The one-weekend water project
This month we covered 30 conversations about water — from how much to store to what a boil water advisory means, from PFAS certifications to bleach ratios, from gravity filters to deep well hand pumps. This final note is for the household that read through it all and is ready to actually do something. Here is what one weekend looks like, and what you will have when it is done.
Saturday morning — the store run
The list is short. Everything on it is available at Walmart, Target, REI, or any outdoor retailer in the US. The total cost at modest prices is $75 to $90.
Two Reliance Aqua-Tainer 7-gallon containers
$15 to $20 each — $30 to $40 total. This is your stored water.
One Sawyer Squeeze water filter
$35 to $45. This is your filtration capability for a lifetime.
One pack of Potable Aqua purification tablets
$8 to $12. This is your backup disinfection when boiling is not practical.
One 1-liter SmartWater bottle (if Sawyer pouch looks flimsy)
$2 to $3. The SmartWater bottle threads directly onto the Sawyer filter and is significantly more durable than the included squeeze pouch.
Saturday afternoon — filling and storing
Take both Aqua-Tainers to a sink. Fill them from the tap. Municipal tap water requires no treatment before storage — the chlorine already present is adequate protection. Do not add anything to the containers. Screw the lids on firmly. Write today's date on each container with a permanent marker. The note should say: "Filled [month] [year]. Rotate by [month] [year + 1]."
Find a cool, dark location for storage. A closet, utility room, under a bed (if clearance allows), or a garage in a climate-controlled space. Not a hot attic. Not in direct sunlight. Set the containers down in that location and leave them.
That is your stored water. You now have 14 gallons — enough for one adult at the minimum ration for two weeks, or two adults for one week. It cost $30 to $40, took 20 minutes, and will stay there until next year when you rotate it into the garden, refill, and re-date.
Saturday evening — the three-line water plan
This takes five minutes. Write three lines on a notecard and put it with the stored water containers:
Where our water is stored: [Location. Be specific: "Hall closet, bottom shelf, two blue 7-gallon jugs."]
How to filter additional water: [Sawyer Squeeze location. "Kitchen junk drawer, orange filter. Connect to SmartWater bottle. Squeeze to filter."]
Who to contact for information during a water advisory: [Your utility's website or alert line. Thirty seconds to look this up now; unavailable when you need it during an outage.]
That card represents the household's complete water emergency protocol. It is not a 40-page binder. It is three lines that any adult in the household can read and act on.
Sunday — testing the filter
Take the Sawyer Squeeze out of the package. Read the instructions — they take two minutes. Fill the SmartWater bottle from the tap, attach the filter, and squeeze water through into a cup. Drink it. The filter removes bacteria and protozoa; tap water run through it is safe. The practice run confirms the filter works, gets you comfortable with the mechanism, and means you will not be figuring it out for the first time during an emergency.
Backflush the filter once to confirm you know how: connect the included syringe to the output end of the filter, draw clean water, push it backwards through the filter. You will feel resistance, then water will flow back through the inlet. That is the complete maintenance operation. You now know how to do it.
Put the filter in the kitchen drawer. Not in storage. The kitchen drawer is where it will actually be findable during a disruption.
What you have when it is done
At the end of this weekend, your household has:
- •14 gallons of stored drinking water, dated and in food-grade containers
- •A 100,000-gallon portable water filter you know how to use
- •A backup chemical disinfection option for situations where a filter is not appropriate
- •A three-line water plan that anyone in the household can execute
- •A rotation date so the supply stays fresh without requiring you to remember anything
Total cost: $75 to $90. Total time: roughly three hours across two days, most of which was shopping and waiting for containers to fill. This is the complete foundation. Everything else — more storage, a gravity filter, a WaterBOB for storm season, a 55-gallon drum for the long-term household — builds on top of this. The foundation does not require anything more to be genuinely useful.
Most of your neighbors have not done this. Most of your coworkers have not done this. After this weekend, you have.
On the shelf
Reliance Aqua-Tainer 7-Gallon
$15 to $20 at Walmart, Target, and outdoor retailers nationwide. Food-grade HDPE, BPA-free. Start with two. The most cost-effective first step in household water preparedness.
All water storage containers compared →This was Water Month
Thirty field notes covering storage, filtration, treatment, PFAS, infrastructure, well water, rainwater, testing, and the conversations happening in preparedness communities right now. The Water Hub has the complete guides for every topic covered this month.
Water Preparedness Hub — everything in one place →Go deeper
Full guidance on NWS:
Related field notes
Sources
- FEMA / Ready.gov: Water Storage Guidance
- CDC: Emergency Water Supply Planning
- Sawyer Products: SP131 Squeeze Filter use and maintenance instructions