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Water Is Different From Most Preparedness Supplies

A good water plan is more than owning a filter. A useful framework to think in is:

The goal is redundancy - several layered capabilities - rather than betting everything on one device.

How Much Water Should We Actually Store?

CDC and Ready.gov recommend storing at least 1 gallon per person per day for at least 3 days, and working toward a 2-week supply if possible. That gallon covers drinking plus some basic sanitation and cooking needs.

Remember to account for pets, children, pregnancy, medical conditions, hot weather, physical activity, and deployment needs - all of which push requirements higher.

This becomes a storage problem quickly. A four-person household following the 14-day guideline needs approximately 56 gallons before accounting for pets or unusually high needs - which is why larger containers, drums, and modular storage systems can make sense.

The “Step-Off Water” Concept

“Step-off water” means keeping a quantity of clean, stable potable water already stored that can immediately be consumed, loaded into a vehicle, or taken on a deployment. During the first hours of an incident, you shouldn't have to start finding and treating water - you already have some ready.

Water Storage Containers

Commercial Bottled Water

Advantages: easy, inexpensive, already potable, easy to rotate.

Disadvantages: lots of individual bottles, takes space, less convenient for bulk storage.

5–7 Gallon Portable Containers

A great example is the Reliance Aqua-Tainer , available in several sizes.

This size is the sweet spot for many members: portable, easy to put into a vehicle, manageable compared with a full drum, and it works very well as “step-off water.”

Keep in mind: 7 gallons of water weighs roughly 58 pounds - even relatively small containers get heavy quickly.

When filling: fill through an inline hose filter such as the Camco TastePURE water filter and record the source, fill date, and treatment on a band-aid-style Cana water treatment record label .

WaterBrick / Stackable Systems

WaterBrick containers hold approximately 3.5 gallons each, are stackable, and work well where storage space is limited - closets, apartments, under beds.

The tradeoff: many smaller containers cost more per gallon, but they're much easier to move than one enormous container.

When filling: fill through an inline hose filter such as the Camco TastePURE water filter and record the source, fill date, and treatment on a band-aid-style Cana water treatment record label on each brick.

Large Food-Grade Drums (30 / 55 Gallon)

30- and 55-gallon food-grade water drums store serious quantities - but a full 55-gallon drum contains roughly 459 pounds of water before counting the drum itself. So:

• Decide where it will live before filling it.
• Do not expect to move it once full.
• Make sure the floor can support it.
• Have a pump or dispensing method available.

Example: 55-gallon food-grade water storage barrel .

When filling: record the source, fill date, and treatment on a band-aid-style Cana water treatment record label and fill through an inline hose filter such as the Camco TastePURE water filter , which attaches between a garden hose and the drum. It reduces sediment, chlorine taste, and odor going into storage - a cleaner starting point means better-tasting water at rotation time.

Only use food-grade containers intended for potable water. Never store drinking water in a drum that previously contained chemicals or unknown materials.

IBC Totes (275 Gallon)

For truly large fixed storage, an IBC tank with steel pallet (275 gallon) holds roughly five 55-gallon drums' worth of water in one caged tote with a built-in valve for dispensing.

The catch: a full 275-gallon tote weighs well over a ton (roughly 2,300 pounds of water), so placement, floor loading, and access all need to be worked out before it's filled. These are best suited to a garage slab, basement floor, or outdoor pad - not an upper floor.

When filling: fill through an inline hose filter such as the Camco TastePURE water filter and record the source, fill date, and treatment on a band-aid-style Cana water treatment record label .

As with drums: only use new, food-grade totes intended for potable water - never a used tote that carried chemicals or unknown materials.

Nalgene / Personal Bottles

The humble 32-ounce Nalgene-style wide-mouth bottle is the workhorse of on-body water: tough, easy to clean, marked with volume graduations, and compatible with most backpacking filters, purification tablets, and UV treatment devices.

The wide mouth matters: it's easy to fill from a gravity filter or spigot, easy to drop a UV device like a Steripen into, and the standard thread size mates with many filter systems directly.

When filling from an untreated source: treat in the bottle with a UV device or chemical treatment, give the full contact time, and record the treatment on a band-aid-style Cana water treatment record label so nobody re-treats or second-guesses the bottle.

Storage Best Practices (CDC Guidance)

Stored water should be kept:

If you fill your own containers, CDC recommends replacing that water approximately every six months. Commercially bottled water can be left sealed and rotated according to the manufacturer's labeling. CDC also provides sanitation steps for cleaning reusable containers before filling them.

Filtration Is NOT the Same Thing as Purification

This is one of the most important ideas of the night. These are two different jobs, and a complete plan needs both.

A filter that makes muddy water look crystal clear does not automatically make it safe - and chemical disinfection does not necessarily remove sediment, fuel, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, or other non-biological contamination.

Gravity Filters

For household or group use, gravity filtration lets you produce volume without manually pumping every ounce. A 4-liter Platypus GravityWorks setup is designed for exactly this, and filters like the Sawyer Squeeze are popular, compact alternatives.

Why gravity systems are useful:

• Good for producing multiple liters at a time
• Less labor than pump or squeeze filters
• Separate “dirty water” and “clean water” containers
• Useful at a fixed operating location like an EOC or shelter

Discipline matters: keep the clean side clean, never mix dirty and clean hoses, backflush the filter per manufacturer instructions, and know the limitations of your filter. Remember: these are 0.2-micron filters, not purifiers - they handle bacteria and protozoa but not viruses, so follow up with chemical, UV, or boiling disinfection when viral contamination is a concern.

H2gO Chlorine Generator

The Aqua Research H2gO Global Chlorine Disinfectant Generator uses electrolysis and ordinary salt to generate a sodium-hypochlorite disinfecting solution. Why is this interesting for emergency communications deployments?

• Very small device
• Uses ordinary salt
• USB-C rechargeable, with solar charging capability
• Treatment can scale beyond one small drinking bottle
• Provides another independent layer of redundancy

Important: the H2gO is a disinfection tool, not a filter - it does not remove particulates. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and use appropriate test strips/measurement guidance.

See also: H2gO & Steripen products and Cana's educational Water Plan page .

UV Purification / Steripen

UV devices like the Steripen use ultraviolet light to inactivate microorganisms in suitable water. The catches: the water needs to be sufficiently clear for UV treatment, UV does not physically remove dirt or chemicals, and the device requires power. Once again - layered systems win.

Water in the Vehicle

Consider keeping:

• Several bottles of water
• A portable 5–7 gallon container
• Collapsible containers
• Electrolyte packets
• A bottle/filter
• A backup treatment method

Temperature matters. Water stored inside Michigan vehicles sees serious heat and hard freezes, so think about container durability, rotating supplies, freezing expansion (leave headspace!), and not relying entirely on water permanently stored in the vehicle.

Water on Your Person

The smallest layer of the plan: a Nalgene bottle, hydration bladder, collapsible bottle, small filter, purification tablets, or a personal water-treatment kit. This layer isn't meant to support you for days - it's enough capability to get through the immediate period until you reach your vehicle, home, EOC, shelter, or another supply point.

Don't Forget the Water You Already Own

Depending on the incident, usable water may already exist in your home:

• Water heater tank - often holds dozens of gallons
• Plumbing lines
• Ice
• Stored bottled beverages

Caution: if officials indicate that contaminated water may have entered the plumbing system, water from the pipes or water heater may no longer be considered safe.

Learn now - not during an incident - where your home's main water shutoff is, how your water heater works, and how to safely obtain water from it. CDC's emergency water page (linked below) covers this.

Be Vigilant: Document Your Water

Treating water is only half the job - keeping track of what you've done to it is the other half. Once containers start moving between people, vehicles, and operating locations, it's surprisingly easy to lose track of which water came from where, how it was treated, and when.

At a minimum, every container should carry:

• The source of the water (tap, lake, rain, unknown)
• The treatment method used (filtered, chlorinated, tablets, boiled, UV)
• The date and time it was treated or filled
• Whether it's ready to drink or still needs treatment

A grease pencil or tape and marker works, but purpose-built labels make this easy - for example, the Cana Provisions Water Treatment Record Safety Label , which gives each container a standardized treatment record anyone on the team can read at a glance. In a multi-operator environment like an ARPSC deployment, that shared, consistent labeling is what keeps one person from accidentally re-treating - or drinking - the wrong water.

A Simple ARPSC Water Plan

You don't need to buy every piece of gear mentioned tonight. Here's a practical example of a complete, layered plan:

The philosophy: Water + treatment + redundancy + knowledge.

Important Weight Reality

Why this matters for ARPSC: it's easy to say “I'll take 20 gallons with me,” but that's roughly 167 pounds of water. This is exactly why modular storage and pre-positioning are so important.

Resources & Further Reading

Gear Gallery

Reliance Aqua-Tainer

Platypus GravityWorks

Sawyer Squeeze

H2gO Chlorine Generator

Cana Water Data Card

Cana Treatment Record Label

Big Berkey Gravity Filter

55-Gallon Water Drum

275-Gallon IBC Tote

Camco TastePURE Inline Filter

WaterBrick Stackable Containers

Images link to each manufacturer's product page. ARPSC has no affiliation with these vendors - they are shown as practical examples only.

A Few Things to Think About