My Car Kits Keep Springing a Leak!

Back when I created our vehicle emergency kits, I thought Aqua Literz would be the perfect water storage solution. The 5 year shelf life, compact container, and ease of use sold me on them. I wasn't long, however, before the first batch of Aqua Literz I bought mysteriously sprang a leak, leading to a comical email exchange with the retailer I had purchased them from.  I bought their reassurance that Aqua Literz are indeed ideal for car kits and decided to buy another case.

Fast forward to today. Hubby Dear was moving things around in the back of our van and found this.

Leaky and moldy! 

That's not dirt you see in the above photo! It is mold. Eeew! All five of the Aqua Literz I had in my van's emergency kit looked like this.

I never found a real hole on any of the Aqua Literz. It appears that water had been slowly oozing out, contained between the layers of cardboard of the packaging. No wonder it grew mold!  I have no idea how any of this occurred since they were all stored securely.

Not just mold but multi-colored mold. 

Obviously, I won't buy this product any more, but how should I store water in my vehicle kits?

Here are the options as I see them:

1. Commercially bottled water - This would be an easy route to go. I am concerned with the possibility of the plastic leaching chemicals in the water, especially in a hot car. I'd also have to rotate this fairly frequently. 
2. Used juice bottles - I think the plastic in these are probably better than what is used in bottled water. I can't say that for sure, though. I'd certainly have to rotate these frequently, they might leak, and I'm afraid the water would taste funny. 
3. Canned water - Canned water is relatively expensive. It is hard to think of a more durable container to store water in, however, and it boasts a 30 year shelf life. I'd have to make sure that I keep a can opener handy and it isn't exactly the easiest thing to use on the go. 

Am I missing something? How do you store water in your vehicle kits? 

How to Make Your Own Gravity-Fed Water Filter

I hope you all are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. Take some time to remember the reason for the holiday in between bites of BBQ, 'K?
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We have quite a bit of water stored, but if there was a long-term emergency or if I simply wanted to do some laundry, we would go through our stored water quickly. You've simply got to have a way to make water safe for consumption.

You can strain and then boil water, which will certainly work fine. You could also use water purification tablets or disinfect the water by using the power of the sun. All of those methods require extra effort on my part. If there's one thing you should know about me, it is that I am l-a-z-y! I want clean water and I don't want to have to do very much to get it. Oh, and the water should taste good at the end of the deal, too.

A gravity-fed water filtration system is just the ticket. Here's the lovely stainless steel Berkey model that they sell on Amazon, at Lehman's and other retailers:

You pour the water in the top and gravity does the rest. The only problem is that a filter like this one will cost nearly $300.

I don't know about you, but that kind of money isn't in my budget when I've got so many other things to stock up on. The good news is that you can make your own filtration system for about half the cost.  This is an excellent post that gives step by step instructions and pictures.

Now back to my laziness. We didn't actually make our own filter. I planned to, but after reading about it on survivalblog, we bought a Bucket Berkey Water Filter Kit from disasterstuff.com.




Image from disasterstuff.com


The cost for two Berkey elements, the buckets, lids, spigot, etc. was $135. Everything was predrilled, so all you have to do is screw it together and viola! Instant cheap Berkey.

Now if I have to collect rainwater or bring back water from a farm pond, I'm confident we'll end up with safe, palatable drinking water.


What are your plans for obtaining clean drinking water for your family in an emergency?

Does Amelia Bedelia work at Emergency Essentials?

I drove Hubby Dear's vehicle when I went shopping this week. As I was loading my groceries into the vehicle, I noticed this inside his car kit:

This Aqua Literz had somehow leaked out all of its water, drenching the contents of the car kit. A couple of items were ruined, but for the most part everything survived. The strange thing was that the container wasn't opened and hadn't been ripped, torn, shredded or otherwise mutilated.

I had just received a large supply of Aqua Literz to put in my vehicle and I wanted to make sure that that the same thing wouldn't happen again. So I shot off an email to Emergency Essentials:

"I purchased one of your Aqua Literz for my husband's vehicle kit in May. I stored it in a plastic container along with the other items of the kit. I was dismayed to open up the kit yesterday and find that the Aqua Literz had exploded and ruined a couple of the items in the kit.

Are Aqua Literz and Aqua Blox truly OK for car kits as advertised?"

I received (promptly I might add) the following reply:

"Thanks for your email. I am so sorry to hear of any damages or complications. I have never heard of the Aqua Blox or Literz exploding. They only contain water which is not combustible. In our experience, the only way they would break, leak or damage is if they are not secured in the trunk of the car and thus thrown around until they are damaged. Sincerely, Scotty"

This cracked me up. "Scotty" is either extremely literal or has a wicked sense of humor. In fact it reminded me of something Amelia Bedelia would write.

Instead of describing the Aqua Literz as exploding, I guess should have said, "oozed out its contents in a manner that cannot be determined". I probably also should have mentioned that the Aqua Literz had been very carefully packed in a hard plastic container. Oh well.

There are two lessons to be learned from this episode:

1. Be very careful and specific with your word choice!

And more importantly

   2.  Check your inventory periodically to make sure it is in good condition and ready
        to go. I'd rather find out about this problem now rather than when Hubby Dear
        needs to use his car kit.