We have been encouraged for a long time, not only by our Church leaders, but also in a roundabout way by our government's emergency preparedness agency, FEMA.  There is not a lot of publicity about it, but September 2011 is National Preparedness Month…did you know that?  I probably should have, but I didn't figure that one out until the month was almost over.  I blogged about our recent Southern California black-out a little over a week ago.  I included some information on places to get 72-hour kits, places to purchase them and a link to a list of things to include if you are going to make your own.  What I didn't mention was water storage. 

As soon as we started gathering our wits about us, one of the first things we did was to fill our 5 gallon water storage containers.  Having them doesn't help if there is no water in them.  As it turned out, we didn't need to use the water, but I know that friends on the other side of the freeway were told to boil their water before drinking it.  We have a lot of 2 liter soda bottles on shelves in the garage that we have recycled for our water storage.  That is an inexpensive way to start your water storage.  Water that you bottle yourself is supposed to be used or replaced every six month.   Someone once suggested an easy reminder for me – redo your water when General Conference (Mormon) comes around…April and October.  Another easy way would be at the first day of spring and the first day of fall…you pick, just be consistent.  Here is a printable document for How to store water for drinking or cooking.

I found this interesting YouTube video by someone that is way more precise and his water may last longer, but remember that your water does not require chlorine bleach if your tap water already has it in it.  It isn't a bad idea to test your water.

 The whole idea is to be prepared.  I have heard people talk about how they have their 72-hour kits, but when I ask them the last time they replenished/rotated it, it has usually been a long time.  This can be truly noticeable when you have children that may have outgrown their change of clothes, or moved from diapers to underwear, but even if it's an adult kit, you want to make sure that the food you are counting on will still be fit for human consumption.  So…

Get a kit…make a plan…be informed!   Be prepared!