Saturday, October 6, 2018

The Case For Storing Water

It doesn't need to be a catastrophic event to find we need to have water included in our food storage plans.

Duane stopped in about midnight Friday night.  He said the lady living in the apartment beneath his had knocked on his door to find out if he was having problems with water overflowing in his apartment.  It seems she was having water pouring into hers through her ceiling.  Finding no source of the water problem, they concluded that a pipe may have burst between the two floors.  Duane went down to the basement and shut off the main water valve.  (That's one of the advantages of living in the same building for a number of years.  You know where the shut-off valve is.)  They called our landlord and left a message about the water problem.  Duane then let me know what was going on.

For some in my building, having the water shut off will be a major problem.  I asked Duane if he needed water for the morning before he went to work.  He said he was good.  He keeps cases of drinking water in his apartment.

Storing water in my small apartment is a challenge.  I have no place to store those big water barrels that many use.  What I do have is space behind my sofa that contains several dozen 2 liter soda bottles and gallon juice bottles filled with water.  I have 6 cases (24 per case) of bottled drinking water on a shelf in one of my shelving units.  Used sparingly, that amount of water will last both Duane and me at least a week or more.  Including the absolute necessity of morning coffee.  :)

In looking around my apartment I found that with a little bit of rearranging, I have room for 4 more cases of bottled water.  If I spend the money to buy several of those square, stackable water jugs I have seen advertised, I could store still more water under my bed or in an out of the way corner of my apartment.

Water is more important to have on hand than is food.  They say we can go a couple of weeks without food but only about 3 days without water. 

I'm sure there are others like me to whom water intake is vital.  I take a pill each day to help get rid of the fluid build-up in my body.  Which means I need to drink plenty of water to avoid becoming dehydrated.    Which is a really silly Catch-22 situation, but there it is.

We are not in an emergency situation by any means, but it has caused me to rethink my water storage and think of ways to improve it.

13 comments:

  1. I only have a gallon of water and a case of 24 bottles. I know I need more, but it is not happening. I do have a water bob, but that needs to be filled before the water goes off. I save vinegar gallon bottles for filling with water. It just needs to be done. I am glad you are okay and have son to help.

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    1. Linda...What you have is a good start. I have been storing water for several years now. We get summer storms and tornadoes that can knock out the power. Blizzards in the winter can do the same. I can't just run to the store for more water, so it makes sense to store enough here in my apartment.

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  2. I store water in both vinegar bottles and bleach bottles. I only buy the original bleach and after a couple of rinses, the water is safe for drinking and cooking. I also store water in laundry detergent bottles for flushing the toilet or washing up in the bathroom. I find that I can store 8 of the large detergent bottles beneath the sink in the bathroom. I keep 8 cases of bottled water on hand all the time.

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    1. granny j...I use the smaller bottles for water storage because arthritic hands have an easier time of lifting and pouring from them. The vinegar and bleach bottles are an excellent idea. I do put a couple drops of bleach in each bottle. I hadn't thought about using detergent bottles for water storage. Thanks for the tip. Sounds to me like you are well prepared. :)

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  3. I fall VERY short on water storage. I need to work on that.

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    1. Gorges...I probably wouldn't be as aware as I am were it not for that pesky fluid pill I need to take daily. Plus the fact that I can not go out myself to get water should the need arise. That's why I got much more serious about storing water.

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  4. Nice post. I eeked out space in my bathroom between the tub and the toilet for two-12 gallon blue jugs I got at our Wallyworld. They're designed to stack on top of each other and sort of 'lock' into place. The lock is good to prevent shifting, imo, but won't withstand a good bump from MrDog.
    I too use reclaimed soda bottles and gallon jugs from the distilled water I now buy.
    I've found that one down side of living in an apartment is I have no control over things like the water shutoff. Usually we get a notice if there's planned maintenance but not always. This building is over 30 years old and there have been several 'emergencies' that have shut the water off as well.
    Have a great day. Keep looking for that oreo recipe, or not.Oreos are some of my favorite cookies.
    Cheers, SJ

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    1. SJ...The blue jugs you mentioned are what I have in mind to get. A couple of summers ago, a neighborhood in St. Paul was ravaged by a tornado. Not only did they lose power, but a good share of the surrounding neighborhoods lost power as well. It took weeks to get the electricity up and running again. I don't have nearly enough water stored to withstand a power outage like that, keeping in mind if homes are without electricity, the nearby stores will have none, either.

      I'm surprised there have been so few times when the water needed to be turned off for repairs. This building was built in the late 1800's and even though I am sure there have been upgrades, it still is a very old building. Our former landlord put up a big sign in the laundry room in the basement, pointing out where the water shut-off valve was and how to use it. There have been only a couple of times in the past 21 years when anyone needed to use it, so we have been lucky.

      I haven't found the recipe yet. If you copy and paste this:
      https://www.youtube.com/user/phyllisue/videos
      she has several videos about Jello dessert recipes. That's where I got the idea to try some of those wonderful recipes from the 1950's. I will keep looking but if I can't find it, there is always Oreo cookies to be eaten. :)

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    2. SJ...I found the mother lode of Mom's dessert recipes. Silly me. I forgot that I had moved them from Mom's totally unorganized recipe box to my recipe box where recipes are kept in categories. I will type them up this evening and do a post tomorrow giving you all six that I found and remember from childhood. Mom made the best desserts ever. :)

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    3. In re-reading this, I have to correct a mistake I made. The Blue jugs are 3 gallons, not 12 gallons. I could no more lift a full 12 gallons then run a marathon!
      I also have some larger blue totes sitting outside by my front door. Each tote holds 6- 3L former juice bottles now filled with water. It looks ok and so far no one has complained about my extra storage area. Cheers, SJ

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    4. Ha! on the marathon. I'm not so sure I could even tote a 5 gallon bucket of water any more. I need to do some serious rearranging to accommodate some 3-gallon jugs. I have no balcony on my apartment (there is a communal deck, but stuff left there would walk away)and being on the second floor, my door opens on a hallway, so no storage options there. I really have to get better organized. :)

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  5. Phyllis Stokes? I love her videos.

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    1. Linda...Me, too! Some of the food she makes is new to me as she is in the South and I am in the North. But lots of it is dishes I remember from years ago. I just love her channel.

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