Emergency Drinking Water - Make Sure Your Water is Safe to Drink!

Inside:

If a disaster catches you without a stored supply of clean water, you can use the water in the following:

• your hot-water tank
• pipes and faucets
• ice cubes

If your tap water is safe to drink, so is the water in your pipes and hot-water tank, even if the idea seems unappealing.

To use the water in your hot-water tank, be sure the electricity or gas is off, then open the drain at the bottom of the tank. Start the water flowing by turning off the water intake valve at the tank and turning on a hot-water faucet.

Refill the tank before turning the gas or electricity back on.

To use the water in your pipes, identify and turn on the highest faucet in your home to let air into the plumbing. You then can get water from the lowest faucet.

Outside:

If you need to find water outside your home, try

• Rainwater
• Streams, rivers, and other moving bodies of water
• Ponds and lakes
• Natural springs

Take steps to make water from any of these sources safer before drinking it. You should never drink flood water.

Untreated water can make one very, very sick. Dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis, are all diseases that you can get from drinking contaminated water.

Some of the simplest ways to purify emergency drinking water is to either boil it or add chlorine to it.

Boil for one minute and then it helps the flavor if you pour it back and forth, from one container to another several times before drinking it. And of course cooling it will help the flavor as well.

Chlorinating it:

Using household bleach, add about 1/8th teaspoon to a gallon of water and let set for about 30 minutes. You want it to smell slightly of chlorine so if you can't smell the chlorine after half an hour, you will need to do it again.

If it still won't smell, try another source of water...these methods are not completely fool proof but will help if you are ever desperately in need of emergency drinking water!

For everyday water needs, such as laundry and bathing, you can use rain water, creek water etc...Rain water is actually some of the best water to wash your hair in ...makes for nice soft shiny hair...:)