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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Water Challenge: One Gallon of Water for One Day

Original Article

Similar to other emergency drills such as earthquake, fire, and tornado, this drill is intended to familiarize your family with a difficult situation. They may also become more confident and prepared to deal with other challenges that could arise. Use wisdom and caution when trying out this challenge. Keep members of your family well hydrated and it will be a good experience for everyone.

The Challenge

Consider living at least 24 hours with only one gallon of stored water per family member per day. For example: a family of four would need to live off of 4 gallons of water for a 24 hour period.

You may be thinking this will be easy. Anyone can go without cooking or extensive cleaning for 24 hours. You can expect that your children will have no problem drinking less than a gallon of water per day. However, consider average water usage in non-emergency situations.


When you begin to consider sanitation, cooking, and washing clothes you'll notice that one gallon of water is an absolute minimum.

After completing this challenge you may want to take some time to evaluate what occurred and re-evaluate your family's preparedness plans. Were the proper tools available to cope with limited water use? Would one gallon of water per person per day be sufficient for your family? Most recommendations are for 2-5 gallons of water per person per day in an emergency. Spend some time discussing the results with your family and adjust your plans accordingly.

Click here for more about how this challenge can help you and your family be prepared.




1 comment:

  1. The post makes a good thought, however the usage concerns domestic water not SHTF water. Hygiene basic tooth rushing, bird bath and hair washing can be done, if one has short hair with a quart of water. DO NOT run the tap.

    Clothes washing Yes that will be more water intensive, however this does not assume usage as 1 gallon of water to wash and 1 to rinse, doing laundry by hand can be accomplished getting 4 t shirts, 4 briefs, 41 large shirt 4 pair socks , 1 Shirt and 1 pair pants.

    for 24 hours, the fema recommendation of 1 gallon /person/day makes certain and IMHO incorrect assumptions such as hydration.

    Granted most folks do not drink 2 quarts of water a day, but should.

    Heat and Cold while working in the weather will mandate a gallon a day for hydration alone.

    I suspect the fema recommendation is based on the old Civil Defense water stock pile information, which included crackers and hard candy as stock piles, rather than regular and consistent nutrition. These stocks were based on a population that was limited in movement and or calorie expenditures as every one was in a room with very little space.

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