Food & Water Safety
Do you know how to make water safe to drink? Survival is more than just about who can make fire with flint (and who wins on Survivor). Knowing how to have safe food and water is essential. It’s not hard if you know a few basics!
Your Impact
Action Steps & Tips
Introduction
Safe and clean food and water are some of the most important things to have in order to stay safe and healthy during a disaster. In this action, we’ll look at tips for keeping water and food safe to eat and drink.
How to do this action: Read through this action and learn how to keep your water and food safe during and after a disaster.
Make sure to also complete the main household actions - Find Risks & Resources, Make a Plan, Build Your Kit and Resilience for Homeowners or Renters to cover the basics of emergency preparedness.
1Step 1: Water safety during a disaster
Action: Learn how to safely use your emergency water supply
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Unless instructed to do so by authorities, do not ration your drinking water! If you’re worried about running out, minimize your physical activity and try to stay cool to reduce your water needs, and then look for other water sources the next day if it's safe to do so.
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Don’t drink caffeinated beverages in place of water, as caffeine dehydrates the body and will just make you more thirsty.
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Use water you know is safe to drink first. If you don’t have water that you know is safe and need to drink water sources that are possibly contaminated, follow the water treatment tips below.
Action: Learn how to prepare water sources for drinking
If you run out of clean water and have a water source like a lake, stream, pool, or municipal or well water that might be contaminated, there are two ways to prepare the water to be safe to drink: Boiling and using chlorine bleach. Both boiling and chlorine bleach will kill most microbes. Here’s what to do:
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Boiling is the safest method for treating water. Bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute (or for at least three minutes if you live above 5,000 feet elevation). Let it cool before drinking, and store in clean containers with covers.
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Note: boiled water may taste flat or metallic. To improve the taste, you can add one pinch of salt to each quart of water (there are four quarts per gallon), or pour the water back and forth between clean containers a few times to add oxygen to the water.
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Chlorination: If you can’t boil water, you can use regular unscented household disinfecting bleach to sanitize the water.
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Using the table below, add the appropriate amount of bleach. Stir and let it sit for 30 minutes. It should slightly smell like bleach; if it doesn’t, repeat with another equal dose of bleach and let sit for an additional 15 minutes. If you still can’t smell the chlorine, discard the water and do not drink it.
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If the bleach smell is too strong after letting the water sit, just like with boiled water, you can pour the water back and forth between clean containers a few times and let it sit a few hours.
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2Step 2: Food safety during a disaster
Action: Learn how to safely use your emergency food supply
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Keep food in covered containers, and keep utensils clean.
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For any perishable food, don’t eat it if it’s been above 40 degrees for more than two hours.
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Check cans for expiration dates and condition - if a can is expired or swollen or corroded do not eat!
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If any food has an unusual odor, texture, or color, throw it out. Don’t taste food to determine if it’s safe to eat - this could make you sick, and that’s the last thing you need during an emergency!
Action: Learn about refrigerator and freezer safety:
If the power goes out, food stored in refrigerators and freezers can get bacterial growth, which could make you sick if consumed. Remember: when in doubt, throw it out! Here are tips to help keep your food safe:
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Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. The refrigerator will generally keep food cold for up to 4 hours, and the freezer for 24-48 hours (if your freezer is full it will stay frozen longer).
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If you are able to put a block or bag of ice in the refrigerator or freezer, this should keep food cold for up to 24 hours.
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Put a thermometer in your refrigerator and freezer so you can monitor the temperature. The refrigerator should be 40 degrees or below and the freezer should be 0 degrees.
Food from the freezer can safely be refrozen or cooked if it still contains ice crystals and feels as cold as if it were refrigerated. Find more information for specific foods here.
3Step 3: After a disaster
Action: Learn how to keep food and water safe after a disaster
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Water safety: if there’s a chance that water lines have been damaged, boil your tap water or use the chlorination method above until water supplies have been declared safe. Always refer to your local officials or public health department for safety recommendations.
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If you have a well and have lost power, it is recommended that you run all faucets for a few minutes before consuming or using the water.
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Food safety: throw out any perishable food that has an unusual odor, texture, or color or has been without refrigeration (temperatures above 40͒ F) for more than two hours.
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After a flood or water damage:
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Any food that has had contact with floodwater should be thrown out unless it is in a waterproof pre-packaged container. This includes home-canned goods, which can’t be disinfected.
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Sanitize all utensils, counters and surfaces that have come in contact with flood waters (including sealed food cans or packages). First wash with hot soapy water and rinse with clean, safe water. Then sanitize with a bleach solution of 1 cup of unscented household disinfecting bleach to 5 gallons of water. Let the items soak for 1 minute, then let air dry.
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