Several fellow activists and I have set out to research what our city governments have in place, as far as plans for ensuring availability of 72 hours of potable water for every citizen after a disaster.
So far, we have not been able to find confirmation that any of our local governments has such a plan in place.
A person can only survive without water for 72 hours or less. So it’s important to ensure that there is not disruption in the drinking-water supply. In the wake of a disaster, it very well may not be feasible to bring water in from outside.
Every household can and should have a backup plan in place, but not everyone has the means to do so, at least not easily. In my preferred ways are to keep on hand several days’ worth of drinkable rainwater (in barrels, outside the house), plus several days’ worth of drinkable tapwater (in jugs, inside the house), for each household member. It’s really pretty easy, and doesn’t take up that much space.
On a related note, I recently read that in Tokyo (a city where I lived for five years back in the 90s, and really learned a lot), the municipal govt has set up “disaster parks” in various districts. Residents of each district can gather in the event of disaster and get potable water (stored in underground tanks), cook, charge their phones etc.
The park benches convert into cooking surfaces.
At times of non-disaster, it’s just a pleasant park where people can spend time.
A key component, in my opinion, is that these parks are on a district scale. Not hyper-centralized. It fosters a “district consciousness,” which is very helpful in building the human connection and sense of responsibility/ownership, without which “hard infrastructure” can only go so far.
Here’s the article: https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/tokyo-refuge-parks-survive-earthquakes-fires
“In Tokyo’s “Disaster Parks” Residents Play on Good Days and Cheat Death on Bad Ones
“The parks have buried food, solar chargers and benches that turn into cook stoves.”
CAMERON ALLAN MCKEAN | RESILIENT CITIES AUGUST 14, 2014
(From NextCity, one of my favorite sources of inspiration for building anti-fragility into our communities.)