For me the most important thing is that you are getting the right mindset. For me anything you do now should put you in a better place. Our water here is really hard, so we use bottled water for consumption. Because of this we naturally rotate our water.
I think you have to answer for example,
Are you thinking about drinking water only? Someone may have a different answer, but 2L per day per person minimum
How much space do you have available for this ?
How long does this water need to last ?
Personally as we live in the UK there isn't a great distance for the government to ship water into an area. I think if there is no water after 2 weeks then we are in big trouble.
A gallon a day is the recommended amount. At rest. I have been drinking a litre per hour lately. My illness started with dehydration. Fishing today ,I drank 3 litres in 4 hours. It was all I could carry in. Prepping- wise we have 100 litres stored. Then ( sorry, imperial here) 400 gallons of rain catchment, with filtration available. Then there’s the brook over the road. Water is simple,but THE MOST IMPORTANT prep. Not a bug out bag.
A gallon is 4.54 lites. BBC quoting European Food Safety Authority says 2 litres for a man and 1.6 for a woman. UK govt say 6-8 cups or glasses a day (NHS quotes this). A UK cup = 1/2 pint = 0.28 litre, so that is 1.7 - 2.2 litres. NHS recommends "up to 3 litres a day" for kidney stone sufferers. One of the causes of kidney stones is dehydration. The NHS has a chart for urine colour. Of course it's not easy to tell from looking in the toilet bowl as it gets diluted, but you can get a good idea.
I think the 'gallon a day' preppers talk about includes for washing, cooking etc.
2 x 4l containers would give me 8l and I think that would be ok for an emergency. What I’ve realised though from this thread is that I’d have trouble carrying it from wherever we are allowed to fill up. I use Cheeky Panda biodegradable baby wipes often instead of showering to save water and I like always to keep a supply.
I don’t think anyone on here has mentioned pets, but they’d need to drink. Actually though pets are a separate topic, given the huge amount that were thoughtlessly acquired during lockdown and are now predictably being abandoned to the extent that animal shelters are overwhelmed, I think a lot of animals would suffer in an emergency.
Could I ask for how long people on here have been worried enough to think about these things? I’ve had a nagging fear that our infrastructure is tenuous since I was a child, though I wouldn’t have used those words. I’m sure it must be a function of my personality. I’ve been very worried about water resources since the drought in 1976 and I don’t think it was as bad as the current one nor was it preceded by a dry winter. My recollection is that despite the fact that this one is more serious, the government took more action then.
Norma wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:38 am
Could I ask for how long people on here have been worried enough to think about these things? I’ve had a nagging fear that our infrastructure is tenuous since I was a child, though I wouldn’t have used those words. I’m sure it must be a function of my personality. I’ve been very worried about water resources since the drought in 1976 and I don’t think it was as bad as the current one nor was it preceded by a dry winter. My recollection is that despite the fact that this one is more serious, the government took more action then.
I got started seriously prepping with the near simultaneous rise to influence of trump and the decision on Brexit. But I was already edgy about 'peak oil'.
As to Water prepping, there are different types of water event...
Very Short outage: Just a few gallons needed.
Large regional shortage: We see these coming and fill some water butts.
Large regional outage: Many gallons needed till the authorities lay on bowsers ( Get an aquaroll )
Cataclysmic outage: We're on our own: Many gallons needed till We can arrange our own harvesting and filtering,
In the third instance, there's going to be so many other things to deal with, so better be a hard core prepper.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought
Thank you for your thoughts. What I would find very hard would be to be without online support. I feel some relief to share my thoughts with people who think the same way.
Hi Norma, jenny's suggestion of an aquaroll is a very good one if you're worried about being unable to carry water from standpipe/bowser. The other option may be a sack trolley or garden trolley to move slabs of bottled water (which is what the water board provided after storm arwen)
You've also got a good point about pets but that's not really too much of a worry (unless its something like ponies where huge quantities would be required). All cats dogs etc are far more resilient than us and will of course happily drink out of a puddle or any sort of rain catchment.
As for duration of being concerned I've always leaned towards self reliance (pig headedness?) and in younger days briefly lived off grid and also on a boat. Married, mortgage & three kids now and I suppose being organised with my preps was only after the kids arrived I think.
Obviously your water will run out whether you have 20l or 200l in a shtf scenario. The solution is to have a couple of water filters that can filter vast quantities, eg Sawyer Micro or Mini. Can filter up to 100,000 Gallons. Also of course you can boil water if you have fire and a pot.
For me the most important thing is that you are getting the right mindset. For me anything you do now should put you in a better place. Our water here is really hard, so we use bottled water for consumption. Because of this we naturally rotate our water.
I think you have to answer for example,
Are you thinking about drinking water only? Someone may have a different answer, but 2L per day per person minimum
How much space do you have available for this ?
How long does this water need to last ?
Personally as we live in the UK there isn't a great distance for the government to ship water into an area. I think if there is no water after 2 weeks then we are in big trouble.
A gallon a day is the recommended amount. At rest. I have been drinking a litre per hour lately. My illness started with dehydration. Fishing today ,I drank 3 litres in 4 hours. It was all I could carry in. Prepping- wise we have 100 litres stored. Then ( sorry, imperial here) 400 gallons of rain catchment, with filtration available. Then there’s the brook over the road. Water is simple,but THE MOST IMPORTANT prep. Not a bug out bag.
A gallon is 4.54 lites. BBC quoting European Food Safety Authority says 2 litres for a man and 1.6 for a woman. UK govt say 6-8 cups or glasses a day (NHS quotes this). A UK cup = 1/2 pint = 0.28 litre, so that is 1.7 - 2.2 litres. NHS recommends "up to 3 litres a day" for kidney stone sufferers. One of the causes of kidney stones is dehydration. The NHS has a chart for urine colour. Of course it's not easy to tell from looking in the toilet bowl as it gets diluted, but you can get a good idea.
I think the 'gallon a day' preppers talk about includes for washing, cooking etc.
I am aware of over drinking too. I think it’s Hyponatremia , if I remember my boot neck training properly.Boy did I see what a shortage of water can do when I did jungle training in Belize. We haven’t got a puking emoji. I have been part time at work this week - physical work is what I do too. Along with the fact that , because of the restaurant and all the fridge motors, our place is warm. 3 litres is easily required. The problem with ‘statistics’ is that so often, they are based on sedentary lifestyles. Folks who do physical work are on another level. Always makes me smile when work is considered as ‘ going to the office’ The biggest problem for most - and we all know- is not enough water.
Oh, and I do know the conversion from imperial to metric, and reverse. My water barrels are 50 gallon ,always were and still are.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
British Nutrition Foundation say the 6-8 glasses is only 1.2 l. Seems low. Yes of course if you are doing hard physical activity in hot weather you'll need to drink extra. Some atheletes actually weigh themselves every hour and drink water equal in weight to the weight loss.
Here is a link to a calculator that factors in various things https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculat ... ulator.php
Frnc wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:20 pm
British Nutrition Foundation say the 6-8 glasses is only 1.2 l. Seems low. Yes of course if you are doing hard physical activity in hot weather you'll need to drink extra. Some atheletes actually weigh themselves every hour and drink water equal in weight to the weight loss.
Here is a link to a calculator that factors in various things https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculat ... ulator.php
Thanks. Don’t need a calculator, I know how much graft I do and how much Council Pop I need! My mate dropped at least ten barrow loads of logs onto our front garden today. I’ll shift em in the morning; Given the length of the property, that will be about a quarter mile of barrowing. If I drink more than I am told I *SHOULD* then that’ll be up to me, as I do physical graft. Something this country needs , instead of … I won’t continue.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
We haven’t got a puking emoji. 
I have been part time at work this week - physical work is what I do too. Along with the fact that , because of the restaurant and all the fridge motors, our place is warm. 3 litres is easily required. The problem with ‘statistics’ is that so often, they are based on sedentary lifestyles. Folks who do physical work are on another level. Always makes me smile when work is considered as ‘ going to the office’