Free planning tool
Emergency Water Storage Calculator
Enter your people, pets, cooking needs, climate, and planning period. See gallons, weight, a line-by-line breakdown, and several container equivalents instantly.
Your household
The planning baseline is one gallon per person per day for drinking and limited sanitation.
How many days?
Compare common targets or choose any period from 1 to 30 days.
Planning for 14 days
Extra needs
These transparent planning modifiers come from the Water Ready Home guide.
Your household needs
56 gallons
About 465 pounds of water before container weight—plan floors and shelving accordingly.
Compare planning horizons
*A case is estimated as twenty-four 16.9-ounce bottles, or about 3.17 gallons. Container figures are separate equivalents, not a recommended combination. Pet figures are general planning estimates; store at least what your animal normally consumes and consult a veterinarian for unusual needs.
How the calculator works
- Adults and children use the Ready.gov baseline of one gallon per person per day.
- Dogs use a general estimate of ½ gallon per day and cats 0.1 gallon; actual needs vary by size, diet, health, and heat.
- Cooking with dry foods adds ½ gallon per day for the household.
- Hot climate or high activity adds 25% to the subtotal.
- The calculator rounds the final amount up to the next whole gallon.
- One gallon is estimated at 8.3 pounds.
The calculator deliberately shows container formats as separate equivalents. A real plan should use a mix of manageable containers rather than relying on one giant vessel.
Turn the number into a storage plan
Choose containers, safe locations, labels, and a rotation schedule.