Storing large amounts of drinkable water, best methods?

[Troon_Patrol]

If you are in the city and a true SHTF situation without running water I'd imagine that is going to be he biggest problem after simply fortifying the home. What is the best method? Getting a foood grade stainless steel 55 gallon drum? Food grade? Adding anti bacterial chemicals? I would assume 55 gallons is enough for 2 adults and a small child for 30 days maybe 45 at most. Your thoughts?

 

[Doktor Grimm]

You can dehydrate your water so it takes up way less space. Then once you need it just add water and you're good to go.

 

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

I mean. Jugs are a thing. If you're looking to have potable water on hand for emergencies, buy some distilled water in those big plastic jugs like they put in water coolers. I think it's a very good idea to have some on hand.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

So like... it does this thing where I live where water just kinda... falls? from the sky. Like one moment you're enjoying your day, and the next Boom, water. it's free, the government doesn't even tax it.

I think I'll get some from there.

storage? barrels. cheap, easy, and large.

 

[Doctor Love]

No. This is a very bad idea.

 

[Badungus Kabungus]

Get some stackable 5 gallon water containers. Easier to manage than a single big ass water drum. Mark them, rotate them every few months.

 

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

So like... it does this thing where I live where water just kinda... falls? from the sky. Like one moment you're enjoying your day, and the next Boom, water. it's free, the government doesn't even tax it.

I think I'll get some from there.

storage? barrels. cheap, easy, and large.

Getting H2O is easy most places cities exist. The challenge is making it safe to drink; a barrel fed by roof runoff is a habitat for all sorts of exciting microorganisms and parasites.

Storing pure, potable water to last you through a period of its unavailability is not a bad idea. As Badungus said, you'd be wise to dump and rotate it on a schedule while you can still get good to drink water.

 

[Drumstick]

Try to get containers that do not allow light in. This will limit growth of algae in the stored water. Most large water storage vessels are a black/green abs material.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

Lets say I buy a gallon of drinkable water from a random grocery store. It remains sealed at room temperature maybe 95 Fahrenheit at the highest, how long is it safe for? I'm no biology major but given the fact the container is not been pierced it will last theoretically as long as the container itself. If Plastic is not exposed to heat or UV light I'd imagine it would last about a decade at least.

Just brainstorming here. If I simply weld together a sheet metal box with shelving that stores 50 individual gallons of regular old store purchased gallon drinking water and seal it shut air tight with some kind of polyurethane caulking from a hardware store, I would imagine no air no light no possibility of rodents or pests good for a decade at least?

 

[Cougar Pump]

If you have space, and in the city that’s not a given, rainwater collection barrels aren’t super expensive and you don’t have to use them the way they are intended. Put it in your basement or out the back door, fill it from the tap with a hose, and never connect it to anything. It’ll sit for 1-2 years and be just fine. To be clear I’m not suggesting you use it to collect rainwater. Just fill it from the tap for such a time as the tap stops working or what it produces becomes unsafe.
Second best are those stackable water containers. More work and more money for the same volume of storage, but more convenient to store.

How you’re going to practically use your water supply in an emergency is worth putting some thought into. When the mains water is unavailable, it is hard to explain just how annoying it becomes if you don’t have some arrangement of tap over drain to use. This is where the portable water totes with the taps come into their own - drag one over to the kitchen counter and position the tap over the sink, and it works great as a standin replacement for most tasks that need running water. Here’s the rainwater barrel’s greatest weakness - you’re not going to get any flow from it sitting on the ground or in the basement, so you need to plan to decant it to at least one portable container to make use of its contents.

Realistic budget is maybe 3 gal per person per day btw. It’s easy to underestimate this because we don’t really appreciate just how much water we use each day for all kinds of things.

We had an interruption to the house water supply last year that lasted a week, so this stuff is pretty fresh in my mind.

 

[Benny]

I think every adult needs 6-8 liters of water daily for drinking, hygiene and food making. Brushing your teeth, washing your hands and cleaning dishes still needs to get done. Keeping yourselves clean is gonna take a lot. You can probably boil and use rain water for a lot of that stuff.

As for water storage i dont believe tap water is safe to store long term (if its for drinking). A local water treatment plant gave some directions a while back for tap water storage in barrels/jugs. But its pretty generic advice:
1. Clean the jug with soap and water, and rinse.
2. fill with water and for every 10 liters of water, add 2 caps of household chlorine. let it rest for 30 minutes, empty and rinse thoroughly.
3. fill with clean water and keep dark and at low temperature.
Ideally you should change the water every year, but it should be safe for use longer.

Or just buy water from the store and keep it keep dark and at low temperature.

 

[Attempt Turd]

These are interesting: https://www.bluecansales.com

Canned water said to last 50 years. I want to get a bunch and put in the car and storage and forget about them.

There are many different chemical ways to preserve water over longer periods. Potassium permanganate, chlorine and silver but I don't think any method is set and forget but require cycling but with longer periods between cycles.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

If you have space, and in the city that’s not a given, rainwater collection barrels aren’t super expensive and you don’t have to use them the way they are intended. Put it in your basement or out the back door, fill it from the tap with a hose, and never connect it to anything. It’ll sit for 1-2 years and be just fine. To be clear I’m not suggesting you use it to collect rainwater. Just fill it from the tap for such a time as the tap stops working or what it produces becomes unsafe.
Second best are those stackable water containers. More work and more money for the same volume of storage, but more convenient to store.

How you’re going to practically use your water supply in an emergency is worth putting some thought into. When the mains water is unavailable, it is hard to explain just how annoying it becomes if you don’t have some arrangement of tap over drain to use. This is where the portable water totes with the taps come into their own - drag one over to the kitchen counter and position the tap over the sink, and it works great as a standin replacement for most tasks that need running water. Here’s the rainwater barrel’s greatest weakness - you’re not going to get any flow from it sitting on the ground or in the basement, so you need to plan to decant it to at least one portable container to make use of its contents.

Realistic budget is maybe 3 gal per person per day btw. It’s easy to underestimate this because we don’t really appreciate just how much water we use each day for all kinds of things.

We had an interruption to the house water supply last year that lasted a week, so this stuff is pretty fresh in my mind.

Well, the way I see it is power not being restored after 72 hours it's more than just an earthquake and bathing is necessary but, not a much as drinking water, and using it for cooking and washing hands prior to food prep and critical things comes first.


I recall a camping trip when I was fairly young, I see my father taking the bottle cap of a 1 gallon water jug and "drilling" about 5-6 holes in it with his pocket knife. I asked what he's doing and says the communal shower at this campsite is broken he leaves the gallon in the sun awhile aluminum foil behind the direction of the sun. he fashions a harness out paracord holding the thing inverted upside down so it's luke warm and asks me to watch the tent/gear for 5 mins he grabs a bar of soap and comes back 5 mins later. I think it had been about 3days since I bathed at this point. So I was getting sticky, I thought it was really cleaver how he rigged it, it hung it inverted over a branch 8' off the ground inverted and lowered it to about 6' , then tied that off to a another branch with a loose knot then he tossed another line of paracord over the same branch this time tied around the neck of the bottle so pulling pulling it would upright the bottle and stop the water. He reminds me I only have a gallon so rinse, then soap then rise and "turn off" the water while soaping up. about 20 feet of a paracord a pocket knife an a jug of water made a decent makeshift shower. I've always been impressed how he manages to make random crap into something useful when given no other choices.

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Get some stackable 5 gallon water containers.

I see those clear jugs at Home Depot all the time, but realistically how long does the water stay drinkable in those clear plastic jugs?

 

[Freshly Baked Socks]

I used to homebrew, but since I quit I have just used my 5gal glass carboys for water storage. Never needed to use em, yet.

I've seen other people store their empty 3-4liter glass canning jars full of water for the same purposes.

 

[Taser Confetti]

Realistically, if you kept the 1 gallon jugs you can find at any supermarket and gas station unopened and at room temperature how long will they stay safe to use?

 

[Neo-Nazi Rich Evans]

for me i just bought a few of those 1 gallon water jugs at the grocery store and have them in the back of my closet. i dont know how long it will last, but they are cheaper, about $1.25 if i recall correctly, so i plan to rotate them out after 1-2 years. im sure that it would be safe to drink them even longer than that though.


as for how much water, my use case is just drinking water.if the water isnt running im not wasting my drinking water on a shower, so im not planning on storing enough for that. i can wipe down with wet wipes/ whatever. this is what ive done when camping when i dont have access to a shower. as long as you arnt covered in filth and wear deoderant it works well enough.

since im not planning on using it to bathe and im not pllanning on a SHTF scenario i feel secure in having 5 gallons on hand and consider that will last me through any realistic emergency.

 

[Osmosis Jones]

If you live far from a natural water source, you've already fallen for one the classic blunders of living in a post-industrial society. You've just kneecapped yourself for water and food. Water and food should never be a question and you should position yourself well enough that you don't need to worry about the most fundamental human issues, lest you be taken advantage of by the ones who have secured this for themselves.

Safe, long term water storage is difficult when you don't have major industries in place to take care of your water and waste for you. The real question is how do I make water safe? Because your stored water will not be safe whatsoever after a given period, and it's not safe at all if it's rainwater in a barrel as other users have brought up. Rain barrels are great for storing water for irrigation but not for consumption. All water for consumption needs to be adequately filtered and boiled.

 

[Masturbator]

Lets say I buy a gallon of drinkable water from a random grocery store. It remains sealed at room temperature maybe 95 Fahrenheit at the highest, how long is it safe for? I'm no biology major but given the fact the container is not been pierced it will last theoretically as long as the container itself. If Plastic is not exposed to heat or UV light I'd imagine it would last about a decade at least.

Just brainstorming here. If I simply weld together a sheet metal box with shelving that stores 50 individual gallons of regular old store purchased gallon drinking water and seal it shut air tight with some kind of polyurethane caulking from a hardware store, I would imagine no air no light no possibility of rodents or pests good for a decade at least?

aluminium kegs or any metallic container somewhere in basement with normal temperature

outside of memes real issue of water isnt storing it but getting it cuz you need at least liter a day and 100 liter kegs/barrels would keep you going only so far

 

[Troon_Patrol]

aluminium kegs or any metallic container somewhere in basement with normal temperature

outside of memes real issue of water isnt storing it but getting it cuz you need at least liter a day and 100 liter kegs/barrels would keep you going only so far

Sorry blackpill everyone here.

I'm only planning for 30 days, if things are not "fixed" in 30 days all signs point to living not even being worth it. I make a few bucks when people call me to "EMP proof" their security devices. When they put cash in my hand I don't care but, if they ever ask my opinion if you are hit with an EMP blast big enough to cook your electronics it was most likely nuclear and you were either killed in the first 5 seconds of the pure kinetic energy and heat tearing your body apart or you are already dying of radiation poisoning. 30-45 days after something goes really wrong I'm hot-wiring the largest 4 wheel drive vehicle I can get my hands on, loading up loved ones, my security breaching tools and all the water/food/guns etc that will fit and making for better territory and I have no idea where that might be depending on the situation.