Water Usage & Storage

Usage: Humans need about 1 gallon of water per day per person. This is only for drinking and direct preparation of food. It does not include water usage for:

• Personal hygiene (2-25 gallons)
• Flushing toilets (3 gallons per flush)
• Washing clothes, dishes, etc.
• Watering animals.

When planning for water storage & usage, take into account these additional needs. Having only the minimum 1 gallon per person per day will be greatly insufficient in practice.

Storage: Water will not “expire” or “go bad” if:

• It is clean when placed into the container.
• Stored in a sealed, food-grade container. The safest are polyethylene-based plastics, or plastics #1, #2 and #4.
• Stored in a dark, cool area.
• Stored in a container that keeps out all light (light causes bacterial growth).
• Stored in a container not sitting on concrete or other materials that may “leech”.

That said, it’s still recommended to rotate stored water periodically (6-12 months). Additionally, stored water may have a “stale” taste. This can be helped through aeration (pouring from one clean container to another a few times).