A water main breaks across town. Or a boil notice comes on the evening news. Or you turn the tap and it coughs, sputters and stops.

Within an hour, the bottled water at every store nearby is gone.

You can go weeks without food. You can't go long without water. That's why it comes first.

Plan on one gallon per person, per day. That's for drinking and basic washing up. Keep at least three days' worth. Two weeks is better.

For a family of four, that's 12 gallons just to cover three days. Don't forget the dog.

Your water heater holds a tank full of clean water. Turn off the power or gas to it first, then drain what you need from the valve at the bottom. Melted ice cubes count too, and so does the liquid in canned fruit and vegetables.

Don't drink water from the toilet tank or bowl, a waterbed, a radiator, a pool or a hot tub.

If you're unsure about water, boil it. Bring it to a rolling boil for one full minute. If you live higher than 6,500 feet, make it three minutes.

No way to boil? Use plain, unscented household bleach. For regular 6 percent bleach, that's 8 drops per gallon. Stir it, then wait 30 minutes before you drink it. Check the label, because stronger bleach needs fewer drops.

If the water is cloudy, let it settle and pour it through a clean cloth first.

They wait for the boil notice to buy water.

By the time the news says there's a problem, everybody else heard it too. The shelves are bare and the line is out the door.

The other mistake is storing water in old milk jugs. They're hard to get clean and they break down over time. Use store-bought sealed water or proper food-grade containers. If you fill your own, swap it out every six months.

Two things. Ten minutes and one shopping trip.

First, do the math. Count the people in your house and multiply by three. That's how many gallons you need for three days.

Second, buy it and put it away. Somewhere cool and dark, like a closet floor. Put a small bottle of plain, unscented bleach on the shelf beside it.

Got a question, or a lesson from your own life? Hit reply. I read every one.

See you next time.

— Cole