Emergency Water Supply

You Have A Tale to Tell

Have you ever had your water shut off and had to live on your emergency water supply? Or lived without running water? You have a tale to tell. Share your story and gain new insights as you read someone's story.



My Story: Living Without Running Water

I’ve taken it for granted that water always comes out of the tap until I spent four months in a foreign country.

Here are a few of the lesson I learned:

  • Water is essential to life. I know that’s obvious just like air is essential to life, but most of us take both of them for granted.
  • You need more than a gallon of drinking water every day. I had two gallons of drinking water. If it’s really hot or really cold you need to drink a lot of water. The heat zaps it out of you, and you’ll freeze to death without drinking sufficient water in cold weather. See Methods of Water Purification
  • Conserving water is required. I had 5 gallons of non-potable water each day. This is what I did with it:
    • First, I took a shower. I stood in an empty bucket and used a cup to pour water over my body. I’m a little slow, and it took me about three weeks to discover that I could create my own makeshift shower by using a cup to pour water over myself.
    • Second, I used the run-off from my shower to wash my clothes. I divided it into two buckets and used one bucket to wash my clothes and the other bucket to rinse my clothes.
    • Third, I used the dirty wash water to flush the toilet. We had a toilet but no running water going to the toilet.

  • I learned that I can live without running water. It took me about two months to get used to the lifestyle adjustment, then all seemed normal again. When I got back to the states, it amazed me that all the lights worked and that clean water came out of the faucet.

Now let’s hear from you . . .

Do you have a water tale to tell?

I've talked to many of you that have had quite the experience living without running water. Share your adventure with us and make sure to include some of your best tips to help those that haven't had your experience.

What Other Visitors Have Said

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