The Pool Is a Reservoir

The water features you already want can double as the water you'll need.

Most resilience upgrades are invisible. Nobody throws a dinner party to show off a transfer switch. Water is the exception, because some of the most useful water storage in a house is something people want anyway.

Count what you already have

Before buying a single barrel, take stock:

The water heater. Most hold 40 to 80 gallons of clean water. Learn where the drain valve is and how to close the cold inlet so it doesn't backflow.

The hot tub. A typical spa holds a few hundred gallons. Not drinkable without treatment, but fine for flushing toilets, washing, and wetting things down.

The pool or pond. Thousands of gallons, sitting in your yard.

The pipes themselves. If the water system loses pressure, there's still water in your plumbing. Open the lowest tap in the house to drain what's there.

Why it matters here

Our water depends on power and on networks. Treatment plants and pump stations need electricity, and Boulder's wastewater plant has redundant feeds for that reason. Water systems are also targets. In 2021 someone remotely accessed a small Florida water plant's controls and tried to raise the lye level to a dangerous dose. An operator caught it. Not every operator will.

And in a wildfire, municipal pressure can drop exactly when every hose in the neighborhood is open.

Make it dual purpose

This is where it gets fun. If you've always wanted a pool, a pond, or a hot tub, there's now a risk-informed reason to say yes, provided you build it to be used:

Plan a draft point. A pond or pool can serve as a water source for firefighting if a pump can reach it. Ask your fire district what they need: access, a fitting they can connect to, a clear path for a truck.

Add your own pump. A gas or battery pump with a hose and nozzle turns stored water into ember defense for the house and the plants nearest it.

Keep it full in fire season. An empty pool in October is a missed opportunity.

Think about access. Water you can't reach in the dark with the power off doesn't count.

A note on drinking water

Stored pool and tub water isn't drinking water. Keep a separate supply of potable water: the usual guidance is at least a gallon per person per day, for several days. Add a decent filter rated for the water you'd actually be treating.

The best resilience features are the ones that make your life better every ordinary day and then quietly do a second job on the bad one. Water is where that's easiest to pull off.