Households across the UK are being encouraged to stock up on supplies of bottled water to prepare for national eergencies, including the spectre of war on UK soil. Ministers are stepping up calls for the whole of society to become more resilient and plan to carry out a cross-government exercise on how to deal with crises.
A new security strategy published in June said: “Some adversaries are laying the foundations for future conflict, positioning themselves to move quickly to cause major disruption to our energy and or supply chains, to deter us from standing up to their aggression. For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario.”
It’s not just to be prepared for conflicts, of course, but about preparedness for any kind of large-scale disruption that could befall the country in future, including mass power cuts, water shortages or freak extreme weather events. The government’s Prepare website has a list of advice for all households in the UK to follow, and aims to get everyone to make sure they have some safety net in case of unforeseen national emergencies, just in case.
The site says: “Get prepared for emergencies. Emergencies happen every day in the UK and across the world. They can be caused by severe weather or other natural hazards, by deliberate actions, or as a result of accidents or infrastructure failure.
“They can be events that happen quickly and are over in a few hours, or they can develop and continue over the course of several days, months, or sometimes even longer.”
As well as advice on planning escape routes, gathering documents in a safe place and keeping smoke alarms functioning correctly, the government advice also urges people to stockpile some key essentials, including bottled water.
It says that the amount of water you’ll need is different for different people and circumstances, and also changes depending on if you want to focus purely on drinking water or would also like some leeway for washing and cooking.
But to be truly prepared, families are told to stockpile 10 litres of water per person per day, and that you should have enough to cover a few days. Taking a few days to be three days, that would be 10 litres per person per day, or 30 litres of water.
It says: “Bottled water – there is no standard figure for this as emergencies can vary in duration and people use different amounts.
“A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival. 10 litres per person per day will make you more comfortable by also providing for basic cooking and hygiene needs.
“Additional water might be needed to make up baby formula, for medical devices and for pets.”
The website also urges people to stock up on ‘non perishable food’ including tinned meat, tinned fruit and vegetables and a tin opener, as well as food for pets.
It adds that you can build your reserves up when you go shopping, adding: “Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time.”