I am not a rich guy with a million acres filled with wildlife and a natural abundance of fresh clean water. I live on a .11 acre parcel with a house and just a wee little bit of yard. With this stipulation, and a desire, I have began prepping. Not only this, but I have also got the wife on board.
When it comes to water containment and conservation, a few elements are ideal. First and foremost, living somewhere where it rains quite a bit. I have that covered, since it rains at least part of the day on about 300 days a year. The next part is how to collect the rain. My wife and I were lucky enough (depending on your outlook) to need a new roof. We talked, and long term, a metal roof is better. Another benefit, rain water collection is much cleaner off of a metal roof. Asphalt shingles contain chemicals not safe for drinking off of in an emergency (although even then, it is better than sea water, and proper filtration and such should help.)
So, we are currently waiting for our roofers to come out and install the metal roof. We will then be getting seamless gutters installed since our current gutters are failing and junction points. We have decided, at least for now, to have 3 55 gallon drums on either of the 2 corners with the down spouts. We did a practice run with 1 55 gallon barrel on my chicken coop. We want to collect rain water to allow rain water to be what waters our chickens. So far, so good. We are waiting for volume, as I have connected a bulkhead hose spigot, a hose and a nozzle. Since then, rain has been very limited.
We figure, minimum plans for water is 1 gallon a day per person. There are 4 of us which means minimum 4 gallons a day. 6 55 gallon drums puts us at 330 gallons. Divide that by 4, and that is enough water for 82.5 days. The benefit is that this water will automatically be cycled through by regular use and will be replenished by rain, stretching this volume of water in an emergency. Another means for water is natural springs in the area. These water ways are clean enough to drink from right now, and depending on what kind of emergency, are either drinkable or not.
Another thought is to use 2 5-gallon buckets to create a water filter using berkely water filters. I found this on youtube. It is a filter that you fill up at night and filters over night for the next day. Keep in mind, drinking water and cooking water is what needs filtered. One other problem to consider is freezing. I will discuss that another time as it will pertain to a future post. I am thinking a solution will be a cistern in the basement, but I must do more research.
Cogito Aprendo Prepping and Views 