How much water do we need to survive?

In a temperate climate we need to take in about 6 pints of water a day. Extremes of both hot and cold or extra physical exercise will mean taking in anything up to 20 pints of water per day.

When we consider storing water for an emergency situation we need to think carefully about the quantity required. For short durations we can get away with less but consider also you will require water for cooking and also personal hygiene if you are to stay healthy. The recommendation is that you should store 1 gallon of water per day per person to cover all these needs.

If we consider a family of 4 storing water enough to cover a 72 hour emergency then that would require 3 x 4 = 12 gallons of water. That will be easy if we are staying in our home but if we have to evacuate then carrying that amount of water would be difficult, especially if we are on foot. Therefore, smaller quantities of emergency rations would be easier to manage.

We also need to consider having water purification and filtering facilities so we can make use of other water sources we may find.

Failure to make provision for our water requirement could be disastrous as we may then find ourselves falling ill due to dehydration or drinking from an unknown water supply that could equally make us very ill or even kill us.