Be Prepared: Water Purification Tablets And The Very Small Investment Needed

Next up on the topic of an emergency water supply on a budget is water purification tablets!

For review, we’ve talked about how to quickly and easily store 100 gallons of water when you have no storage space and for around $20 with the WaterBOB.  We have also talked about how you can effectively, efficiently, cheaply and very accessibly filter 1,000 liters of water with the LifeStraw, again for around $20.

And as we have mentioned in our Be Prepared theme going on now, we highly recommend that you don’t put your eggs all in one basket and that you have a plan for at least 3 months of needing to be prepared on your own!  To figure how much you need, you need 1 gallon of drinking water per person per day.  For our family of 7, we need 630 gallons of water (the 90 days minimum we recommend).   So that is an easy way to figure it out!

With that, we want to talk about another option for your water emergency supply! As we and many others out there have mentioned, clean, safe drinking water needs to be at the top of everyone’s priority list! You have to have clean, safe drinking water to live.  Without this basic need, you and your family will not survive more than a few days.  The reality of it is just that.

So for around $7-$9, you can purify many types of contaminated water.

Now unlike the LifeStraws that you can use now, these should only be used in emergency situations.

Here’s the description of these tablets:

Used worldwide by campers, hikers, militaries, emergency organizations, and anyone else who needs to drink water of questionable quality, these Portable Aqua iodine tablets will disinfect contaminated drinking water in a pinch. The tablets–which are intended for short-term or limited emergency use only–make most water bacteriologically suitable for drinking, proving effective against Giardia lamblia when used as directed. Each Potable Aqua tablet contains 20 mg of Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide (TGHP), which liberates 8 mg of titratable iodine when released into water. Within 30 minutes, the iodine will have penetrated the cell walls of the microorganisms, rendering them inactive and making the water safe to drink. Potable Aqua tablets also neutralize the iodine aftertaste and color, helping your drinking water taste better.

About Potable Aqua

Potable Aqua iodine water disinfection tablets were developed by Harvard University in conjunction with the U.S. Army in the 1940s, and have been used by the military for emergency drinking water disinfection for more than 50 years. Pharmacal currently supplies the U.S. Military with Potable Aqua for its emergency drinking water needs. Potable Aqua is also widely used by campers, backpackers, and various other militaries around the world. With the addition of the Potable Aqua Traveler and Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Tablets, Potable Aqua continues to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s outdoor enthusiast.

 Our Potable Aqua Water Purification Tablets make questionable water bacteriologically suitable to drink. Easy to use-water is ready in 30 minutes. One 50 tablet bottle treats 25 quarts of water. Ideal for hiking, backpacking and travel. Perfect addition to your first aid or travel kit.

With 50 tablets that will treat 25 quarts of water each, you will have a supply of tablets that will treat 1250 quarts of water with one tiny bottle that is smaller than a bottle of aspirin (so perfect for small storage space).  This is over 312 gallons of water that you can treat with one little bottle of 50 tablets.

This doesn’t solve the problem of where the water will come from in many emergency situations, just how to make it safe for drinking.  That is what we are going to address in the next article – where to get more water (besides the 100 gallons from each tub in your home with the WaterBOB).  We have given you 2 options that are affordable, require very little storage and will be very effective in cleaning your water, we want to talk about how to get water in an emergency!

Now as far as the affordability of these tablets, well, they are very affordable, especially when considering the life-saving factor tha tthey could be for your family!

There are two options that are both very reasonably priced and a good price online through Amazon!

First, you can get the iodine purifying tablets 50 ct. for $6.49 HERE shipped free with Amazon Prime or a $25 or more order.

Second, you can get the same bottle of tablets, plus a bottle of 50 ct. PA Plus tablets HERE that remove iodine taste and color to make the water more palatable (essentially drinkable because it will taste and look better) for $9.01 shipped free with Amazon Prime or a $25 or more order.

Now I don’t know about you, but in an emergency, I would like things to be as pleasant as possible and so we personally have the 2 bottles as I whole-heartily think that the bottle of PA Plus to make the water taste better is worth the $2.50 more! Why not have safe and pleasant tasting water?!?!

Share your ideas too!! How are you filtering/purifying water or what ideas have you seen? 

Between the WaterBob, Lifestraw and water purification tablets, you could have 100+ gallons of emergency water storage and filter those 100 gallons and hundreds more gallons of water from other sources  all for around $50 – $60 and very little storage space! That is a VERY smart move!

Find out more about our Be Prepared on a budget theme HERE. 

See the full Be Prepared Series, Articles and Topics for many tips and ideas in all areas of life!