When it comes to preparing for any emergency, water is perhaps the most important factor to be considered. On one side, without it you will be dead in less than a week. On another side, contaminated water could also kill you in a short time as well. A third shows nosy neighbors could take what you have. Yet another shows government regulations or landlords could limit what your options are. The key to preparing is learning how to balance the different sides of any situation.
First lets tackle storing water in the city. There are several factors that will determine what your options are for storing water in a city environment. Do you rent or own? Do you plan to stay put or bug out? Do you live in a house or an apartment? What are the city regulations? What is the city's plan in an emergency? Will the neighbors see what I am doing? How long of an emergency am I planning on?
If you rent, then building most anything is out of the question and all your storage will need to be portable or at least easily removable. You could use two liter bottles, gallon jugs, or buckets up to the 15 gallon size. A 15 gallon bucket will weigh in at about 105 pounds (one gallon of water weighs 7 pounds) so any larger would be very unwieldly to move. It could be stored in a closet, under a cabinet, in the freezer, in a garage (except in winter for colder climates), or anywhere else you can find the space. These options work fine for a short term emergency and for bugging out but are inadequate for any long term emergency. You will need access to a water source for a longer situation. You can look at area maps to locate the nearest source. You will need containers like the five gallon military cans or the collapsible ones available from wal mart would be sufficient. You will also need a water filter and coffee filters (to pre filter the larger particles out) to make the water drinkable. If you are in a house you could put barrels under the down spouts but be sure you will be able to easily drain it in case it needs to be moved (mine have a spigot at the bottom). You might not want to put larger then a 55 gallon barrel under each one. The water from the roof will need to be filtered in order to make it drinkable but can be used for cleaning purposes as is. Which ever option you choose if you are renting just be sure to make sure it is portable or can be easily removed.
If you own a house, then you have several more options available. Provided you have the space, you can store larger containers of water such as 55 gallon barrels or more if you have the room and the floor it is to be located can support the weight. A cistern can be built to hold several hundred gallons of water (or even thousands). A shallow well can be put in as well, providing an unlimited amount of water. In the case of the cistern and the well you will need to check the city codes (or do it under the radar if you do not care and are willing to suffer the consequences if you are caught). Rain barrels under the down spouts can also be put in. If you have the room in the back yard, you can always put in a pool. A pool does not have to be expensive or glamorous. My brother uses a large, round stock tank. While not fancy, the kids still love playing in it and it provides a few thousand gallons of emergency water. There are many, many sizes of stock tanks available from small ones just a few feet across to the larger ones of more than 20 feet. An advantage of using a stock tank is that they are metal and therefore are more durable in the long run. You could always paint the outside to make it look less like a stock tank or put a small deck around it. Owning a house allows you to have larger containers for storing water as well as being able to build water storage such as cisterns and wells as long as city regulations allow it.
If you rent, then building most anything is out of the question and all your storage will need to be portable or at least easily removable. You could use two liter bottles, gallon jugs, or buckets up to the 15 gallon size. A 15 gallon bucket will weigh in at about 105 pounds (one gallon of water weighs 7 pounds) so any larger would be very unwieldly to move. It could be stored in a closet, under a cabinet, in the freezer, in a garage (except in winter for colder climates), or anywhere else you can find the space. These options work fine for a short term emergency and for bugging out but are inadequate for any long term emergency. You will need access to a water source for a longer situation. You can look at area maps to locate the nearest source. You will need containers like the five gallon military cans or the collapsible ones available from wal mart would be sufficient. You will also need a water filter and coffee filters (to pre filter the larger particles out) to make the water drinkable. If you are in a house you could put barrels under the down spouts but be sure you will be able to easily drain it in case it needs to be moved (mine have a spigot at the bottom). You might not want to put larger then a 55 gallon barrel under each one. The water from the roof will need to be filtered in order to make it drinkable but can be used for cleaning purposes as is. Which ever option you choose if you are renting just be sure to make sure it is portable or can be easily removed.
If you own a house, then you have several more options available. Provided you have the space, you can store larger containers of water such as 55 gallon barrels or more if you have the room and the floor it is to be located can support the weight. A cistern can be built to hold several hundred gallons of water (or even thousands). A shallow well can be put in as well, providing an unlimited amount of water. In the case of the cistern and the well you will need to check the city codes (or do it under the radar if you do not care and are willing to suffer the consequences if you are caught). Rain barrels under the down spouts can also be put in. If you have the room in the back yard, you can always put in a pool. A pool does not have to be expensive or glamorous. My brother uses a large, round stock tank. While not fancy, the kids still love playing in it and it provides a few thousand gallons of emergency water. There are many, many sizes of stock tanks available from small ones just a few feet across to the larger ones of more than 20 feet. An advantage of using a stock tank is that they are metal and therefore are more durable in the long run. You could always paint the outside to make it look less like a stock tank or put a small deck around it. Owning a house allows you to have larger containers for storing water as well as being able to build water storage such as cisterns and wells as long as city regulations allow it.
Make sure to keep what ever you do out of sight of all nosy neighbors, the less others know of what you do the safer you will be later on. People have long memories for the little things they see. Any outside storage or building can be made to look like landscaping or for non prepper uses. Hand pumps in the yard can be surrounded by flowers to look like decorations. Rain barrels can explained away, “with the increase of the water bill, I thought the barrels would save me money for watering the lawn”. Doesn't everyone have at least a small pool nowadays? Also, make sure you do not break any city codes in what you do. The last thing you want is for some city official showing up on your door step telling you what you can and can not do. If you choose to do things regardless of what the government tells you, make sure it is not visible by others like nosy neighbors. Although you do not want to depend on the city's plan, you might want to find out if they have a plan and what it is. Knowing if your neighbors will have some help with regards to water could determine how much you want to store in case you wish to help some of them. Being able to tell your neighbors where they can get water could be very useful information. If you choose to share your water with neighbors you might want to make sure they do not know where you get the water from. Keep out of sight, follow regulations, and know what others options are going to be.
Living outside of the city allows for more options for water storage. Rural properties receive there water from a well and not from a city water tower. You do not want to depend on that well in an emergency! Wells need electricity to run. You could get a generator to run the well but make sure you know in advance how to hook it up to the genny and to make sure it is powerful enough (small generators can not run a well). Make sure you store plenty of fuel if this an option you want. A better choice than a deep well might be a shallow well with a hand pump or a large cistern. There are far fewer regulations for building wells, cisterns, and other structures in the country than in the city and you are almost certainly able to do so legally.
Having a way to make water safe to drink is a must whether you live in the city or in the country. The only water sources that are safe to drink without any filtering are deep wells and that stored in advance. You will need to know of any nearby water sources such as ponds, lakes, and creeks. Have a way to transport the water to your home. First, you will want to pre filter the water to remove the larger particles like leaves, twigs, or small gravel. This can be done with coffee filters, cheese cloth, or a cotton t-shirt. After the water has been pre filtered, you will need a way to make it safe for drinking. There are many options available for filters. You can use a portable filter like a katadyn or MSR or you could get a larger gravity filter like a berkey filter. Be sure to know what the filter is capable of removing and how many gallons of water it will be able to filter before being useless. Chemical purification is another option using any of the tablets available from camping sections in stores or on the web. Unscented household bleach can also be used as well as pool chlorine tablets, just do a web search for instructions on how much to use. The last option is to make your own filter using small sized gravel, activated charcoal (like what is in fish filters, available to buy in large quantities on ebay), and sand. Instructions are available on the net to build one. Having a way to make contaminated water safe to drink could mean the difference between surviving and dieing painfully.
No matter what your particular situation is, having enough water stored to last your family for at least two weeks is essential. You probably should store the first two weeks in portable containers even if you own your house or live in the country in case you have to bug out. Having a way to filter the water in any situation is also essential. Although you only need to store a minimum of one gallon per person per day (14 gallons for two weeks) for drinking, you might seriously consider upping that to five gallons per person per day if you plan on cooking and keeping clean (that means 70 gallons per person for two weeks). Be sure to have a plan to obtain water if the emergency lasts longer than the two weeks. Evaluate your situation and remember, two weeks you can move and a way for getting more.
Here are some links for further information:
There are many more sites with very useful information, just remember google can be your friend.
