A great alternative for when your water supply gets cut off during emergencies or disasters.

Earthquakes in Japan occur often enough that residents learn to keep their emergency kit fully stocked and updated with all manner of rations and necessities.

But when water mains get cut during a disaster, it could be days or even weeks before it gets restored. During showering and particularly after shampooing, reaching for an open bucket of water can cause wayward bubbles to contaminate the reservoir which you might be saving for cooking purposes. Keeping separate bottles of water dedicated for showering might help, but gripping onto plastic with hands slippery from shampoo is a recipe for disaster, as dropping it could lose precious water in the process.

Malaysia-based Japanese journalist @mahisan8181 has found an ingenious method that takes all the headache out of showering with limited amounts of water, allowing people to cleanly wash away shampoo bubbles without the need to touch anything.

▼ All you have to do is to tie a large water bottle to your back.

Aside from making sure that the wearer’s head is bent forward far enough to prevent splashbacks into the container, this lifehack is as easy as it gets. It lets you save water, keeps your hands free, and turns you into Blastoise.

And if a bottle of water isn’t enough to clean long hair, strapping on a large bucket reportedly works just as well.

Japanese netizens were beside themselves and raring to try out the lifehack:

“This is a fantastic tip worth keeping in mind. You never know when a deadly earthquake will strike.”
“I think I can actually use this since I’ve experienced long periods without steady water supply during the Kumamoto Earthquake.”
“This dude’s clever.”
“Why didn’t I think of this earlier?”
“The invention of the century!”

▼ Onsen may come with water bottles to strap on one day.

With a bit of human ingenuity, this shower lifehack makes things that much easier for victims of a disaster. Nevermind emergencies, whipping out Blastoise is a pretty nifty way to conserve water even during everyday life.

There’s no telling when nature will wreak havoc on unsuspecting citizens, but luckily for us there’s a plethora of handy lifehacks out there to help keep things in line. Spend some time equipping yourself with a few, and you’ll be prepared for emergencies of any kind, including everyone’s favorite zombie apocalypse.

Source: Twitter/@mahisan8181
Images: Pakutaso (1, 2)