How Much Emergency Water Should I Store — and How?

Plan on one gallon per person per day for at least three days and ideally two weeks, stored in food-grade containers and rotated yearly.

Ready.gov’s baseline is one gallon per person per day for drinking and basic sanitation: keep at least three days, and aim for two weeks when space allows. That makes a full two-week supply 14 gallons for each person. Use commercially bottled water or clean, food-grade containers; skip old milk and juice jugs because sugars and proteins can remain in the plastic and feed bacteria even after rinsing.

Mark every container with its fill date, store it in a cool, dark place away from chemicals and off bare concrete, then rotate the supply once a year. Stored water buys time; purification tablets or a portable filter add a second layer if the outage lasts longer. Include pets in the math too—roughly one ounce of water per pound of body weight each day is a practical starting estimate, adjusted for heat and activity.