3,000 Pounds of Bottled Water, or One Straw in a Drawer: 10 Reasons Families Are Done Hauling Cases Home

1. It keeps going after the last bottle's gone

Every bottle you store gets drunk once, and then it's gone. One Blackout Water straw filters up to 1,800 gallons, which is almost five years of drinking water for one person. On day one of an outage, the pile in the garage starts shrinking. The straw is still going long after the last bottle.

★★★★★

when the do not drink notice came we were the only house on the block not standing in line at the fire station for bottled waterSandra M., Kalamazoo, Michigan

2. It fits in a drawer, not a garage

Do the math on a real stockpile. At one gallon a person a day, a family of four needs 360 gallons for 90 days. That's 72 five-gallon jugs, over 3,000 pounds you have to buy, carry in from the car, find room for, and replace when the dates run out. One straw weighs less than your phone, and five of them fit in the drawer with the flashlights.

★★★★★

I can't lift the big water jugs anymore and that honestly scared me more than anything. my son sent me these. they're so light I can carry them anywhere and they screw onto a bottle.June M., Bangor, Maine

3. It filters 20× finer than the straw everyone's heard of

The popular survival straw filters to 0.2 micron. Ours filters to 0.01 micron, twenty times finer. It removes 99.9999% of bacteria and 99.9% of protozoa like Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Then a second stage of activated carbon cuts chlorine, bad taste and odor, so the water tastes like water.

If you already own one of the popular straws, keep it. This is the one you hand to your grandkids.

★★★★★

I work in water treatment so believe me I read everything twice before buying. the two stage setup is legitBill R., Savannah, Georgia

4. Boiling only works if the power does

Boiling sounds easy until the power's out. You need a stove that still works, fuel to burn, a pot, and an hour you don't have with a house full of thirsty people. Even then, the dirt and the taste stay in the water.

The straw needs none of that. Fill a bottle, screw it on and drink. If you're dealing with floodwater or anything near sewage, filter it first and then boil it if you can.

★★★★★

first two we were boiling pots on the stove for three days. this time i filled every pitcher we own and ran it thru the straw.Denise C., Dayton, Ohio

5. No kneeling at the creek. It screws onto a water bottle.

Fill any normal water or soda bottle, screw the straw on top and sip. Grandkids get it in ten seconds. You can also squeeze water through it with the pouch in the box, or hang it up and let gravity fill a pitcher.

★★★★★

im 74 and my hands dont work like they used to but this thing screws right onto a water bottle so I dont have to crouch over the sink or hold it up to my mouth. whoever thought of that, thank youEleanore B., Sarasota, Florida

6. It doesn't clog and quit on you

Every filter slows down as it traps dirt. That's the day most people give up on a straw and throw it in the trash. Ours comes with a backflush syringe. Push clean water back through it the opposite way and the trapped dirt comes straight back out.

It takes about ten seconds, and it keeps working like that until it's filtered its full 1,800 gallons.

★★★★★

I paid more for these than the cheap ones at the sporting goods store and I'd do it again. you get what you pay for. the cheap ones feel like a toy, these feel like a toolHank J., Springfield, Missouri

7. Ten years in the drawer. Then 1,800 gallons once you start.

Two numbers, two jobs. Sealed and unused, it sits in the drawer for 10+ years and you never have to rotate it. The day you open it, the 1,800 gallons starts.

Now go look at the date on the case of water in your garage.

★★★★★

two different numbers for two different things. took me 5 minutes to figure out and i wish someone had just said it in the adKeith W., Tyler, Texas

8. About a penny a gallon

A 5-pack filters up to 9,000 gallons between them, which works out to about a penny a gallon. Now think about what you spend on cases of water every time the news gets bad, and again the next year when the dates run out. You buy the straws once.

★★★★★

did the math, the 5 pack works out to about $18 a straw and lasts years. that's cheaper than what we were spending on bottled water in a bad month.Gloria P., Montgomery, Alabama

9. Built by a man who kept the Army's water safe for 22 years

Ray Bennett spent 22 years treating water for the US Army, then 15 more as a water operator for the city of Waco, Texas. In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri knocked out the power and the water, and he spent four days hauling filtered water to his 74-year-old neighbor. After that week he sat down at the kitchen table to build the straw he'd trust with his own grandkids.

It's independently lab-tested to US EPA and NSF standards and made with FDA food-contact-compliant, BPA-free materials.

★★★★★

I was the biggest skeptic on this page lol. so I bought one 10 pack and took one to my buddy who runs the lab at the county plant. he ran it through some basic tests and said for what these cost he was impressed.Dave K., Evansville, Indiana

10. Use it for a year. Then decide.

Try it on the pond, the rain barrel, the creek out back. If you're not happy any time in the next 365 days, send it back and we'll refund you. A year is long enough to find out, and we want you to.

★★★★★

been burned by 3 different 'survival' gadgets off facebook. what got me here was the 365 day refund. figured worst case I get my money back.Graham S., Birmingham, UK