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72 Hour Kit Series Week #2: Making Water Safe

Welcome!

Welcome to week #2 in the “72 Hour Kit Ideas: A week by week approach” series.

 

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This series is also available as an e-book. Purchasing the e-book gives you a few additional benefits over just reading the free series:

  • Additional details and tips
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Last Week

I hope all of you were able to gather some water you can carry to your 72 hr kit supplies last week.

Week #3: Making Water Safe

 

If during an evacuation of your area you were able to take your car, it would be very reasonable to take three or more gallons of water per person for your family.  You should have at least this much water ready to throw into your car at a moment’s notice.

But what if you are forced to evacuate your area on foot?  It’s simply not realistic to carry that much water over any real distance.  So, the fact is, you can’t carry enough water for three days in your actual pack.

But, it is highly likely you will come across alternative water sources in one form or another: a lake, pond, backyard pool, stream, river, rainwater, etc.  If you come across other vacant homes, you may be able to use hidden water sources there: ice cubes, hot water tanks, pipes, toilet reserve tanks, etc.

However, since you will be uncertain of the source or cleanliness of these water sources, you will need a way to make them safe to drink. This week, add supplies to your kit that will allow you to make alternative water sources safe to drink.

There are many methods of making water safe to drink.  There are pros and cons to each method. No one method will work well for everyone in all situations. Choose what works best from the following suggestions for your family right now!

Suggestion#1: Bleach

If you choose this method, you will need to keep bleach in your 72 hour kit (find a small container at a dollar store or in the travel section).  Make sure to rotate it every few months!  You may also want to consider adding a drink mix to make treated water more palatable.  Print out the following instructions from FEMA and keep them with the bleach:

Use only regular household liquid bleach that contains 5.25 to 6.0 percent sodium hypochlorite. Do not use scented bleaches, colorsafe bleaches, or bleaches with added cleaners. Because the potency of bleach diminishes with time, use bleach from a newly opened or unopened bottle.  Add 16 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach per gallon of water, stir and let stand for 30 minutes. The water should have a slight bleach odor. If it doesn’t, then repeat the dosage and let stand another 15 minutes. If it still does not smell of bleach, discard it and find another source of water.

Suggestion #2: Boiling and Distillation

If you choose this method, add a large pot with a handled lid (see illustration below), a small cup, string, and a small stove (with fuel) to your 72 hr kit. Print these instructions from FEMA and keep them with your pot:

Distillation involves boiling water and then collecting the vapor that condenses back to water. The condensed vapor will not include salt or most other impurities. To distill, fill a pot halfway with water. Tie a cup to the handle on the pot’s lid so that the cup will hang right-side-up when the lid is upside-down (make sure the cup is not dangling into the water), and boil the water for 20 minutes. The water that drips from the lid into the cup is distilled.  (see illustration)

Suggestion #3: Water Purification Tablets/Treatment Solutions

If you choose this method, make sure that the option you purchase includes directions and be sure to include them in your kit.  If you can’t get some at your grocery store, here are a few options: Aquamira water treatment , purification tablets.  You may also want to consider adding a drink mix to make treated water more palatable.

Suggestion #4: Water Filtration BottleBuild a robust, personalized 72 hour kit one week at a time over 26 weeks

If you choose this method, you can get two different bottles: One for around $20 and one for around $30.  You can also get a Seychelle bottle for just over $30.

Suggestion #5: SteriPen

If you choose this method, purchase one (or more) of the SteriPens and add it to your kit.

Suggestion #6: Water Filters

Build a robust, personalized 72 hour kit one week at a time over 26 weeksIf you choose this method, purchase one (or more) water filters and add it to your kit (here are those available through me at THRIVE Life and a few more that are available through Amazon.

 

What We Have Done in Our Family

When we first started our 72 hour kits, we used just purification tablets because they were cost effective. I still keep some in our kits. We have since added four filtration bottles: one in each kit. I like the convenience and familiarity the filter bottles provide. Plus, they are light and will allow us to filter 120 gallons of water without changing any filters.

How about You?

Leave me a comment and tell me how you’ve decided to add the ability to purify/filter water to your kit.

 

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Clean water is essential in an emergency. You can't carry enough, but there are solutions.

 

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Week #1: Water To Carry Week #3: Plan Your Food Series Into: 72 Hour Kit Series, A Week by week approach

 

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Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.

196 thoughts on “72 Hour Kit Series Week #2: Making Water Safe”

  1. I’m first going to quit buying the color safe or scented bleaches, that way I know my bleach has been rotated. Second I’m looking into rain barrels, but its against the law to capture rain. So I’m probably going to fill them with tap water from the faucet and just store them outside for the time being.

    Reply
  2. I bought some bleach and printed the instructions to tape to the side of the bottle. We also rotate water bottles and have filtration bottles. Need to work on larger storage. Thanks for the tips.

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  3. Bed bath and beyond sells Bobbles. They are water filtration bottles. They are pretty reasonable especially after the 20% off coupon. They also come in different colors for color coding to family members and are light weight. I use them for backpacking.

    Reply
  4. We’ve got bleach for our kits. I would love to get a couple of filter water bottles eventually, but I’m waiting to find a good deal first.

    Reply
    • THRIVE Life has a great deal on a 4 pkg going on right now Erica (if you want / need four). Each Seychelle bottle produces up to 100 gallons of water. The retail price is $31.99 per bottle, but the 4 pkg is on sale right now for $70.99 which makes them just $17.75 / bottle. Let me know if you want more details!

      Reply
  5. We have purification tablets in our packs right now. Will stick with those and thanks to this blog we will be adding a Katadyn Hiker Microfilter!!! So excited!! As always, thanks for the great info. Love it!!!

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  6. Really appreciated the article. I recently purchased a water filtration device, and also have a portable camping stove so distillation could be an option too. Definitely thinking more about this. Great article!

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  7. I decided to add the ability to purify / filter water to my kit by adding some water purification bottles to our 72 hour kit. Thank you for the valuable information on various water purification methods.

    Reply
  8. I have purification tablets, bleach and a filter bottle. I need to add more filter bottles and I really, really want an Aquapail or two for both the kits and the house. If we have to leave, the first items and a small Aquapail would be great. I have been researching deep-well hand pumps and deep-well buckets in the event we shelter in. Depending on the disaster (thinking earthquake and cracked casing) the well water may have to be filtered if we are able to pull any up. The water I have stored will get us through for a while, but would also want the option of using filtered well, pond, creek or river water.

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  9. Congratulations, Tiffany W.! In each of our kits is an aqua filter straw, which filters out 99.9999 percent of contaminants. With it, you can drink water right from the source. We have collapsible 5 gallon water containers, as well. I also plan on adding water filter bottles for each of us. For home, we have an Aqua Pail (thanks to you!)that we could take with us if need be, a water bob for the bathtub (a bladder that fits the tub & has a spout to access it) and 48 gallons of bottled water. I still need to look into the water boxes.

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    • Sounds like you have a lot Deb! I’m impressed and glad you are happy about the Aqua Pail. It is a great product!

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  10. Well, Misty, after hearing you brag so on the aqua pails and going though this series for about four or five times I finally used some of my free credits and bought an Aqua pail! I only bought the little one as it is now just me at home! Now my year plus food storage comes out to about two and a half years! I also have some of the foil packets, a couple of five gallon jugs from the water delivery that I switch out every couple of months a couple of cases of the water boxes. I like these cuz I can carry them in the car and they do not leak and even stay a bit cool!
    I would love to win the 12 pack of Expresses as I also keep them in my get out bags! Easy to prepare and yummy too! I also follow you here, on Facebook and on the Thrive Crew!

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  11. I will do the first four things on this list. We each have a Berkey Sport water bottle in our packs. I would love to get an aqua pail for home though.

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      • I know, right!!! I hold my breath every time I hit the reply button to see if it is going to take me to the screen that tells me I was unable to post due to some issue or another. I am very excited that I can post comments again without bugging you through your email :)

        Reply
  12. I have drink mixes and water purification tablets in our kit. My goal is to have filtered water bottles for each pack as well. I also have a bag of granular pool shock (instead of bleach) in our kit so we can sterilize water if needed. I need to research and figure out exactly how to use the shock). At home, we have an in ground pool and 4 ponds surrounding our house so we have lots of water source options for filtering. I saw a video on how to make a homemade water filtering system and I am planning to make one. It would be portable enough to toss in the back of the SUV if we were able to evacuate on foot.

    Reply
  13. I think I will start small with the purification tablets, then move to a water filtration bottle for each family member. We have a portable water filter now at home, so if we have to sit tight we should be fine for awhile.

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  14. I recently started thinking about what my family would do in case of an emergency & realized we aren’t even close to prepared. We live in Texas where it is hot so water would be the main necessity for my family…all I have is a gallon collapsible container. I think I’m going to get the tablets for the time being to have on hand, then I’m going to get the filtration bottles. I love the Aquapail option though! Thank you for your site, extremely helpful!

    Reply
  15. I am including coffee filters and purification tablets in each person’s kit. We would also like to get a water filter in my and my husband’s packs. And those Aqua Pails look really neat. That’s going on my list to get someday, too.

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  16. We just got a gift from a friend, and I set some of it aside for purification tablets. We have bleach, but the chance for error there is higher than the pre-measured tablets, so I’d use those first.

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  17. Water, in all aspects of our preps, is an area that is not adequate for my family’s long term survival. I need to build on storage as well as purification and pumping. We are on such a limited budget that I can’t even go to the grocery store weekly, so extras like filters are not even possible. I have been working on a sand filtration system because the supplies are on hand. I really want to get a Katadine or Berkey and more ways to store water.I do have goals, but I’m afraid that the SHTF may happen before I am prepared.

    Reply
  18. Just started my emergency kit, I had been putting off starting it because it seemed to be such an overwhelming task. But this series has been so helpful in breaking it down to simple steps, glad I found your site.
    Thanks so much!

    Reply
  19. well, luckily, i won the filter last week, so that was a huge score right there. we also have filtered bottle in each of our packs with an extra filter. I just got cheap ones at target but would eventually like to upgrade those too. I would also like to eventually get an aqua pail for our packs and a large one for the house!

    Reply

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