Emergency Drinking Water Supply

Tornado funnel cloud

Nebraska's abundant domestic water supply is generally taken for granted. However some situations can reduce the availability of safe drinking water, including tornadoes, floods, winter storms, or even earthquakes. Such disasters may interrupt the water supply for only a few hours or up to several days. In these situations an emergency water supply is helpful, if not essential.

One option is to purchase bottled drinking water or distilled water at the time of need, or purchase and store for future use. Another option is to safely prepare and store water from your daily drinking and cooking supply. To learn how, see the Nebraska Extension NebGuide Drinking Water: Storing an Emergency Supply.

In general store at least one gallon of water per person per day. Emergency management agencies generally suggest storing at least a 3-day supply. 

If an emergency supply is unavailable, it is possible to treat a limited amount of water for drinking purposes. To learn how, see the Nebraska Extension NebGuide Drinking Water Treatment: Emergency Procedures


Information presented within this section has been reviewed by current or former Nebraska Extension faculty including Julie Albrecht, Tom Dorn, Bruce Dvorak, and Sharon Skipton.

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