Water, Water, Everywhere
and Lots of Ways to Drink
by Donald Ray Burger
Last revised January 20, 2025

Several things can affect your home's water supply. In winter, you may have shut off the municipal water to your house in order to protect your pipes from freezing. Or, your neighborhood may have had so many broken pipes from freezing weather that your water supply is reduced to a trickle.

Several times in Houston, the city has issued a "boil water alert" or it has lost water pressure because of infra structure problems. If the electricity supply to the city's water purification facilities fails, the water pumps won't work. Sometimes problems occur with the water purification processes themselves. These problems can happen in cold weather and during hurricanes. Regardless of the causes, you should be prepared to handle a day or two or more without your city water. This article is designed as a "to do" list of ways to prepare for a lack of city water.

Many people recommend having one gallon of water per person per day. I believe this is entirely too little water. I recommend, as a bare minimum, two gallons per day per person. And really, three gallons should be your goal. In addition to water for drinking, you will need water for washing dishes and hands, and for toilet needs. Your pets will also need their own water supply.

Gather your water early on, while you can get it from your faucets. Faucet water is essentially available at no extra charge to you. This will make it psychologically easier to dump this water if it turns out you don't need it and you will avoid the long lines and expense of buying water at the grocery store--assuming they even have water left by the time you get there.

1. Fill up your bathtubs. You can use that water to flush the toilets. Keep a five gallon bucket nearby to transfer water from the tub to the toilet. You will want to make sure the seal on the tub doesn't leak. If it does, there are several solutions. You can take some vaseline and put it around the edge of the stopper and that often makes enough of a seal to stop the leaks. If not, Amazon sells rubber seals to fit over the drain in your tub. Order one per tub today for future use. If necessary, try a temporary patch made with the clingy plastic wrap like Saran wrap. Test these seals out before you need them.

2. Get a five gallon Igloo container like construction workers use for water on the job site. The virtue of this type of container is that it has a spigot to make getting the water out easy. This is important because water weighs eight pounds per gallon. Tilting a full five gallon bucket of water to pour in a glass is not fun. I think having at least one five gallon Igloo container is essential. Remember that even if you can lift the weight, your children need a way to get a single glass of water. These Igloo containers also have excellent lids that keep all that water from sloshing about if you have to move them.

3. A Jerry can of five gallons of water with a spout. These Jerry cans are very useful if you have to leave your house and take water with you. And, if their forty pounds is too hard to manage, fill them only part way. Amazon sells them.

4. Five gallon buckets from a home improvement store. Get several of these in advance. They stack easily. Their lids are not user friendly, but they are tight fitting. Also, you can buy replacement lids that screw down and are easy to manage. Check with Amazon.

5. Coffee pots. If you have a big one that you use for parties, get it out and fill it up.

6. Tea pots.

7. Ice tea containers.

8. Berkey water filters. They are considered best in class. They are a little expensive, but nothing beats them if you are without water for an extended period. I bought mine from Amazon.

9. Pots and pans you use for cooking. The bigger the better.

10. Your slow cooker or InstaPot.

11. I have an aquarium and I have a 2-1/2 gallon container that I use for making water changes. If you have one, top off your aquarium and then fill up the 2-1/2 gallon container.

12. Get a five gallon container from your home improvement store to use in each bathroom for transferring water from the tub for flushing toilets. If you prefer, think about using a plastic water can from your garden for this bathroom chore. Remember that you will be using the water from the bathtubs you filled up.

13. Your hot water heater should have twenty to forty gallons of water in it. This is a last resort source. Research how to get the water out of the heater and how to safely turn off your heater before you empty it. Turning it back on may require a visit from a plumber unless you are skilled in home improvement tasks.

14. You can buy one-gallon containers of drinking water from the grocery store, if you get there early. Where to store all those containers makes them impractical except in the very short run.

15. You can also buy a case of one liter water bottles. They are expensive, but very convenient. Shop early to avoid shortages.

16. Don't forget all those plastic travel water bottles and coffee mugs you have in your kitchen cabinets. Fill them from the faucet.

17. Don't forget to locate your water purification tablets if you have to get lake water or if you have rain barrels for your garden. With proper treatment, that water can become drinkable.

18. Life Straw and Sawyer make very inexpensive water filters that it would be wise to have on hand. Check Academy, or REI or Amazon. If you have rain barrels, that water can become drinkable if you have a filter.

19. Swimming pool water is too chlorinated to drink, but it will do for flushing toilets and washing dishes.

20. Hot Tub water is too chlorinated to drink, but it will do for flushing toilets and washing dishes.

I hope this short article will help you and get your creative juices flowing to find even more ways to provide water for you and your loved ones. If you have ideas I have omitted, let me know and I will add them to the list.

Thanks for reading.