How Much Water Should We Store

preparednessadvice.com

For years, I have heard that we are suppose to store a minimum of one gallon per person for emergencies. I have wondered where that figure came from for some time and have been doing research on the subject. Here is a summary of what I have found.

Two-thirds of our body’s weight consists of water. We need water for circulation, respiration and converting food to energy. After oxygen, water is the body’s most important need.

We constantly lose water through sweat, urine and even breathing. You must replace the water your body loses for your organs to continue to work properly. Dehydration occurs when you don’t have enough water because you’re losing more water than you’re taking in. In extreme heat, an adult can lose almost half a gallon of water through sweat alone.

Without water, dehydration can set in within an hour in severe heat. A combination of physical exercise and extreme heat and no water can lead to death in as little as several hours.

It’s also easy to become dehydrated in very cold environments. Cold air does not hold much moisture, every breath you take dehydrates your body, even if you aren’t sweating.

About 80 percent of our daily water intake comes from beverages, and the remaining 20 percent comes from the foods we eat. This figure is variable depending on the moisture contents of our foods. Fresh foods will normally have higher water content than dried or preserved foods.

Read More Here