Generally speaking, most people don't give water a second thought. It's pretty much always been a part of our lives. We drink it, we cook in it, we play in it. It's often so plentiful that we allow it to run down our streets and we even use it to wash our cars.
But the fact is that water becomes very precious when it is hard to find.
Ask any serious prepper and they will tell you that WATER is the most important thing that you will be required to have; and it needs to be clean, drinkable water. So, what do you do when you go to turn on the tap and nothing comes out?
Well, if you're smart you've already made plans for this and you purchased a WaterBob and have it filled up and it sits in one of your bathtubs. A WaterBob is a tub-sized plastic sleeve that you fill up and seal. It comes with a hand pump as a method to get the water out, and they even recommend the best method for ensuring that your water stay drinkable.
I'm sure that you probably have a case or two of bottled water put away somewhere, too. So what happens when that is gone? Bottled water last longer if you can keep it in a cool, dark place, but this is only for about six months..and you really don't know how long it was in the store or the warehouse when you bought it. You can "refresh" it by pouring it back and forth between two pitchers for about 10 minutes and then boiling it for 2 minutes. The back and forth motion reintroduces oxygen to the water and makes it safer to drink.
Get a rainbarrel, or two, or three. In times of plenty you can use this water for your garden (you can buy attachments to hook it up to your garden hose quite nicely). The way that it comes off of your roof is fine for washing clothes, and watering your garden. But if you're going to drink it or use it for oral hygiene or cooking you will need to filter it completely, boil it for 2 minutes and then let it cool. Get water purification tabs for when you can't boil it.
There are plenty of sources of water that we overlook on a daily basis, though we have an aversion to using them:
1. Your water heater. You might have 60 gallons of water in there. Use it.
2. Canned goods that have been packed in water. Don't pour out the water that packed those beans away. Use it in a soup base. When water is scarce you should ALWAYS prepare thin soups that can double as a source of hydration. Plus, you'll need to eat less...it takes a lot of fluid to digest food.
3. Streams, ponds, lakes. If you have purchased a really good filtration system AND you also intend to purify it by boiling these are perfectly safe sources of water. The smell is what may turn you off, so this is where Gatorade, tea powder and different flavorings come in handy.
4. Wells. Suppose you have a well under your home but you have no power for the pump. You can use a 30 ft length of nylon paracord tied around the neck of a 16 oz water bottle and lower it down the well pipe to fill. You can add a fishing weight to the neck of the bottle if you're impatient. After a few minutes pull up the cord and repeat the process until you have the water you need. They make fancy well dippers, but they're about $50 each and they only hold about 1 liter of water. Just remember that when the sanitation systems begin to fail well water will likely be negative affected by organisms such as E-Coli. Add bleach, aerate for 10 minutes and then boil if you don't have a good filtration system AND purification method.
5. Friends/Bartering. Suppose you don't have a water source but you know someone who does. This is where your bartering will come into play. Maybe they don't know how to hunt but really would like to have some of the pork roast that you prepared last night because YOU killed a wild pig. Trade meat for water, but make sure that you boil it. You can't be sure that the water is clean until you take this step. If your neighbor is drawing water from an outside swimming pool this is especially important due to bacteria growth.
6. Plants. I know that it may seem odd, but there is a great deal of water stored in plants. Use your field guide to find out which one's you can eat. Be aware, however, that some plants can have a laxative effect when eaten in large quantities. I once ate too many wild berries and ended up with a horrible stomach problem. Beware, also, of insecticides and various pollutants in agricultural areas.
7. Public pools, parks, etc. I don't want to encourage you to get shot, but you may need to get out there and harvest water from your surrounding environment as best you can.
If you live near the beach (ocean, lake, or river) you can find relatively clean water by digging a hole approximately 6-10 feet from the waters edge. Dig about 4 or 5 feet and you should hit water. It will have been sand-filtered, but I still advise running through your fabric filters and sterilizing it out of an extreme sense of paranoia.
Filters are easy to come by at most hardware stores, but you can also use several layers of clean t-shirts in a pinch. Most simple filtration systems are sand-based and I recommend that you look into them. Some of you are smart enough to design your own system that works on a sand/drip process. In a pinch you can layer several coffee filters and slowly strain water through them..but again, BOIL IT BEFORE IT GOES INTO YOUR MOUTH.
Experts say that the least amount of water needed per person per day is 1 liter. This is combined water sources. Consider the water that is in a can of fruit cocktail a part of your liquid for the day. Remember that if you've stocked dehydrated or freeze dried foods you will need water for reconstituting those items.
I recommend that you practice efficient water storage practices. If you have plentiful water supplies being provided to you by nature you really need to find a way to store as much as you can.
Finally, I do recommend the ZeroWater and Brita filtration systems for home use. They don't KILL any bacteria, so some bleach or boiling will be necessary.
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