The water main in our street broke Monday afternoon, water all over, traffic blocked, and no one in the neighborhood has running water (in the house, some have it in the front yard headed into their basement.)
I've been accused of being a "end of the world survivalist" by my neighbors. But today i've been able to help my neighbors with the lack of water. We have 50 gallons of water in 1 gallon jugs, a Berkey Water Filter (well two), and a rain catch 55 gallon container.
I showed one neighbor how to draw out two gallons to use to flush the toilet, and gave the elderly lady next door two gallons of filtered water to use to cook and drink with. The city says we should have water back by tuesday night.
I would recommend that people store some water. 2 litter bottles store well, we have Hawaiian punch gallon jugs that stack nice with a 1 by 6 board between them. We invested in a Berkey filter (expensive but very good - about $150) that we use all the time to get rid of the stuff in our water from the city. The rain catch system is really for watering the garden but this in a pinch.
Some of the neighbors are talking about getting a hotel! more than the cost of preparing for "this end of the world as we know it" event (turn the tap and no water!)