Store it safely
Commercially bottled water is the simplest starting point. For water you fill at home, use food-grade containers made for water, label them, keep them away from chemicals and heat, and replace the water on the recommended schedule.
Keep life going · Water
Keep water available.
Water interruptions aren't always dramatic. A broken main, boil notice, frozen pipe, power outage, flood, or earthquake can all turn the tap into a question. You can make that question easier.
Start with water you'll actually use.
The CDC recommends storing at least one gallon per person per day for three days, then building toward a two-week supply when you can. Some people, animals, medical needs, and hot conditions require more.
That can sound like a storage problem with a basement-sized answer. It doesn't have to be. Begin with a few sealed containers you can afford, lift, reach, and rotate. Add capacity as you learn what fits your household.
Build a small system, not a forgotten pile.
Spread the weight
A gallon weighs a little over eight pounds. Smaller containers may be safer to lift and easier to fit in an apartment, vehicle, accessible cabinet, or evacuation bag.
Protect access
Don't put every container behind a door that may jam or in one place that may flood, freeze, or become unsafe. Keep an opener, clean pouring method, and animal bowl nearby.
Plan the uses
Drinking comes first, but safe food preparation, medication, infant feeding, hygiene, and animals also count. Write down who or what needs more than the planning minimum.
Rotate without ceremony
Use stored water before it becomes a mystery. Replace it during a recurring calendar month, seasonal smoke check, daylight-saving change, or another date your household already remembers.
Keep current treatment guidance
Treatment depends on what may be in the water. Follow the current local advisory and the CDC's instructions rather than relying on an old formula copied onto the side of a bucket.
Make it fit the people, animals, and space you have.
Limited storage
Use several small locations, keep a starter supply at home and work, and learn where your utility or local jurisdiction plans to distribute water.
Limited lifting or reach
Choose smaller containers, accessible shelves, a stable cart, and a pouring aid. Test the setup on an ordinary day while the floor is dry.
Medical and dietary needs
Ask the responsible clinician or equipment provider how much safe water is needed for medications, devices, formula, or care—and what changes under a boil or do-not-use advisory.
Animals
Include drinking water, a familiar bowl, transport needs, and any water used for cleaning or medication. Larger animals need a plan beyond household bottles.
Renters and shared buildings
Ask who controls the water shutoff, how residents will receive an advisory, whether stored building water exists, and where a public distribution point would be announced.
Longer interruptions
Stored water buys time. Longer continuity depends on safe resupply, public distribution, transport, containers, treatment guidance, sanitation, and people who can carry the work.
Don't use water suspected of chemical or fuel contamination. Boiling, disinfecting, and ordinary filters may not make it safe. Follow the current do-not-use, boil-water, utility, public-health, or emergency-management instruction for your location.
Look past the container.
Ask the people nearby who can't carry water, who needs more than the usual amount, who has clean containers, and how your building or neighborhood will share distribution information. Don't ask anyone to disclose a diagnosis to earn help.
For current storage, container, and treatment instructions, use the CDC's emergency water supply guidance. During an interruption, the issuing local authority's advisory takes precedence.
Next capability
Return to Keep Life Going for sanitation, temperature, air, food, medication, communication, documents, movement, animals, staying, and leaving.
Household worksheet
Map your household systems, including shutoffs, storage, daily needs, and the people responsible for checking them.
Current public help
Find Official Help for the current utility, public-health, emergency-management, road, weather, or hazard source for your location.
Reviewed July 25, 2026 against current CDC emergency-water guidance. Recheck official storage and treatment instructions before publication and during any advisory.