Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
For many Americans, clean and drinkable water seems as simple as turning on the tap. However, when there’s a bad water main break, flooding, or even a power outage, our potable water supply can go right down the drain. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the CDC both recommend keeping at least 1 gallon of water per person per day on hand; with at least 3 days’ worth. For the average family of four that means keeping 12 gallons of water on hand at one time. For most people that is a huge amount of space relegated to product that when stored in gallon jugs can break shelves or spring leaks. Stock piling smaller, easier to carry bottles of water is more expensive and adds a significant amount of plastic back to the landfill.
What’s in the water?
When we take a swig of water from the tap we don’t think about the multiple steps taken to remove particulates and dissolved substances, nor do we pay attention to the chemical treatment water goes through to remove microorganisms.
Options to get it out
Most options on the market fall into two categories: Passive or Active.
Active involves the user doing something to remove the contaminates. There are various hand pumps that work by the same principle of forcing water through the filter to fill a container to store or drink. Boiling water is a very common practice to remove contaminates but takes time and requires energy that if you are without power or not in a safe place to build a fire, just wont work.
Passive options would be osmosis type filters where water is poured in and through gravity, the contaminates are filtered out. Or a volume of water has a product added to it to kill and separate any harmful contaminates. An example of this would be Aquatabs. These tablets work by killing microorganisms and viruses that can be found in untreated water. For a vast number of situations, tablets will be the best option.
Why tablets?
As opposed to a standard filter that will need to be changed and can lose its ability to clean water to a safe level, Aquatabs are a set amount of ingredients like Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate that will safely purify a measured volume of water. Until recently these tablets only came in sizes meant to purify a bottle of water. trying to purify enough water to last a day required some measuring and calculations. Now, Aquatabs are available in a 5-gallon tablet size. With one tablet, a person can purify enough water for the whole family.
How do they work?
Aquatabs work by dissolving a set amount of Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate and other chemicals into the water. With some mixing to fully dissolve the tablets, the compounds kill harmful microbes, bacteria, and viruses. After 30 minutes, the water is safe to drink. An added bonus of tablets are that they kill bacteria that gives water foul odors.
So, at this point you have a basic rundown of why you might need water purification tablets like Aquatabs. Now, we are going to dive into a very specific product that defiantly needs to be in your next shopping cart: the Aquatabs Five Gallon Tablet, sold exclusively by Prep-Right Survival.
We all understand why tablets are the way to go for outdoor use and emergency needs, but why the Five Gallon Tabs? Because water storage tends to work in multiples of five. A “pickle bucket” that many tradesmen, food service workers, and preppers are familiar with is five gallons. Being able to fill a spare clean bucket with water from a pond when camping or even from a questionable tap during a hurricane can now be safely purified and stored. If vehicles are more a focus for adventure or work, the average jerry cans are five gallons with larger options being 10-20 gallons (see the multiples of 5 again?). In landscaping, farming, and camping, the water that you have access to even from a tap or hose may not be safe to drink. Anyone who has sat on a tractor in summer or laid irrigation knows being without water during a summer workday is not an option. Being able to fill and then rapidly purify five gallons of water from anywhere is a game changer. Dehydration is no joke - and neither is giardia! With a three-year shelf life and a water tight bottle, Aquatabs can stay in a glove box, tool box, backpack, or medicine cabinet until needed without sacrificing space like a pump, filter, or water supply would.