Depending on which survival expert you talk to, they all have a slightly different list of things you need in an emergency, and what order you should do things. Some say shelter is the first thing on your list, followed by fire, then water, and lastly food. While all of these things are important, and I have no argument with them, one of the first things I would recommend is that, whatever brought on your emergency should be looked at closely. If a tornado is headed your way, the first thing to do is get to safety – whatever the danger is that you are facing, let’s get away from that danger.
My lovely wife is the one in our family who is really into water purification. She loves testing the various methods of getting a clean and safe source of drinking water. We live in a rural area, and have our own well, that provides 29-gallons per minute of water. However, the water is full of iron, bacteria, and the water is brown – without being treated. We have a large filter in our pump house, that is filled with Calcite, and that cleans up the iron and bacteria before it reaches our faucets in the house – every other year we have to have it serviced and re-charged. And, while it is safe to drink, it has a bit of a “taste” to it, and we filter our drinking water using several different methods, usually the main one is a water filter pitcher, that removes the funny taste from the Calcite. And, I don’t wash our vehicles at home – the Calcite leaves white water marks on the rigs, unless I take the time to either bypass the water before it gets to the filter in the pump house. Instead, I take our rigs to the car wash in town.
Make no mistake, without water – a source of safe drinking water, you will die in a matter of days. Depending on the emergency, you could die in as little as a couple of days, and in some circumstances, you could last as long as a week -but don’t count on it. Survival without safe drinking water is paramount to living. My wife enjoys watching the television show “Fat Guys In the Woods”with survival instructor Creek Stewart – and I often watch the show with her.Creek states that survival is simple: “just don’t die” and he’s right – but there’s a lot more to it than just that. A positive mental outlook is needed in any survival situation. Stewart has four survival techniques that he teaches to the fat guys, he has in the woods – or desert – with him for several days.Number one is shelter, and I agree with that – you must find shelter first, and in inclement weather, this is extremely important. Secondly, make a fire, and Ia gree with this, too – my friend, Chris Janowsky, now deceased, ran the Wilderness Survival Institute, in Tok, Alaska for years, and was recognized as one of the best survival instructors in the world – he was so well known, that the US Marine Corps, sent their winter survival instructors to Chris, to learn winter survival skills and they then went on to teach our Marines. Chris used to say “fire is magic” and it is – it will keep you warm, help you cook a meal,and give you a sense that things are going to be okay. Then we have finding a source of water, and making it safe to drink – and NO surface water is to be considered safe to drink, without first purifying it – and there are a number of ways to do this in the wilderness. Lastly, finding a source of food is on the list.
As an aside: I have a small problem with the “Fat Guys In The Woods” show,in that, Creek Stewart, on each different episode, only teaches, one method of making a fire – while I applaud him for teaching wilderness fire-making, he needs to show the fat guys more than one method of making a fire – just in case the one he is teaching doesn’t work. Learn to make wilderness fires using several different methods – just in case one doesn’t work. And, Stewart also only looks at one and sometimes, just two sources of food – try as many different methods as you can think of, to procure food in the wilderness. Other than that, I think Creek Stewart does an outstanding job on his television show, and I’ve read some of his books. They are outstanding!
Once again, I’d like to repeat myself, “no surface water source, should be considered safe to drink” without purifying it first. To drink water without making it safe, is only asking for trouble – you could get any number of diseases, that can kill you very slowly – just as any other ways of dying in the wilderness can kill you. 
Today we are looking at the Day One Response water bag, that treats water safely, effectively and quickly. The US Marines ranked this water purification treatment #1 in performance and user operation – it’s simply to do. The Day One Response water bag is also easy to transport A quick look at what this system treats for is: sediment, arsenic,bacteria, lead, viruses, humic acid, protozoan cysts and DDT. Another really nice thing is that the directions that come with the water bag, are written as well as a pictograph – for use in countries where folks don’t really know how to read English that well. The Day One Response water treatment bag, has also been used all over the world – with great success. It meets WHO and US EPA emergency drinking water guidelines. 
The water bag is a translucent polymer bag that holds 10-liters of water -or 2 1/2 gallons. The water bag comes with enough P&G (Proctor &Gamble) Purifier of Water packets to fill the bag up to 60 times. The P&G packets contain iron sulphate, calcium hypochlorite and other ingredients to purify the water. There is also a very fine filter – down to 2-microns, that removes many of the nasty bugs in the water. The water bag can be used up to 60times, and then needs replacing. The bag has a 10 year shelf life if not used,and the P&G packets have a three year shelf life.
Okay, how simple is the Day One Response water bag to use? It is extremely easy to use. I want to direct you to 
I did like the straps on the Day One Response water bag. They worked well infilling the bag from a stream – I did from our small creek that was still running through our property this summer, and closed the bag per directions,and carried it to my driveway – just 50 yards away – and it sure beats carryinga water container in my hand. I added the packet of the P&G Purifier of Water to the water – although the water was crystal clear, as I stated before,no surface water should be considered safe to drink, without treating it. I closed the top of the water bag, and hung it from a tree branch and wiggled it back and forth for 5 minutes and then let the water sit for another 25 minutes.It was clear and there was a very little sediment in the bottom of the bag.
Any water that you don’t drink within 24-hours should be either discarded,or used for washing clothes–things like that. And the sediment in the bottom of the bag – pour it out and bury it. You don’t want your pets getting into it and drinking it since it is full of all those “nasty” things that were taken out of the water. 
The water outlet attached to the bag is above a certain line, and below that line is water with sediment in it – don’t drink any water below that line. Also, you get a small syringe that you can use for back flushing the filter. This will extend the life of the water bag a little longer. Actual lifespan of the bag depends on how much sediment is in the water your are filtering. (A simple cotton T-shirt pre-filter can be used to help minimize sediment.)
The Day One Response water bag seems almost too simple to use. Collect water in the bag, add the packet of P&G Purifier, close the top of the bag, hang it, and wiggle the bag back and forth for 5-minutes, and let it sit for25-minutes. Then you can drink the water. However, don’t drink the water if it is still yellowish after 25 minutes. (Start all over again.) The system seems pretty fool-proof and easy to use. I do like the straps on the bag for transporting the water. (Water weighs 8.345 pounds per gallon, so 2-1/2 gallons would weigh more than 20 pounds. It is easier to carry on my back, than in my hands for any distance. 
If you’re serious about prepping–and you should be–then you should have more than one method of purifying water in your emergency supplies – just in case one fails you. We have quite a few methods of making water safe to drink in our gear, and the Day One Response water bag, is one more method to help us when we need to make water safe for drinking. Full retail for the water bag and enough packets of P&G to purify about 150-gallons of water is only $79.99.I would recommend, getting a couple of these neat water bags, get one or two for yourself and another to give as a gifts to family. The recipient may not appreciate it now, but when they don’t have safe drinking water, they will surely thank you for the gift! It’s simple, inexpensive and easy to use. What more can you ask for? – Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio