Disaster Preparedness and Water Storage Made Simple with the AquaPodKit
If you live in an area that has hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes or is prone to water delivery issues chances are you have tried a number of different wants to store water. I had to have pipes dug up around my house and was told that I would be without water for three to four days but if there was a bigger issue I could be unconnected from the lines for up to two weeks. I was given an AquaPodKit by a friend that is heavy in to prepping. Prepping is a term given to the act of storing up supplies for a disaster.
The AquaPodKit is easy to use and only takes about ten minutes to fill. The step by step instructions walk you through the process. Unfold the plastic BPA free bladder and place it flat inside your bathtub. Hold the opening to the water spout and fill. When it is to the fill level you slip an internal collar into the throat of the bag, fold the throat over the collar and place the second locking collar over it. The kit comes with a pump so you can easily remove the water when needed. If you do the maximum fill of 65 gallons you should have enough water for necessities for a family of four for two weeks.
One of the biggest perks of the kit is that you don’t have to worry about drinking or using contaminated water. Water that’s just left sitting open in a bathtub could be exposed to dust, dirt, hair, insects, bacteria and chemicals that were previously use to clean the bathroom. In my case I wanted to have water for coffee, to brush my teeth, for my pets, to wash dishes and cook with. I could have bought gallons of water but I didn’t like the idea of lugging five to ten gallons to the house every few days or worrying about the amount of water that I was using. I had enough water for almost the entire time that I was disconnected from the main line; I only had to buy water for the last two days.
The AquaPodKit has a few cons. It is a one time use item because there is no way to completely empty the bladder. It is not something that is portable so if you fill your bathtub with one of these and have to leave your home there is no way to transport the bladder. I haven’t seen these sold in local stores but with more and more prepper supplies being stocked in sporting goods stores I think it’s only a matter of time before more water purification and water storage products are made available
The kit is sold online and the manufacturers recently announced that they were now selling the plastic bladders separately from the pump and locking kit. This means you can have spares on hand in case one gets damaged or you want to stock up.
There are some cautions that you need to be aware of. Kids will see this and thing that it is a toy; never let them play with it or on it. They could get trapped between the bladder and the side of the bathtub and suffocate or become trapped. If you are using this in a tub that has water jets on the inner walls use a towel to keep the jets from rubbing against the bag. I this thick and strong but if the bag rubs against it you could end up with a small rip or tear in it. The bag can be disposed of with your plastic recyclables and should not be reused.
