I keep between 4 and 8 cases of bottled water on hand in the house in case we would need to shelter in place. It is just my mom and myself. Is this enough or do I need more? Opinions?
I do rotate the supply to keep it fresh.

That's hard to answer you have to break it down a bit:
-1 gallon per day of water per person to drink

Then add the following:
- How many days are you preping for? 7 days min?
- Are you using water to cook with? add 1/2 gallon per day
- Are you using water to bath with? add 1 gallon per person per day

Total for 7 days: 17.5 gallons X 2 people = 35 gallons <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

You can never have enough water in a survival situation. If you can store it you should.

Adam

(Saw Adam's reply while posting this, so some duplication of thoughts).

Assuming yours are the typical cases consisting of 24 x .5 liter bottles, you've got between 12-1/2 and 25 gallons of water (converted for us non-metric yanks). Typical recommendations call for between 2 quarts/day per person at the very low end and 1 gallon or more/day per person.

Sufficiency depends on several factors:

• Personal beliefs (we all have an opinion on daily consumption needs).
• Expected duration of the event(s) you're preparing for. Did Katrina influence your thinking?
• Level of exertion during event period (are you helping with, say, tornado clean-up)?
• Climate. Prolonged hot weather expected?
• Individuals in household with special needs.
• Pets in household (they'll need water too).
• Nature of food stored. Moisture-laden foods? Foods requiring water to prepare?
• Supply of non-potable water available for sanitation? Suitable for other personal hygiene needs too?
• Back-up purification methods/equipment included in your preparedness arsenal (and a source of water to purify).

So, under "average" circumstances (whatever that might mean), you have between 6 and 12 days' supply on hand for the two of you. Is that enough? It depends on the severity and duration of the scenarios you're preparing for, and answers to the above points. And how quickly, in the aftermath, you believe services will be restored.

I'd try to keep your on-hand supply closer to the 8 cases rather than 4 cases. At $5/case, that's a modest $20 additional investment. Insurance doesn't come any cheaper than that.

Dan

Don't forget your hotwater heater as a source of water for local emergency use. that will get you 30-50+ gallons without doing a thing.

I keep 20L (in military water cans) for each member of the family, plus 0-2 cases of cheapo Costco bottled water that we use off and on as a family. how much we have in the fridge depends on when we last went to the store. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Also, we keep a lot of ice in the deep freeze that could be used as it melts.

Look for "hidden" water now and tuck that knowledge away for later.

Duckear makes a good point about "hidden" sources of water. Along those lines, don't forget your bathtub. If you find yourself in a foreseen situation, then before stuff hits the fan, fill your bathtub(s) with water. Average tub holds something like 55-60 gallons.

Advantage of living in AZ, with a pool, many of us have a backup source with thousands of gallons

Dan

Plenty of water? Even with the current drought? I would think the pool would evaporate in that heat.

If you're counting the water in your hot water tank, how often do you drain it? I drained the tank at my sister's home this past summer and had a hard time getting the "chunks" through the 10' hose. (And if you do have to use that water, don't forget to turn off the circuit breakers to the tank. If the power comes on before the tank refills, you won't have any hot water until you replace the heating elements that you've burned out.)

And if you're thinking of filling the bathtub, put the stopper in today and fill it with cold water. See how long it stays in there. You might get a surprise if the stopper leaks, and many do. And bathtub water won't be available in some cases. If an earthquake breaks the water main, forget it.

Sue