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Water, Sanitation, Hygiene: Household Plan

Your household water plan will need to accommodate hydration, hygiene, cooking, and cleaning. 


Hydration


Your goal is to store enough water for everyone in your household for 4 weeks. Store a minimum of 1 gallon of water per person per day and ½ gallon of water per pet per day. Note: The average American uses much more than 100 gallons of water per day so it is a good idea to store more water than just 1 gal. per person per day.


Minimum: (number of people x 30) + (number of pets x 15) = number of gallons


Step 1. Store water properly. Storing water may be difficult because it takes up so much space. The easiest and safest way is to store it in 5-gallon stackable plastic jugs. Follow these procedures for preparing your water supply:


  • Treat the water. A Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment 5-Pack from Aquamira will treat 300 gallons.

  • Seal the jugs.

  • Stack and anchor the jugs (i.e., in a wooden frame) so they don’t fall over. Raise the stack off the ground so it doesn’t get damaged by rodents or flooding


Now your supply should be good for five years.


Step 2. Treat water properly. If you can’t store enough water, then store some water treatment supplies so you can, after a disaster, filter and purify water from other sources, like your water heater tank, a pond, or a rain barrel. 


Here are different ways to filter water:


  • Use a gravity water filter, like a Berkey filter or a LifeStraw filter. Berkey filters remove volatile organic compounds and other contaminants. LifeStraws remove bacteria, parasites, and suspended solids. Gravity water filters are not suitable for filtering saltwater or debris-heavy water, which should be filtered first through a mesh screen or cheesecloth.


  • Stock up on Life Straws, inexpensive portable personal water filters.


  • Strain it through cloth, a paper towel, an N-95 mask, or a coffee filter.


  • Invest in a water filtration system.


  • Run it through the filter in your refrigerator. These filters usually unscrew from the bottom of the unit.


Here are different ways to purify water:


  • Use purification tablets.


  • Purify water and kill most viruses by adding liquid household bleach containing 6 or 8.25 percent sodium hypochlorite but no scents, soap, or thickeners. Use 8 drops of 6 percent or 6 drops of 8.25 percent bleach for each gallon of water. Let the water stand for 30 minutes. Retreat the water if it doesn't have a slight chlorine smell.


  • Boil water to kill bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Boil for one minute. To improve the taste, salt it or pour it back and forth between two containers.


  • Distill water by filling a pot halfway with water. Then tie a cup to the inside of a pot's lid, mouth up. Boil the water for 20 minutes. Retrieve the distilled water that has gathered inside the cup.


Step 3. Prevent water loss. Don’t let a disaster destroy access to water sources you already have. Store your water supply carefully and shut off your water valve to stop leaks. Make sure rodents can’t access and destroy your supply (rodents like water too). 


Hygiene


Step 1. Put together a hygiene kit for your household members. The kit will enable people to stay clean even after a disaster in which water and power are shut off. 


Using soap followed by hand sanitizer is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (at least 60% alcohol). Hand sanitizer reduces the amount of germs, but it does not eliminate all types of germs. Thoroughly washing with soap for 20 seconds is more effective.


Your hygiene kit should include the following:


  • Soap

  • Toothpaste

  • Sanitizer wipes

  • Hand sanitizer

  • Shampoo or dry shampoo

  • Privacy tent 

  • Hand washing station including a water container with a spigot, a catch bucket, and soap

  • Menstruation products

  • Paper towels

  • Towels

  • Wash rags

  • Sun shower


Step 2. Create a laundry kit for your household.


  • Bucket

  • Laundry soap

  • Clothesline

  • Clothespins

  • Portable camping laundry washer with pump


Step 3. Create a cleaning kit for your household.


  • Bucket

  • Disinfectant

  • Bleach

  • Rags

  • Scrubbing brushes

  • Dish soap

  • Paper towels

  • Towels

  • Garbage bags


Step 4. Create a bathroom kit. This kit consists of two separate buckets: one for pee and one for poo. You line the poo bucket with a trash bag. Put used toilet paper in the poo bucket and cover poo with some sort of filler material, like sawdust, cat litter, eco gel, or shredded paper. When the poo bucket is full, seal the bag shut and keep it in a trash can. Dilute the pee bucket with gray water (used water, like your dirty dishwater) and then spread the contents in your yard.


  • Two buckets

  • Cat litter, sawdust, shredded paper 

  • Two plastic toilet seats

  • Toilet paper

  • Garbage bags

  • Privacy tent

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