How to Set Up Emergency Water for My Car and Garage #10　非常用水を車とガレージに

Which water is best for emergency stockpiles in my car and garage?

どの水を車とガレージに保管するの？

It is important to keep emergency supplies in your car and garage (assuming you have a car and a garage) in case your home is destroyed or rendered inaccessible.  This is my recommendation based on my own experience.  

However, there are a few things to consider when storing water for long periods of time.  Heat, cold, and humidity are major factors that can effect quality,  safety, and longevity.  Another important consideration:  water is heavy.  We don’t want to have to change or reorganize our emergency stockpile all the time, especially when it’s stored in the car or garage.

How to set up?

Here are the steps, broken down, to prepare and manage emergency drinking water supplies in your car and garage.

1. Tidy up your car and garage.  Make at least enough space to set up a mini emergency stockpile.　

You don’t need to clear a huge space, but if you can, do it.  If you don’t know how to tidy up, or you don’t think you can, here is my 30 second pep talk to help motivate you.  It’s easy.

 You just throw away “trash” until you have space.  You might think it is not trash, but other people recognize it as trash.

 The old exercise machine you haven’t touched in five years:  trash.  The box of old shoes you will literally never wear again:  trash.   The stack of ten-year-old magazines:  trash.

 

2. Get water for your car.

There are many kinds of water you can buy that are packaged specifically for emergency preparedness.

★ I pick up this one (Blue Can Water).

This is canned water, and it alleges to have a fifty-year shelf life, which means I won’t need to replace the cans until 2074.  (Note, I am not affiliated with Blue Can Water in any way.  But if any Blue Can representatives are reading this, please consider this an open invitation to discuss a marketing relationship.)　

★I pick up this one too (72 HRS )

It is very easy to fit these 72 HRS pouches in my emergency backpack without any wasted space.  The packages are on the small side (4.2 oz.), but they are extremely durable.  Round bottles and cans waste a little bit of space when you pack them together, but these little pouches don’t have that problem.

The area where I live is not super hot or cold. I buy water in glass bottles that I can use anytime, even when there is no emergency. I trust this company, and I can get this water, easily, from any of the major grocery stores nearby.　

3. Get water for your garage.  

I like to buy water in glass bottles because I don’t want to keep plastic bottles in the hot garage. Plus, it’s nice to be able to quickly grab the fancy-looking glass bottle for parties or guests.  I usually check the expiry dates, and I try to use my glass bottles of water before they’re a year old.  Whenever I go shopping, I consider getting one or two fresh glass bottles of water to replace the ones I may have used from the stockpile.　

4. Decide when to check your expiration dates and mark the event on your calendar.

I check all my emergency goods in September.  That’s the best time for me because the kids go back to school after their long summer break, and finally I am able to find some time without anyone yelling, “Mom! Mom!!!!!”  Performing this task in autumn, I imagine I’m preparing for a long, cold winter like a hibernating animal.  It depends on your schedule.  If you’re in Brazil, for example, you might prepare for your hibernation in March instead of September.  Just do not forget to check your calendar.  When the calendar says it’s time to check your stockpile’s expiration dates, take a look at each bottle/can/container and set aside the ones that are too old.  Those are the ones you need to replace with new bottles.  That’s how I do it.  I will try to use the old water when I cook  soup or coffee or something that needs to be boiled.  It’s probably not necessary to boil the old water — maybe I worry too much — but it certainly doesn’t hurt to do so.

💡

I check all my emergency goods in September.  Performing this task in autumn, I imagine I’m preparing for a long, cold winter like a hibernating animal.

毎年９月に全ての備蓄品を確認。寒い冬に備えて、まるで冬眠するかのように。

You should be all set now with drinking water for your emergency stockpile. However, so far we have only covered drinking water.

 In a future post I will talk about domestic water, which is potable or non-potable water used in households for things like washing hands, showering, washing dishes, doing laundry, and flushing toilets.

 Japan just had a big earthquake in the Noto peninsula.  My firefighter friend is part of the Noto rescue operation.  He tells me that the drinking water situation is OK, but there is no domestic water available.  It is a big problem.  They can’t flush toilets or wash anything.  No sanitation.  

At the very least, we need to know what kinds of problems to expect when there is no domestic water available so that we can prepare.

See you next time!