When preparing for an emergency or a disaster situation, you want to make sure that you include hygiene items in your preparedness kit. Good hygiene can help keep you and your family clean and healthy even in the case of unsanitary conditions. When there is a lack of clean water or resources for proper hygiene, disease can quickly spread, causing fatalities.
While you might not want to use valuable water just for cleaning, keep in mind that a clean water shortage can be worsened by poor sanitary conditions. Someone who is vomiting or had diarrhea will need to be rehydrated, and will require additional water above the standard. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to these types of illnesses, which in them, can become more serious than in the average population.
Water is a good place to start when it comes to hygiene. Most guidelines on being prepared with a stockpile of water do not include water for washing or cooking, only for drinking. The one gallon a day per person rule doesn’t take hygiene into consideration.
You’ll need water for brushing your teeth, washing your hands and maybe even cleaning wounds. Plan accordingly with extra water for washing or even flushing the toilets if you will be without available water. A good idea is to fill a bathtub with water that can be later used a little at a time for basic cleaning and flushing.
Some emergency or disaster situations can last longer than you might think. Another tool in your disaster preparedness then should be the knowledge and the means to be able to sanitize water if needed, again not only for cleaning but for hygiene as well.
There are a number of ways to clean water, from using bleach and other chemicals, to evaporation methods, to equipment that can be purchased ahead of time for the task.