I spent most of the afternoon outside doing yard work and just came in. I got a glass of water from my countertop filter and noticed it was almost empty, but felt too tired to fill it right now, then flopped down on the couch and read my emails. Two hours ago, there was a message we had a water main break in the neighborhood. An hour ago, there was another message that there were additional issues they were evaluating. I was very late in reading both messages. I jumped up to fill the filter and the bathtub, but the water coming from the faucet isn't any color I'd want to drink or cook with or wash dishes with.

I'd just very recently started re-prepping after several years away from it. I have scores of gallons of bottled water in the garage that my former roommate had purchased. It hasn't been stored well and I don't know how old it is. My plan was to use it to water the garden this summer and to slowly resupply. I hadn't gotten around to that yet. My inspiration for preparedness recently was a winter power outage and I was focused on heat and power as my first preps.

I've experienced wildfires, earthquakes, tropical storms, hurricanes, extended power outages and long illness, but I've never had the water cut off. I know it's the first thing recommended to store, but it just never seemed that urgent.

I can easily go to the store to buy some or go to a friend's house. And maybe the water won't be off more than a few hours or a day (or 2 or 3). But that may not always be the case. A good reminder to me.