WATER We all know we must have sufficient clean water to stay hydrated and healthy.
Potable drinking water is one of the most important things to plan for in a multi-day Get-Home or Bail-Out SHTF emergency.
Getting sick from drinking dirty water is debilitating at any time but would be life threatening while trying to get home or bugging out.
In either scenario you will be constantly on the go and carrying some weight; water containers and a pack of some sort at a minimum.
So your water requirement will be more than a quiet day at home - probably at last one gallon a day or more.
Yet water is one of the heaviest items to carry - a gallon of water weighs over 8 pounds.
It will be a challenge to carry enough for more than a day or two.
So you will need to continually replenish your supply of drinking water.
And you cannot count on always finding safe, ready to drink, potable water along the way.
So think the process through on the various ways you may need to replenish drinking water.
You will need some containers, a filter of some sort, a way to purify water you find (bleach, purification drops or tablets, etc.).
- How will you filter dirty or muddy water?
- Into what container?
- How will you purify it?
- Will you boil it?
- Do you have a metal container for that?
- A small stove?
- A way to start a fire?
- Bleach to purify water? How much is enough?
- Purification tablets? Do you know how to use them?
- How will you prevent dirty water from contaminating your drinking cup?
There is a lot of information on the subject available so it would be prudent to study up and try to plan for different contingencies.
An important step in preps is to try out some of the ideas, processes and equipment at home before you are in an emergency situation.
4 Way Sillcock Key During a SHTF incident if you are on Get-Home or Bugging-Out trek city water systems may sill be functioning - at least for a while
When traveling through built up areas that could be a potential source of clean drinking water.
Additionally, even if the city water system is no longer working some buildings may still have water remaining in the building's water pipes.
If there is water remaining in the building pipes it can be drained from an outside faucet (aka 'hose bib').
It could provide a fair amount of clean water - especially from taller, multi-story buildings.
You may have noticed that some commercial buildings have outside water faucets that do not have faucet handles.
They look something like this:
Those faucets require a tool or 'key' to open and close them.
One tool for that purpose is known as a 4 Way Sillcock Key or Wrench.
These tools will open most of those commercial style outside faucets.
It is a handy tool to carry in your Get-Home bag and could make a big difference if you ever need it.
The keys are about 3" x 3" in size and weigh only a few ounces.
They are available for for around $5 and up at hardware stores, Walmart, Amazon, etc.