water storage?

[Woodland Woman]

We keep at least a weeks worth supply, being one gallon per person, of distilled water in gallon jugs. I personally prefer our filtered tap water so when we go out of town in our travel trailer, I fill jugs with this. It seems to last 10 days without any bleach. My kids get a reaction to bleach. Canning would probably work except that it would be a lot of effort for a small amount of water. I still am not entirely pleased with my system. I would like to find a solution to storing large amounts of water safely.

 

[ticks]

And Ticks.... nope, not from Maine... we're in Michigan. We moved to GA for a year, for DH's work... and well.. my first visit to a restaurant there, I thought the young kid who was serving us, well... I thought he was on drugs.. b/c he kept asking "well what KIND of coke do you want" umm... the kind that says COKE on it? DUH! He said "well we have orange, root beer, diet, and lemon lime and...." me: "no.. I just want COKE!" Apparently they call it all "coke" I really thought he was on drugs. LOL! I guess I should've researched the culture a little more b4 moving there? Then I wouldn't have looked so silly asking "what kind of pop" do you have?" at the next restaurant.

That's good

 

[Hiedi]

I agree with what some other people have said that water is one of the most important things to store for emergencies. However, it is a bulky thing to store, takes up a lot of space, and it is also heavy to carry. We were living in Pensacola during hurricane Ivan, and we were without power for nearly two weeks after that storm. However, that was not nearly as bad as being without water at our present home (here in SC) for two days. Our water company is not very reliable so we lose water here fairly often. What I determined from the hurricane Ivan experience: I can live without power fairly easily but not water.

For water storage, we store bottled water that we buy in cases. We save the plastic bottles and reuse them over again. We have (three) fifteen gallon plastic barrels for water storage as well. In addition, we have a rain collection system that catches water from the rooftop and fills (four) sixty-five gallon barrels of rain water. We have at least four water filters to filter any of that water for drinking that we are in question about. With all of that, I can honestly say; I still do not feel comfortable with the amount of water we have.

 

[the simple life]

We also have a few of those size rain barrels but I didn't think you could filter them out for drinking water.
I am amazed at how fast those fill up, we just got them a couple of weeks ago and they are all filled.
What kind of filters do you use?
I store bottled water as well, but you have to make sure that you store them in a cool place.
If you store them in a room that gets hot the plastic will leach BPAs into the water.
If you have no other option in storage facilities though, its better than being out of water I guess.

 

[Hiedi]

Posted by the simple life
We also have a few of those size rain barrels but I didn't think you could filter them out for drinking water.

We mostly use the water in the rain barrels to water the garden. It could also be used to flush toilets as well; but in an emergency situation, I would also use that water for drinking after properly treating and filtering it.

 

[heatherv]

I was searching online for a hand pump well that can be used alongside a well pump. I came across this site www.survivalunlimited.com Anyways, Great water storage supplies there, and info. Many other supplies you can order as well for emergencies. Mylar bags for food storage, also the oxygen absorbers for use w/ food storage in 5gallon buckets or the mylar bags. There's tons of stuff there. I enjoyed browsing.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I know this thread has been dead for a while, but I just thought I would add that I remember hearing a public health official say that when you store water in plastic (pop) bottles that you should always fill them completely, so there is no air space at the top and that will essentially starve out most microorganisms. Not sure what anaerobic microorganisms could be a problem though, because I think well water still needs to have the bleach added.

I store well water w/o bleach pre-treatment. I figure if I really had to drink it I will either boil or filter it first. I just don't like the idea of bleach in my water.

 

[k0xxx]

Just a bit of a side note: If you boil water to purify it, after it cools aerate it (putting is in a closed container with some air space and shaking it would be one way) and it will improve the taste.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Well, according to this website , you can boil (and then cool before bottling) instead of bleaching well water for storage. I will probably opt to do this from now on.

 

[chicknwhisperer]

I have a 50 gallon food grade barrle that I'm going to use for water storage. Any idea about how to go about purifying that water since it is such a large amount? I also have a 15 gallon one to.