When the weather sirens signal an incoming hurricane, residents fill their sinks and bathtubs with water. It’s an important part of natural disaster preparation, for anything like tornados or hurricanes. The point is to give yourself a reservoir of relatively clean water for flushing toilets, cleaning surfaces, and bathing. But the American Red Cross suggests you keep more than just household water on hand — you should have three days’ worth of drinking water for each member of the family. That emergency supply of water is for more than just drinking, too. You’d be using it for cooking, whether you’re making simple and fast-baking quick breads or a hearty chicken stock out of dinner leftovers.
You could get pH balanced LifeWatr in plastic bottles or even a few 5-gallon jugs of Pur Life water for your emergency supply kit, but plastic degrades over time which can release harmful bisphenol A (BPA) compounds into your water. One way to create an emergency water supply that is free from those kinds of chemicals is to can your own in mason jars. It’s a straightforward process that will take a little time and quite a bit of counter space — and you’ll need to know a little bit about microbes and water quality to get it right.
Make sure your drinking water is safe and clean before canning it in jars
Pure water with zero contaminants doesn’t spoil because it doesn’t have the right elements to support the growth of microbes like bacteria, moss, or mold. But, if there are any pollutants or microorganisms in the water when it’s canned, they’ll grow and the water quality will deteriorate as the years go by. So, start with pure, filtered, and clean drinking water. Well water is usually a great clean-water source, and you can boil it right before you fill the mason jars to kill any lingering pathogens. Water can also contain heavy metals and chemicals that won’t go away after it’s been boiled, so ensure you start with pure water and clean, sanitized jars.
You can use a water bath canner to home-can water, like this one from Cook N’ Home. Make sure it has a lid, a bottom rack, and a basin that’s deep enough so you can have a couple inches of water covering the tops of the mason jars as the water is boiling. Another way to can water at home is to use a pressure canner, like the 23-quart Supa Ant Pressure Canner. It’s a quicker method and requires a whole lot less water than the water bath canning method.
