I've lived long enough to remember when Americans expected things to get better with each passing generation. Neighborhoods were safer. Families were stronger. You could work hard, buy a home, and retire with some dignity. That wasn't a fantasy—it was the standard many of us grew up believing in. Today, that confidence has been replaced with uncertainty. I'm not talking about some Hollywood-style collapse where the lights suddenly go out and civilization disappears overnight.

Most people assume that clean water will always come out of the faucet. In normal times, that's a reasonable expectation. But storms, infrastructure failures, contamination events, and power outages can interrupt municipal water service with little warning. The problem isn't just losing water—it's relying on a single source. Preparedness is about eliminating single points of failure. If one system goes down, another takes its place. Water should be approached the same way. In