72 Hour Kits - What's missing?????

WATER!

Water is the most critical survival item in a 72 hour kit. We can’t survive without it. Yet nearly all commercial 72 Hour Kits are woefully inadequate. Government websites tell us we need at least ½ gallon per day of drinking water to survive. Let’s break that down ….

For 72 hour kits, this would mean that you would need 6 quarts or 170 ounces! That would mean about 21 of the popular Aqua Blox water boxes. When you think about it, this is why so many 72 hour kits don’t have enough water – Because you can’t put that much water in your day pack! Yet how do we survive?

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE!

Why pack it? Some commercial 72 hour kits now use water purification tablets as a way to supplement the water supply. The idea here is that you have some water, maybe a day or a ½ day, and then you can purify the rest. Did you know it takes up to 4 hours to treat 1 quart of water by using purification tablets? So, it would take 8 hours to purify one person’s water needs for one day! After purified, the water is still cloudy and has a chemical taste.

Some people are spending some money on water purification pumps. I actually purchased one of the very first MSR Water Works pumps on the market way back about 10 years ago. On my very first trip hiking, I found that it clogged and I had no way to purify water except for boiling with my back up camp stove. The pump was over $100 and useless! The water pumps are better now, but still are about $60-$80 for a good one. This is why you will never see a commercial pump water filter in a 72 hour kit – Its more money than the kit itself!

There are some new filters on the market that are inexpensive, proven in the Iraq war, and can filter even flood water for the purpose of drinking. Not even pump filters can have that degree of filtration. But not one commercial 72 hour kit has them included. I’ll be testing one this week and I will let you know how it goes.

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Yep. We've got a small $60-ish camping filter in our kits. Very important to have.

[skalenfehl]

Good info! I really am enjoying your informative posts. I have yet to get a kit going.

Here are just a few examples from various commercial 72 hour kits

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Kit Name: Survival Kit, Executive 72 hr.
Origin: Heber City, UTAH
Water Content: 100.8 Oz
Alternate Water Method: None
Retail Price: $199.99

This kit was supposedly the best rated by the Wall Street Journal.

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Kit Name: New and Improved! 3-Day Emergency Kit
Origin: Provo, UTAH
Water Content: 50.7 Oz
Alternate Water Method: None
Retail Price: $54.95

Perhaps this kit needs further improvement.

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Kit Name: The 3-Day Kit
Origin: American Fork, UTAH
Water Content: 25 oz
Alternate Water Method: None
Retail Price: $9.95

This company claims to be only offering products within US Government guidelines. I can’t see how they can call it a 3 day kit.

[sixpacktr]

Word,

I checked out your branch website last night, and downloaded the template you have made for emergency prep. Excellent tool! I am going to use it as the template for putting ours together in our branch here in Western NY.

Thanks!

[meredith14]

We have a couple of small backpack filters that work great. I don't remember the kind (and I don't feel like digging them out of our pack right now) and they have worked great. We have two of them, one for each adult pack. As our sons have gotten older we buy them other camping/72 hour kit stuff for themselves. That way when they move out they will have a full adult pack ready to go.


We just put $100 away this last week and will put some more away soon to buy a 5 gal stainless water filter for our home. This is our next big purchase for our preparedness. We live on 3 acres on a river so we decided not to store "that" much water but to invest in a really nice water filter to use in case something major happens to our water supply. That way we can bring water up from the river and use it once it filtered. With a large family this seems the best way to take care of our water needs. We feel pretty good about using this river for drinking cause our town take the water out of it for the towns use. We live not to far from the head waters of the river.

Originally Posted by sixpacktr

Word,

I checked out your branch website last night, and downloaded the template you have made for emergency prep. Excellent tool! I am going to use it as the template for putting ours together in our branch here in Western NY.

Thanks!

Six,

The website is a great place for emergency coordinators, Bishops (or anybody else) to start. When I was looking for manuals on the web, I didnt find any from my counterparts. Im glad you found it. Good luck with your plan.

When i was in the service we had these pills that would purify water. really good to have if your say in central america. dont ask. the one problem is that while it made water drinkable. it made it taste really nasty. we would also mix it with gatorade packets. didnt mix well but it did take out the nasty taste. Another thing to do is visit the local Army Surplus store. cant remember the number but there are also field mauals on survival ( for you incomniacs...good way to get to sleep). also MRE's are great for storage. long shelf life. dont taste to bad. and LOADED with calories.
and that remeinds me....need to start mnine also.
for those that need help in the AS stores or some of the manuals let me know..

[MorningStar]

I heard it's a good idea to use the tablets first to make sure you're killing all possible nasty stuff in the water and then run it through the filter to get the disgusting taste out.

we were not that lucky morning star! lol...wish we were