Weaknesses

I am new to food storage and emergency planning. I started less than a year ago. I have read and read and looked and searched and questioned. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there. I am still in the process of learning what works best for me.

But the one thing that remains consistently the same when searching information is WATER. You need it for survival and there is no way around it. Water is also my biggest weakness. On many levels. I do have water stored. Just not nearly enough. I am not a water drinker and never have been. If I drink one glass of water a week it is an accomplishment. Yes, I know that's bad. My husband on the other hand drinks LOTS of water. He will drink tap water. I won't. I do not want to taste anything when I drink water. Even filtered I find the taste awful.

So here are my problems.

1. I just don't think about buying water.
2. Water is heavy and bulky.
3. I use more water than I realize, just not to drink. 
4. I live in Texas and water is a scarce resource here. (We are in extreme drought conditions right now.)

FEMA recommends 1 gallon of water per day per person. Twice as much for really hot temperatures. So I need two gallons each here. I am going to count my pets as 1 person for each 2 pets. I need to store 8 gallons for one day. An absolute minimum is a three day supply. (From what I have learned this is the average response time for emergency workers to reach you in a disaster.) Alright, I am at a 24 gallons for my minimum. However, I don't trust that water would be available in three days so my minimum is a goal of 7 days to start with. That is 56 gallons of water!

That is for basic needs. I know in one month my household uses around 3000 gallons of water. Where on earth could I ever store that much water? I can see a lot of cutbacks on water in an emergency situation. I would hope that we could find a potable water supply nearby, but again we live in Texas. The ground is so dry that it is split with wide cracks. Even with daily watering it still cracks from the extreme heat.

Another problem we have is that we do not currently own our home. We are a military family and until recently I didn't want to own a home because we never know where next year will take us. I am searching for a retreat location with a water supply. Of course our ultimate goal is to move to Ecuador but the same stipulation applies. We want to be off the grid, in the country and as self sufficient as we can be.

For now I have to hope that the water I do have stored will be enough at least for the minimum. I would like to have a couple of 55 gallon barrels soon. That would at least give me a deeper sense of security. Shelf Reliance has some great items for treating water if we can find it. But they will still be in my supply even if I think we can't find water.

How is your supply? Do you have the minimum? Do you feel comfortable with the amount that you do have stored?