Santa Barbara built a desalinazation plant during our last big drought, but never operated it because of the expense. Maybe we'll try towing icebergs this time.

Rollback to Island living, everything is precious and a bit expensive including fresh water. Rain barrels will make a concerted comeback and higher volume catchments will be more commonly installed under decks and patios. These were common for gardening in homes in SoCal and central calif before water diversion programs brought copious amounts to the tap. They won't support the average person's acre+ of inedible grass but they should cover most plants, assuming that roofing material doesn't add toxics. Plumbing for recycled gray water too. I try to encourage my son to journeyman as a plumber, such skills will remain in high demand in the 21st century assuming you don't tweet and twitter and make a fortune replacing the postage stamp (along with the postal workers).

Good thoughts, all.

Desalination won't work on the scale we'd need it. The energy requirements are huge and our grid here is already quite strained in the summer (and will be even more so with the loss of hydro power).

Gray water systems are a great idea but implementation is tricky in existing houses. That said, I'm strongly considering purchasing a 2,000 gallon bladder to put in the crawlspace under the house to collect laundry water and a little pump to pressurize it for irrigation of the yard essentials. However, that's no small expense and many in this economy can't afford such notions.

We've already retrofitted to low flow appliances and haven't watered what little lawn we have in several years. Our per person usage is between 50 and 60 gallons per day depending on the time of year, so pretty low as much of the state is in the 120 gallons per person per day range.

We already store ~28 gallons (10 days worth) of water since we're in earthquake country, but I suppose adding a few 55 gallon drums would be a good idea and get us further down the road should it be needed.

We're in a residential area so the threat of wildfire is somewhat reduced but still a concern. Good points on keeping the important documents etc., ready to go. I've got to work on that.

desolation... are you familiar with the 275 gallon IBC totes... there are a lot of used food grade units that have transported soft drink syrup etc available on the used market...they take up less floor space than 55 gallon drums per gallon contained.... vid is just for introduction and not an endorsement of this retailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2t0CLKAIg

My current plan is to get my stock up to 110 gallons of drinking water. I plan to use the 16 ounce bottled water cases from Costco. If that's a dumb idea, somebody let me know, thanks. I can get my stock up to 330 gallons of drinking water if I get motivated.

My plants can go to hell if rationing is necessary. It'll be a good segue for the desert landscaping I always wanted.

I have Darwinian landscaping - I water nothing. it's strictly survival of the fittest on my lot.

Another good thing about you guys' approach is then you don't have to mow it!

I don't think it's a dumb idea but it's an expensive way to store water. On the plus side I suppose it will keep a long time but it would be a lot cheaper to get barrels or other large containers. Of course, then you need to rotate and/or treat the water, too.

By no means dumb, but perhaps not the best use of money ?
110, or 330 gallons is an awful lot of DRINKING water, unless you have a large family.
Might be better to keep a bit less, and spend some of the money saved on cheap bulk storage of non drinking water.
IBCs or water tanks, drums or barrels are a one time expense. Once purchased they can be refilled at almost zero cost from your normal water supply.
Bottled drinking water is an ongoing expense as it will go out of date and therefore require regular replacement.

Bottled drinking water is a huge scam, if you ask me - at least in developed countries with good water systems. Like he says, put your money into the containers and fill from the tap.