From the MINIMLS Team
With Everything Happening Right Now, This Is the One Thing Most Families Are Still Missing
A note from the founder of MINIMLS: why I stopped sleeping, what I learned when I called the people who run the systems, and why I quit stacking water in my garage.
Daniel Reeves · Founder of MINIMLS
Updated November 2026 · 8 min read
On February 28, the United States and Israel went to war with Iran.
Most people saw the headlines and went on with their week. I don't blame them. I tried to.
Then on April 7, the FBI, CISA, the NSA, the EPA and the Department of Energy put out a joint warning. Iranian-affiliated hackers were going after the control devices that run American infrastructure. Water was named as one of the sectors. In a few cases, they said, the attacks had already caused real disruption.
I read that at my kitchen table, with my kids asleep upstairs. And I looked at the faucet.
It hadn't crossed my mind until that moment. What would we drink?
I'm not a prepper. I don't own a bunker. I was a dad who didn't have an answer, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. What I found over the next few months changed what this company puts first. Today it has 100,000+ customers.
See What Your House Is Missing★★★★★ 4.8 stars, 2,318 reviews
Then July happened
In late July, the FBI and EPA warned of cyberattacks on water utilities in at least seven states. More than 30 communities in Minnesota were affected. CISA said the activity resulted in boil water notices and sustained manual operations.
I'll be exact, because you should expect that from me. Officials said drinking water was largely unaffected. Investigators hadn't publicly named who did it, so I won't either.
But think about what that means. No storm. No flood. And towns were still told to boil their water.
And plenty of towns have lost their water with no hackers at all.
- Jackson, Mississippi spent more than seven weeks under a boil-water notice in 2022.
- Asheville, North Carolina went through a 53-day water crisis after Helene. The notice wasn't lifted until November 18, 2024.
- Texas, 2021: more than 14 million people were affected by boil water notices at one point in the freeze.
So I started calling people
I called a man who'd spent his career at a power plant. A lineman. A retired water plant operator. A former Navy SEAL a friend put me in touch with. A woman who used to work government security.
I asked each of them the same thing. What actually happens to my kitchen?
They all started in the same place, and it wasn't the war. Water doesn't get to you by itself. It takes electric pumps, treatment plants and pressure. A private well stops the second the power does. A town's system can run on backups for a while, and backups break or run out of fuel.
Everybody's watching the sky for the big thing. What gets you is the little box in a building nobody's looked at since 1985.A retired water plant operator, on the phone with me
The woman from government security was the bluntest. "Who's coming to your house on the first morning?" she asked me. I said I assumed somebody. She let that sit.
I looked it up. In May, a federal review of FEMA backed shifting more of the job onto states and towns. In June, the National Resilience Strategy asked more of states, localities and individuals. Individuals. That's you and me, at the sink.
In June, The Record reported that CISA, the federal cyber agency that helps water systems defend themselves, has been cut by about a third. The agency says it's hiring more than 300 people.
So picture it. The faucet quit six hours back. The store was stripped before you heard. Your grandson asks for a glass of water, and you're standing over a bucket from the rain barrel, wondering if it will make him sick.
I did what they all told me. It didn't work.
When I asked what they'd do, most of them said the obvious thing: buy water. So I did.
The CDC says at least 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days, and 2 weeks if possible. The Red Cross says 2 weeks at home. For a family of four, that's 56 gallons. About 19 cases. About 470 pounds.
I stacked it in the garage. I made a rotation schedule. I wrote dates on everything with a marker. My wife asked if we could please park the car inside again.
Three months in, I stood in that garage and finally saw the problem.
- It only goes one way. Every bottle you open, the number drops. Fifty-six gallons is 14 days. Asheville was 53.
- You can't take it with you. If you have to leave, or you're not home when it happens, it's all sitting in the garage.
- It can't make more. On the day it runs out, you're where you started, and now everyone else is out too.
I hadn't solved the problem. I'd just bought myself a countdown.
You should still store some. It's the first thing you'll reach for. But a countdown isn't a plan.
The question that changed everything
So I threw out the whole list and asked something different. What's the least a household can own and still have water on day 30?
Not the most. The least. Something a normal family could buy once, put in a drawer, and stop worrying about.
The answer wasn't more water. It was a way to make more. A small filter that turns the rain barrel, the pond or the creek into something you can drink, with no power and no stove.
So I went looking. Most straws I found were built for a weekend on a trail. The cheap ones on the big marketplaces came with claims nobody could back up, and I wasn't putting one of those in my kids' hands.
What I wanted was simple. A finer membrane. Stages in front of it to catch the mud. Something small enough for a purse. A company that would tell you straight what it can't do.
That's why it's the first thing on the MINIMLS list. You don't need a bunker. You need the bare minimum.
Here's what it is
The MINIMLS Emergency Water Filter Straw is 2 ounces and about 8 inches long. It has four stages. The last is a 0.01 micron hollow-fiber membrane. Many hiking straws are rated 0.1 or 0.2. Hollow fiber isn't a gimmick, either. Hospital-grade purification and military field systems use the same type of technology.
Think of thousands of tiny tubes. Water passes through the walls. Bacteria and protozoa are too big to follow it. E. coli, Salmonella, Cholera, Giardia, Cryptosporidium and Legionella simply don't fit. No chemicals. No power. Nothing to wear off.
- Removes 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa, and blocks microplastics
- Rated for 1,800 gallons, more than 550 cases of bottled water, tested to the rated figures
- Third-party lab tested for bacteria and protozoa removal, and pressure-tested for membrane integrity, seal strength and leak resistance
- No batteries, no pump, no moving parts. BPA-free
- No expiration date when stored dry, so you can store it 5, 10, even 20 years. Keep it from freezing, and let it dry before you put it away
Remember that wall of 19 cases, 470 pounds? One straw is rated for more than 550 cases, and it fits in your shirt pocket. That's years of clean water from a single straw. At a gallon each a day, even Asheville's 53 days comes to about 212 gallons for a family of four.
The rule I give my own family is one per person, then one for the go-bag. People get separated. One straw in the kitchen does nothing for the grandkid at practice.
For a family of four, that's five, which is the Family Pack: 5 straws, 1 free included, for $79.99. Bought one at a time, five would cost $149.95. You save $69.96, and it comes to about $16 a straw.
Emergency Preparedness Sale ends in
- Filters 99.99% of bacteria and protozoa
- Rated for 1,800 gallons
- No batteries, no pump, no expiration when stored dry
Up to 67% off. Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you. Not sold on Amazon.
Here's what it doesn't do
You won't often see this written down by the person selling you something. I insist on it.
It does not remove viruses, chemicals, heavy metals or salt. When viruses are a concern, boil the water or add tablets. If you suspect water has chemicals in it, don't drink it. The CDC says boiling and disinfecting won't make it safe either. And a straw needs water to filter, so it doesn't replace what you store.
Here's the job it does do. It takes the bacteria and protozoa out of that bucket from the rain barrel, when there's no store, no stove and no one on the way.
What you'll want to ask me
"Will I manage it?" Sip through it, or thread it onto a regular water bottle and squeeze into a glass. The first few draws take some effort. That's normal. If your hands or your lungs aren't what they were, squeeze.
"Does it really work?" It's third-party lab tested and tested to the rated figures, with 4.8 stars from 2,318 reviews. Don't take my word for it. Run a bottle through it at home the day it comes.
"Why not just one?" Because you won't all be in the same room when it happens. A couple covers themselves, the car and the go-bag, and has one left to give to a grown child. Bigger family? 10 straws, 2 of them free, are $129.99, about $13 a straw. 40, 8 of them free, are $389.99, about $10 a straw.
The only deadline that matters
When the notice goes out, the whole town learns in the same hour, and the water aisle goes first. A package takes days. A boil notice gives you none.
Our Emergency Preparedness Sale, up to 67% off, is on now. That date is real. But the deadline that should worry you is the one nobody announces. The only good time to buy this is before.
What you can hold me to
- One guarantee. Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you. Unused or used.
- Plain prices. The savings come from buying more than one, and they're printed on the page.
- Plain shipping. Standard shipping is $4.95 and Express is $9.95. Every order ships the next business day, tracked and insured.
If you ever catch us breaking one of those, write to hello@minimls.com and tell us.
Now the tap quits again. Same notice. Same empty aisle. This time you open the drawer, fill a bottle and squeeze a glass for your grandson, and he goes back to his cartoons, because to him nothing happened.
That's all I ever wanted for my own kids. I don't want you up at night with a knot in your stomach the way I was. I want you to have handled it.
Please do it today, while it's still a quiet day.
Daniel R., Founder
Emergency Preparedness Sale: up to 67% off.
Was afraid it'd be an odd gift. My brother-in-law asked where to get more.
Gail M.Ordered Monday, here the next Monday. Works as described.
Lou C.Tested it on pond water behind the house. Clear, no taste to speak of. You do have to pull harder than you think at first.
Tom W.
Try it for 30 days. If you're not happy, email us and we'll refund you.
Get the Family Pack: 5 Straws for $79.9930-day money back.
P.S. Show this page to the person in your family who rolls their eyes at this sort of thing. Tell them to check the numbers. I'd honestly like them to.
Sources, checked October 31, 2026: CISA joint advisory AA26-097A, April 7, 2026, updated July 22. KUOW/NPR on the Iran war. FBI and EPA notice and CISA alert, July 30, 2026. StateScoop on Minnesota. Fox Weather on Jackson. WUNC on Asheville, November 18, 2024. Fox 5 on Texas 2021. Federal News Network and National League of Cities on the FEMA Review Council, May 2026. MeriTalk on the National Resilience Strategy, June 2026. CDC, emergency water supply and water treatment guidance. American Red Cross, survival kit supplies. The Record on CISA staffing, June 17, 2026.