminated water. Consider a life straw thing or similar. And yes, don’t forget the pets.

Not a full on prepper but I second buying bottles rather than boxes.

Also, I was browsing on YouTube recently, as you do, and one prepper suggests a spray bottle with a rough flannel for general hygiene if the water supply stops.

So instead of filling a bath just spray a small amount of water on yourself and use the flannel to kind of polish/exfoliate. I would suggest a bar of soap as opposed to shower gel in these circumstances, much easier to rinse/wipe off. And I would also stock up on cheap kitchen towels for washing the nether regions so that I could keep the flannel relatively clean.

Other than that, when we lived in an earthquake zone and the water was off for 6 days we had alcohol gel and wipes for hand “washing” , and more canned than dried foods.

And there was me thinking I’m not a prepper.

Look up compressed towels in amazon. You can get stacks that are smaller in diameter than a pound coin although a bit thicker. Lightweight and sold in bulk. Cheap as the proverbial. Recommended by some bushcraft types for face wiping then arse wiping . Biodegradable. Easier to manage than stacks of loo roll and more robust. A drop of Water opens them up.

Or “on Amazon “, even. Don’t recommend a trip to the Amazon.