Emergency Water Supply

This is about emergency potable water: real, honest-to-God good-tasting and good-for-you drinking water. Quite by accident, I discovered an alternative emergency water supply idea in some pandemic survival tips published by the Board of County Commissioners in Nez Perce Co., Idaho.

For an emergency water supply they recommend a filter system you can make from 2 food-grade 5 gallon buckets (sometimes free from a local deli), a commercially available filter, and a plastic spigot. It's called the 'Gilmore' 2 bucket system and can be built in 10 minutes by someone with no mechanical skills. With this set-up, you can make up to 3,000 gallons of potable water (per filter) you have filtered from a rooftop, a rain barrel, a lake, pond or stream, or even a mud puddle.

A set-up like this should be mandatory in every household for natural disasters like tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, or whenever potable water is not available. You can make one for just over $60, and most of that is in the cost of the filter (they come in a pack of 2 for about $99). For complete instructions, click here and look under the "water" link on the left column. Choose "Finding and Filtering" then scroll down that page for instructions. The filters are Black Berkey Elements.

I have read, and re-read about this system, and many alternatives. I am convinced it is a terrific system, and everyone should have the emergency supply version on hand. The water quality and safety beats stored bottled water hands-down, and what do you do anyway when your stored water is gone?

Update June 2010
The information for the emergency filtration system is now in a PDF. Go here, and click on Finding and Filtering under the PDF Guides.