Long Term Water Storage Question

Hello I'm a new member and have questions regarding water storage. Did a quick search and didn’t find the information needed. Sorry in advance if it’s common knowledge.


I rotated out our water storage today and the process brought up some questions.


Although we have some 5 gallon portable jugs our main water storage is in 55 gallon food grade barrels. One barrel was new when I put it in service 3 years ago and the water drained from it today seemed fine. The other barrel was surplus from the food industry and I expected it to have residual taste or odor after 3 years. Surprisingly it looked and smelled good too.


I added 3 tablespoons of bleach to each barrel with filling (as our municipal water is glacier snow melt and has very little treatment).


Is there a process to determine if the water is safe to drink? I realize using a surplus barrel is not ideal but in practice I’m not noticing a difference. Truth is we'd most likely use the surplus barrel for hygiene purposes .


Interested to hear if this is a huge problem.

 

I don't know about determining whether it's safe to drink. But, I say, if in doubt, when you take your water out to use it, boil it.

There's nothing wrong with double protection.

 

Ditto but then I wouldn't be too worried if you started out with clean water in a clean sealed container and then added a little bleach I would think that you would be safe.

 

We have a 1500 gallon cistern. I plan on running the water from it through a 2 micron filter before drinking or boil it in large quantity in my big gumbo pot. I will also be gathering rain water into other barrels and such. Water is pretty easy to sterilize if you start off with clean clear water. It is dirty water that is hard on filters. I have a pool so I have massive amounts of chlorine in both powder and tablet form. We drop a tablet in the cistern regularly.

 

if you've got a water filter, water treatment chemicals and a kettle or coffeepot in which to boil water, why would you have to store it? you'd better get the hell out of the city if shtf, cause those places will be pure hell on earth in a very few days. Those without water will be looking for it and killing to get it, Ditto the dog packs.

 

If it was clean when it went into a clean barrel with a chlorine treatment I would trust it without reservation. My food grade plastic IBC tanks are second hand from a soft drink manufacturer, originally used to ship concentrated sugar syrup. I have no problem at all with second hand containers.

 

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !!! Thank you!

We keep 15 gallon sized tanks -- they are not too heavy to roll about. They are easy to clean. I've put standard sized spigots on them for filling and accessing. Their plastic is HEAVY-duty. They seal well.

One can fill bathtubs / whatever to keep water for cleaning purposes. We put back bottles of bleach and bottles of vinegar for preserving / bacteria-killing / cleaning needs. Bottles of ammonia are good for the cutting of wax surfaces that have gone dirty/septic.

 

I posted the above in 2018 and now am going to add some info. What has just this week made me think about this is that I've been reading about earthquakes. I'm not living in an area given to major earthquakes and our area has mountain streams, but irrespective of where one lives, one must make preparations to store water. As stated above, we keep 15 gallon-sized tanks.

Other parts of America are at EXTREME risk of having their clean water supplies cut.

California WILL have a spine-snapping earthquake within the next five years. When that/those happen, major electrical grids will go down (water pumping stations require enormous 3-phase electric feeds) and water pipelines will be destroyed.

Whereas the initial human death tolls will only be in the thousands or tens of thousands, without clean water, the death tolls will go into the hundreds of thousands. There's nothing Big Brother can do about that. California's population centers are far too vast. New York City's pipelines are ancient and fragile -- true across the whole state.

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/...s-to-syracuse-bursts-washing-out-rte-174.html

If you have well-water, you must have a generator to run the water pump. Having electrical feed is most assuredly not a given.

I've been looking at tanks that others may find useful for them. Literally, "one size does not fit all." If you do not now have water storage tanks, do look at these links to see if you find anything that would accommodate your family's needs. Find other links if these are not what you would need. But for heaven's sake, do prepare for what is coming, think water-storage. We who live in Western nations take FAR too much for granted. It is not a given that you will always be provided with clean water.


Five-gallon stackables:
https://www.amazon.com/5-Gallon-Stackable-Containers-Emergency-polyetholene/dp/B01KPAOOL0/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1G254Y1OKQGKD&dchild=1&keywords=water+storage+tank+stackable&qid=1607195798&sprefix=water+storage+tanks+stack,aps,144&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFNNVZNMVYxRzVMR1ImZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyOTE5NDgyTUFESlVPRUtVSVU3JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0ODA3NzQyQUlWSkhJVkFGR0xVJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==


15-gallon units:

The model shown below looks exactly like the model we have. We have multiple tanks.

The secondary port on this model is of standard dimension, therefore I simply screwed a standard outdoor spigot into it (using sealing tape to secure it). Do NOT put some cheap plastic spigot on these. Fifteen gallons of water weighs 120 lb. -- that weight will casually destroy a plastic spigot. Use only a brass spigot. Outdoor spigots are threaded for standard garden hose diameters. If you find some great tanks, but they have obscure port diameters or strange thread pitch rates, then the tanks are not going to be of much use to you.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19418/Drums/Plastic-Drum-15-Gallon-Closed-Top-Natural?pricode=WB3684&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=pla&utm_term=S-19418&utm_campaign=Drums,+Pails+&+Containers&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=pla&utm_term=S-19418&utm_campaign=Drums,+Pails+&+Containers&msclkid=e3cc64731279191940eb3bb8cf068e33&gclid=e3cc64731279191940eb3bb8cf068e33&gclsrc=3p.ds



Specifications on fittings:

https://turfmechanic.com/what-size-is-a-garden-hose-fitting/

Here's some other brands & sources:


I do NOT like this model from Amazon. I like that it has two handles, however both access ports are large diameter -- good luck finding a step-down diameter to affix a spigot. Even if you do, that large diameter port will give-way under ordinary torque forces -- the treads will pop.
https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Emergency-Water-Storage-Barrel/dp/B07RG84S27.

Here's another product supplier. These tanks have a second smaller port. They call it a "breather plug". I call it a great threaded port to screw-in a spigot. Watch out, all of these barrels have plastic ports, i.e. plastic threading. Plastic threads strip far more easily than metal and are thus an Achilles heel.

https://www.tankbarn.com/products/15-gallon-tight-head-drum
.

 

Those that have been through a situation where electricity and water was non -existent for days and weeks know the wisdom of storing water . That you will probably miss more than that refrigerator , heat , lights and electric cooking dodads . For those without an alternative water source , take Old Geezers advice seriously .