Water Filtration and Storage

Since water is one of the basics in life, it seems like a great place to start in sharing what I've learned so far. Many people believe that as long as they have electricity (or generator power) to pump the water, they should be fine. Without getting into every possible scenario of loss of clean water supply, it's not a bad idea to at least have a "Plan B".
First of all, our daily intake of water should be 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight. I don't know of many people that actually drink that much water, but it is safe to say that we should be drinking that much water. To roughly estimate for a family, it is good to calculate 1 gallon-per person-per day of drinking water, and 1 gallon-per person-per day of washing water. Drinking water can be easily stored in emptied/washed out 2-liter pop bottles (the clear, rigid plastic kind) or juice bottles (the clear, rigid plastic kind). Milk jugs should never be used for drinking water and the milk jug looking gallon water jugs that you purchase water in are not the best option. The "cloudy-white" colored jugs that most drinking water comes in will break down in 1-2 years and not only leach chemicals, but make your drinking water taste like plastic -- not too pleasant when you're really desperate for a nice glass of water! There are larger containers (like the 5-15 gallon water carboy jugs you see in a cabinet of sorts with a spigot) for sale empty and filled with water, but I have not obtained any of those yet. My thinking is the weight of lifting them and space to store them is stopping me at this point, although I am planning to get 2 or 3 carboys in the near future.
We have ordered a Berkey gravity fed water filtration system purchased from http://tumacoutdoorsupply.com/ We are waiting for it to come in and I will hopefully do a review of this product when it arrives (yes, with pictures). This is the filtration system that we used in Israel and worked very nicely (we just couldn't take it every where we went which is why a bunch of us ended up getting sick). For portability, our family will be purchasing another filter that I have used 3 years in a row on 5 day canoe trips into the wilderness. Cabella's seems to be the best price so far http://www.cabelas.com It's called the Katadyn Base Camp filter and it works very well! We rubberband a coffee filter to intake portion of the filter to give it added protection from lake floaties that may be scooped up.
There are lots of options when it comes to filtering water, but these are 2 that will work without electricity and won't break the bank to obtain. Both of these filters will filter pond/lake/river water or even the stuff that comes out of your faucet. We have "funky" water here at our house, so our Big Berkey will be put to use the moment it arrives! The Katadyn will come in handy for camping trips with the family or if we needed it for survival purposes.
A few tips on getting the most water out of your house in the event of water supply being shut completely off from the house. Go to the highest faucet in your home and turn in on until it is drained and there is only air. Then, when you go to the lowest faucet/spigot in your home, you'll be able to get as much as possible out of the pipes. Water heaters are another place to get water, just make sure to unplug it (or shut the gas off to the unit) and allow the water to cool so you aren't injured. The back tank of a toilet holds water and can be used for washing, but it gets a little dicey when you think of cleaners and stuff that may be in it. Just a few more things I found out in my research! We'll talk a little more about storage when we talk about the storage area itself.

Happy trails to you.....