Should there ever be a lockdown in your community, your emergency drinking water supply may be small unless you can access a spring or some kind of extraneous water.

In the case of a power outage, most people run out of the essential liquid in only a few hours.

It is one of the most important parts of being able to survive to my way of thinking!

We lived without power recently for almost 16 hours, and we soon understood that we needed to consider an emergency drinking water solution.

Even though we have a home near streams and springs where we could easily get drinking water, we still have to think about the problem of contaminants.

Alternative sources inside your home:

If a catastrophe leaves you with no stored supply of bottled water, you can try the following options:

# your hot-water heater

# pipes and faucets

# ice cubes

If your tap water is okay to drink, so is the water contained in your pipes and hot-water tank, even if the thought seems less than appealing.

When draining your hot-water tank, be sure the electricity or gas is off, then release the drain at the bottom of the tank. Get the water flow going by shutting off the water intake valve located on the tank and turning on a hot-water faucet.

Fill the tank with water again prior to turning the power back on.

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

Other resources outside your home:

If you want to locate water outside your residence, try:

# Rainwater

# Streams, rivers, and other moving bodies of water

# Ponds and lakes

# Natural springs

Take care to sanitize and filter the water from any of these sources prior to drinking it. You shouldn’t ever drink flood water.

Untreated water can cause you to get very, very sick. Dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis, are all diseases that you can get from drinking bacteria-ridden water.

Some of the easiest types of emergency water treatment are by boiling it or adding chlorine to it.

Boiling … to sanitize it:

Boil for about one minute, and then try pouring it back and forth from one container to another several times before drinking it which will make it taste better. And of course getting it really cold it will give it a better flavor as well.

Chlorinating it:

Using household bleach, add about 1/8th teaspoon to a gallon of water and let set for approximately one half hour. You need it to smell slightly of chlorine so if you aren’t able to smell the chlorine after half an hour, you will be required to do it once again.

If you still don’t smell the chlorine , try a different source of water…and keep in mind that even these methods are not totally foolproof but will help you out if you are ever in dire need of emergency drinking water.

For everyday water needs, such as laundry and cleansing yourself, you shouldn’t need emergency water treatment. You can make use of rain water, creek water etc…Rain water is truly an ideal water to wash your hair in …makes for lovely soft shiny hair…:)