Your first priority in almost any emergency situation is to acquire a supply of water. That’s not just common sense; it’s the official protocol of the World Health Organization. In the event of a natural disaster or environmental emergency, the first step should be to provide a sufficient amount of water wherever it is needed, “even if its safety cannot be guaranteed.” Steps two and three, then, are to establish basic sanitation procedures, and to promote good hygiene.
That the UN’s foremost health agency would prioritize the collection of water over its very sanitation speaks to the importance of water alone. And it makes sense. Waterborne illnesses can usually be treated, but the human body can last only a few days without water. In an emergency, people don’t often have the luxury of days to locate a supply of water, let alone a properly filtered and treated supply of water.
All this just underscores the importance of emergency preparedness. Emergencies usually don’t arrive with much warning, so it’s on individuals and their communities to have a fail-safe water supply at hand.
There’s really no shortage of options when it comes to sources of water storage. Tanks and barrels comes in all manner of shape, size, and style, each catering a specific need or scenario. More often than not, a simple tank or barrel will suffice, but it really depends on the situation you’re preparing for.
Most people are interested, first and foremost, in protecting their families, which means they’re looking for a supply of water for their home. Vertical water tanks scale in capacity from just 20 gallons all the way up to 500 gallons. They can be stored underground, in basements or garages, or tucked around the side of your house.
Rather than supply the water themselves, many homeowners opt to let Mother Nature do the work. Most water tanks can be converted into a rain barrel, with runoff collected from a downspout being funneled directly into the tank.
But tanks aren’t the most mobile of water storage options. If you’re planning for an on-site situation—maybe an emergency shelter, medical tent, or other storage facility—you may prefer a utility tank or a tank designed to fit in the back of a pick up truck. There are options for both of those. Some tanks are even designed specifically to fit through doorways. All come in a variety of sizes and styles, with gallon markers, spigots, and fasteners to maximize their utility and transportability.
Perhaps the most popular storage option for relief hospitals and emergency operations is a fresh water bladder. These lightweight, collapsible bags can be filled and emptied quickly. Short and wide, they can sit in crawlspaces or suspended in overhead racks. This makes them invaluable in places where storage containers need to be transported quickly and compactly. Even homeowners may prefer their lightweight maneuverability over that of vertical plastic tanks.
Obviously, how much water you need varies from situation to situation, but usually the amount scales with the number of people involved. Let’s do a little math.
WHO guidelines recommend maintaining a minimum of 7.5 liters (or about two gallons) of water per day per person. Following that logic, a basic 50-gallon tank would supply a family of four for about a six days. If the supply is being replenished, the math would change a bit, but bear in mind that untreated water can be used for non-consumption tasks, such as laundry, bathing, or cleaning. It’s recommended, then, that some sort of sanitation of filtration process is applied to the source of water that is being used to replenish the tank.
Sanitation is often one of the first casualties in an emergency, and the longer an emergency goes on the more difficult it is to maintain proper hygienic conditions. While finding water may be paramount, there should always be a mind for sanitation.
Owners need to properly clean and sanitize any water tank that is being used to store water long-term. How often and stringently tanks needs to be cleaned depends on the type and volume of the tank. For example, bladders probably don’t need to be sanitized as often as rain barrels because they are usually used in short-term situations.
Additionally, water supplies—be it tanks, groundwater, wells, or rain catchments—should always be kept separate from waste collection and disposal sites. As waste builds ups in an emergency it may encroach on water sources, potentially infecting a vital resource. Proper filtration and decontamination of the water should always be heeded, but separating waste and water may go even further in preventing a bad situation from turning worse.
It’s always best to overestimate rather than underestimate your needs. However much water you’ve calculated you need, you will probably end up needing more. And even if not, at least you’re not wanting for a resource as vital as water.
If your main purpose for getting a tank, bladder, or other water storage vessel is for emergency preparedness, follow the WHO guidelines for daily water consumption (roughly two gallons per person per day), and calculate how far out you want to be prepared. A week? A month? Two months?
Tally up the amount of water you expect to consume over that entire period, then work backwards from there. You are pretty much guaranteed to find a tank with a capacity that matches your anticipated volume, with variations in style to meet other demands, such as installation, refilling, sanitation, and transportability. Bladders, for example, can come in tiny 25-gallon bags or giant 30,000-gallons units. Likewise, utility tanks come in all shapes and sizes, but serve a more transportable purpose.
Whether you need a short- or long-term supply, Go To Tanks has you covered. We offer a full range of emergency water storage solutions, including plastic tanks, bladders, utility tanks, and even tanks designed for the bed of a pick up truck. Our tanks are made from food-grade plastic, come in a variety of colors, and meet a complete range of size specifications—and not just for water. With chemical tanks, septic systems, and rain harvesters, our tanks are able to contain all the most common food, fuel, oil, and chemical supplies—emergency or not.
Call 1-877-468-2657 and we’ll help you find the tank that matches your needs.
SALES@GOTOTANKS.COM 
