I don't care how much emergency food you've stashed away for 'that day,' if you don't have ready access to clean potable water you're in deep poop. I, for example, live next to a large river, but here at my location near the ocean, it's brackish and not fit to drink without complicated filtering processes utilizing expensive equipment I not only don't own but haven't the means of procurement. Sure there are little lakes and retention ponds in the park next door, but in a grid down lead flinging situation, I'd rather avoid the risk and instead walk into my yard and tap one of my three barrels. Besides the pond and lake water needs treatment and filtration, my barrels are pre-treated with bleach and ready to drink.
Below is one of the barrels I drained and refilled this morning. As you can see from the picture I purchased this barrel many years ago from Emergency Essentials. No, I do not receive any payment from my endorsement of the company. I've purchased many items from them over the years, some you'll see in these pictures, and they've yet to fail or disappointment me. They're good folks.
One thing I did forget to mention; if you so desired it would be a simple matter to take your water from the barrel and filter it with a Berkley Water Filter. Just saying.
My second barrel. The barrels sit on either landscape timbers, bricks or concert blocks.
. These barrels can be found fairly cheap at bottling companies, such as Coke, and some wineries. I found two at a local hardware store which had been used to ship white wine for the unholy price of five bucks each. Of course they smelled like wine too, but I didn't complain.
You will also need a bung wrench, again sold at Emergency Essentials, and a pump. In this next picture notice both on top of the barrel. The pump will reach the bottom of the barrel making it easy to remove all your water. These three barrels give me 165 gallons of clean water and with a good filter system I can use those murky duck ponds if the need should arise.
I would strongly suggest if you are new to this vast world of survival preparedness to find the following book. It's well written and comprehensive and covers all aspects of physical survival. It can be found on-line at many locations. Amazon.com has them for less than twenty dollars. My copy is well used and bookmarked beyond description.
Stephen