August is Water Month

I am following the Project Ark purchasing plan for Food Storage. For the month of August, we need to store water.

Minimum needed for ONE PERSON for TWO WEEKS is 50 litres. This is just for cooking and drinking. Store as much as is possible for your situation so that you will have some to use for bathing. A good tip I found out on Saturday is to include apple cider vinegar. You put 1 part cider vinegar to 2 parts water for bathing. The vinegar removes any soap residue allowing you to use less water.

For most areas of your body, you can just use the vinegar and water which does not require rinsing.

Contrary to a lot of information that is being passed around here in Australia, you cannot use bleach to purify your water as it states on all American food storage information sites. We simply do not have the same bleach here that is available in the States.

Our bleach is a higher concentrate and in most cases contains additives such as soap. One brand that doesn't contain soap is the Reliance brand but is states on the bottle that it is not to be used with food and drink.

A good filter has a micron count of about 2 or less. This will clear up most water that is in use by households. It will not purify water as you will need to have a Reverse Osmosis filter for that and they can cost about $1200.

Water can be stored in PETE bottles (these are Coke, Pepsi, soft drink bottles) or juice bottles. Wash thoroughly first and then fill with clean water.

Milk bottles cannot be used for a number of reasons: it is virtually impossible to get all of the milk residue out and this will cause bacteria to grow in the water, also the bottles will break down over time.

You can also use large 60 litre drums or larger water tanks but this will be difficult if not impossible to move once filled so make sure it is where you want to leave it.

If at all possible, keep away from light as this will inhibit bacteria growth to a certain extent. Do not store directly on concrete especially in the garage as it will absorb odours and chemicals.

If you would like further information on the Ark Project you can email me and I can send you a copy. Please put Ark Project in the subject line so I don't think it is spam and delete it.