Water Supplies

Our Farmer Boy used to watch those "doomsday prepper" television programs and would frequently advise me about additional items I needed to add to our pantry and barns.  Although we are not "doomsday preppers", I do maintain a store of food, hygiene, healthcare items and water.

Today, we needed our water supply.  We did not experience any weather systems or natural disasters that usually cause the power that pumps our water well to go out.  No, our power has been working fine all day.  Instead, one of the galvanized couplers in the down hole casing rusted and gave way causing a lack of water to our house, barns and pastures.


When we realized our water well was not working I began asking myself questions like, "How long will we be without running water?" and  "How much will the repair(s) cost?"  The length of time and cost to repair water wells greatly depends on the issue.  Sometimes it costs only $25 and 45 minutes while other times it may take weeks and more than $10,000 to drill a new well.

This is an example as to why a well stocked pantry and emergency water supply is important. Clean potable water is the most important resource we all use.  Not only do we need it to prevent dehydration but we also need it for hand washing, bathrooms, washing dishes, cooking, laundry, wound and healthcare, etc. 

I know most U.S. households do not live in rural areas and are not dependent on water wells for their daily water supplies.  So, many may think my situation does not apply to them and think only a long term power failure would be of concern.  But I think an emergency water supply is even more important for urban households because when the water supply is interrupted in an urban area, EVERYONE is out of water.  Since our power was not out, today I could have gone to a neighbor for water, if I had failed to store any.  But in an urban area, if the water pumping station fails, all the neighbors are also out of water.

In the few hours our well was out, I used more than 15 gallons of stored water for drinking, cooking, hand washing, egg washing, dishes, and toilets.  Fortunately, our water well repair was not expensive nor time consuming.  But I was very glad I have my water storage available.