Water in Anticipated Shortages

Some emergencies are thoughtful enough to give us advance notice.

We know when a hurricane is heading our way, when a heavy freeze or blizzard conditions are probable, and we're pretty accurate at predicting torrential rainfall that can cause flooding.

These are some of the conditions that can cause a temporary water shortage when municipal supplies are cut off for a bit. Destructive weather can break water mains, freezing conditions can cause your incoming lines or house pipes to burst, and so on.

When these conditions are announced on the news, it's wise to make sure your water stores are fresh and filled. Granted, you want to adjust how much water you store, and where, based on the probability of the event causing a shortage and the anticipated duration of the water stoppage.

For example, a water line burst from freezing might only cause a problem for a day or two. A water main washed out by a flood might take a week to fix, and a hurricane could shut down a city's water for a couple of weeks or more. So, plan accordingly.

When you do store water, keep in mind those little "hidden" places you use water or could store water that you don't normally think about in emergency situations. Here are some examples presented in something of an "increasing severety" order:

1. Fill all your pet water dishes to the brim.

2. Fill all plant watering cans.

3. Fill any and all drinking water pitchers (either filtering pitchers or just water jugs that live in the fridge).

4. Wash out leftover 2-liter plastic soda bottles to fill with water. Put some in the fridge and put as many in the freezer as you can (but don't fill them quite all the way since you want room in the bottle for ice expansion). A full fridge and freezer uses less power since it cycles less often, and in a power outage, your frozen bottles will help keep your food colder for a lot longer.

5. Fill your kitchen trash can. In fact, in our classes, we teach folks to buy two kitchen trash cans and leave one sitting inside the other until such time as you need the extra one for water storage. It'll always be there waiting and won't be in the way.

6. Fill your bathtubs (after you give them a quick cleaning of course). You might not want to drink this water, but it'll be fine for sponge baths, washing dishes, flushing toilets, and so on.

7. Start your washing machine on its cold water cycle and unplug it when the drum is full.

Remember these steps when an emergency that carries an advance warning is heading your way.

For more info on hurricane prep in particular, read our full length article at: http://www.disasterprep101.com/hurricaneprep.htm