Posted: 10/26/2015 7:46:03 PM EDT
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So I am looking to add some serious water storage to my supplies. I have been eyeing some 275 gallon food containers and some 55 gallon blue barrels.
What the best way to store larger amounts of drinking water without having to switch it out with fresh water ever few months? What do you guys keep on hand? How do you store it? |
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Quoted:
So I am looking to add some serious water storage to my supplies. I have been eyeing some 275 gallon food containers and some 55 gallon blue barrels. What the best way to store larger amounts of drinking water without having to switch it out with fresh water ever few months? What do you guys keep on hand? How do you store it? We use 125 gallon poly agriculture containers like is used for spraying and general purposes, available at any farm store, treat it with bleach ~once a year ---and then again when its actually about to be used in 40 gallon increments- store it for years between use most of the time. It's all we use to drink, etc, in the mtns, and we filter all used for drinking with a Daulton ceramic candle, carbon block filters, and also use an inexpensive [~$70] Reverse Osmosis system. For dish washing, brushing teeth, etc, we skip the RO process. We never worry abt rotating it out, ----it's water, doesn't go bad and is silly to rotate it. We use it most of the year as we live here as much as we can. I suggest staying on top of any 'filtering system' you use to ensure the water is safe, one component of the process is a TDS meter. We just hauled up 65 gallons today as our ~400 gallon storage is getting low. We've started catching some rain water with surprising efficiency, and it will make a good backup. |
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You can easily store 8-12,000 gallons in a precast cistern if this is for your home base.
Run your gutters to it so you catch any rain you may get or have it filled by water truck. Get yourself a decent filter setup for drinking and just use the rest for non-potable stuff. |
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Thanks for the replies guys!
I live in a suburb so I am limited on size and space. I have a corner in my garage that I am dedicating to water storage next to the food storage. I am planning on setting up some rain water catching barrels but I want some main containers. |
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I use 15 gallon barrels and 6 gallon blitz cans for fast /mobile use. But for bulk ive got a large water tote thats full. Filled it over a year ago. But ive got a large dip filter system..and 3 katadyn hand pump filters. So im not sweating it...plus i have a well on site. |
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I have a piped gutter system for use with 5 gallon buckets when necessary. I let it drain onto the ground normally.
I just ordered a 42 gallon holding tank to install in line prior to my hot water heater. It will do two things for me, one it will bring the cold well water to room temp (house is heated with woodstove in basement) when setting home alone all day, making the hot water heater more efficient, and causing less wear on it... Two it will always supply me with 42 extra gallons from the time my well pump can no longer pump and I am out of pressure. Hot water heater and auxiliary tank will net me 80 gallons that rotates on its own. Of course I have generators to power my well pump for extra water but if for some reason I can't run it, or its broken, an extra 40 gallons of always rotated water will go a long ways IMO. 
***Tank contains neither a diaphragm nor a bladder.*** If my system is pressurized I have well over 100 gallons. I also have a fresh stream behind my house that runs out of the mountain. 
I have a couple MSR backpacking filters that I use while camping/ hiking/ hunting and plenty of iodine and bleach tabs as backup. 
Two is one, one is none. I don't store bottled water or anything like that, but I do keep plenty of Nalgene or SS bottles on hand. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the replies guys! I live in a suburb so I am limited on size and space. I have a corner in my garage that I am dedicating to water storage next to the food storage. I am planning on setting up some rain water catching barrels but I want some main containers. For that I will be the one to tell you to just buy bottled water. Put in a sturdy shelving unit and go by the 1 gallon jugs. If you buy 20 a week (about $20) you will be good to go in a couple of months. Easy and transportable and easily rotated out if you choose to do that. The bigger containers work good but aren't portable by any means. I have 4 - 300 gallon totes and a dozen or so 55 gallon barrels and don't fill but one or two at a time from the creek. And once full they aren't going anywhere quickly. |
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Maybe I missed it but, only use food grade containers. Those intended for other uses may leach nasty things into the water.
Only use new containers. Yes, you have to pay more, but you never know what was stored in them during their life time. The last thing may have been a food product, but recyclers/reusers aren't really all that particular when it comes to what's been in a container before. Use only containers that block light. The opaque ones will allow any halogenated agents used for purification to degrade at a faster rate. Spend a few dollars and buy an ATP test kit. I use Hygiena. http://www.hygiena.com/food-and-beverage-products/aquasnap-food-and-beverage.html The last thing you want is to have intestinal issues in a situation where water is limited, and you water is the source of your problems. Lastly, you change the oil in your vehicles, right? Change the water you are storing twice a year. Hey, water is cheap, you don't have to be. |
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We store it in 55 gallon food grade barrels, and one 275 gallon tote. We also have a well which we can access with a genset in power outages.
I just found and dug out a spring on our property that puts out roughly 3 gallons a minute of flow. I am going to brick in a cistern to capture roughly 100 gallons of this with an overflow pipe. We will fit it with a piece of tin that will keep debris out. That will have to be filtered with a sawyer but it is a boon to us. Once the spring is fully built out, I am not as concerned about storing as much water due to the resources on site. |
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No but its you basic poly tank with spigots attached and hose bib. Mine are the style you find at farm stores for water. The white poly tanks. Same top lid with 3/4 inch bung on the bottom. All i did was add a 3/4 ball valve and after our first flush/clean ill add a standard hose bib attacment inline with the ball valve . Id want to strap or secure that tank to a wall though. And tbat top lid wont hold while under pressure. So you stuck with gravity doing the work. |
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260 gallons storage for over a grand- bend over Rover!!!!
Hell to the no! Way too expensive, by a factor of three. I noticed Northern catalog is even offering water tanks now if you want to order one. Find a quality black one at a Tractor Supply, Farm and Fleet other large AG retailer type place. You should pay less than $400. for that much or more storage. Last water tank I bought was 550 gallons and a little over $500. It's in line with our solar well and we've been drinking the water from it for about 3 years now. No one has grown a third arm or eyeball. Yes it was brand new. |
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If you are a Costco member they sell a variety of water storage kits.
Here are eight 55 gallon barrels with pumps and filters for $870. http://www.costco.com/Nutristore%E2%84%A2-BPA-Free-55-gallon-Barrel-Water-Storage-System-with-Aquamira%C2%AE-Filtration-Kit-8-pack.product.11701766.html |
Hurricanes force our hand on evacuations, so we wanted to keep most of our water portable:
We also have a couple bathtub liners (waterbobs) that we can fill up before anticipated "event". In addition to a roboust reverse osomosis & ultraviolet filters (that is portable) on our city water, we also have our own well pump and backup generator to run it. I see you are in the Desert, if you want to go big or go home.....these tanks are a great way to do it: 
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200338319_200338319 525 gallons that is FDA approved for drinking water. Goes without saying, if you buy used drums or those large pallet tanks.....make sure you KNOW first hand what was stored in them (no chemicals!). |
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So I decided to go with two 55 gallon barrels from Costco to get started. They should arrive today.
Besides one drop of bleach for every gallon is there anything else I should do/add to the water to help it stay fresh for as long as possible. These barrels will be sitting in my garage purely for emergencies, so turning the water over once a year isnt ideal. The pack I bought did come with two filters, so if the water did go bad I could still filter it. But I would rather keep it fresh for as long as possible. I plan on buying two more if they work well to stack on top of each other. Then Ill be shifting my focus to upping my food supplies. |
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Where are you in NV? I've got the same issue that I'm in the 'burbs of Vegas with limited space. Luckily, I live on the perimeter of my housing tract, so the 7' block wall of the tract is also my West wall. I'm situated facing North at the end of a East/West Cul-de-sac so my water storage is almost invisible without coming to the West end of the Cul-de-sac and looking between my house and the block wall. The house hides it as you come down the street. I decided to buy the 275gal water totes. Found food grade, cleaned ones about a year ago for a decent price. Paid $100 each. I decided to buy 4. I removed each tote, took it to the spray car wash and high-pressure cleaned them. Then I brought them home and washed them at home. Finally, I wrapped each tote in 6mil construction grade black plastic before putting them back into the metal frames. This keeps them from being exposed to sunlight/UV. I laid down a sheet of the plastic, then stacked them 2x2 and wrapped the 4 with more plastic. I later built a 1/4" skinned enclosure for them that slides over them and is tied to them to keep prying eyes and the sun/UV off them even more. 1"x1" frame and 5 sheets of 1/4" plywood, then coated with Thompsons water sealer.   The box slides pretty easily, but I only plan to pull it back when I need to access the totes. I filled them a year ago and just dumped/refilled two weeks ago. The water looked and smelled clear, but I didn't have a good way to test it. I also purchased food grade hoses to run this to the house or wherever I need it, and a 12V battery powered on-demand pump. 3.5GPM at 45psi. I'm also going to add a Sawyer zero point one filter to the system. This gives me 1100ish gallons on tap, plenty for my small family. |
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Quoted:
Where are you in NV? I've got the same issue that I'm in the 'burbs of Vegas with limited space. Luckily, I live on the perimeter of my housing tract, so the 7' block wall of the tract is also my West wall. I'm situated facing North at the end of a East/West Cul-de-sac so my water storage is almost invisible without coming to the West end of the Cul-de-sac and looking between my house and the block wall. The house hides it as you come down the street. I decided to buy the 275gal water totes. Found food grade, cleaned ones about a year ago for a decent price. Paid $100 each. I decided to buy 4. I removed each tote, took it to the spray car wash and high-pressure cleaned them. Then I brought them home and washed them at home. Finally, I wrapped each tote in 6mil construction grade black plastic before putting them back into the metal frames. This keeps them from being exposed to sunlight/UV. I laid down a sheet of the plastic, then stacked them 2x2 and wrapped the 4 with more plastic. I later built a 1/4" skinned enclosure for them that slides over them and is tied to them to keep prying eyes and the sun/UV off them even more. 1"x1" frame and 5 sheets of 1/4" plywood, then coated with Thompsons water sealer. http://www.speedcraving.com/keith/House/Water/totes-covered10.jpg http://www.speedcraving.com/keith/House/Water/totes-covered12.jpg The box slides pretty easily, but I only plan to pull it back when I need to access the totes. I filled them a year ago and just dumped/refilled two weeks ago. The water looked and smelled clear, but I didn't have a good way to test it. I also purchased food grade hoses to run this to the house or wherever I need it, and a 12V battery powered on-demand pump. 3.5GPM at 45psi. I'm also going to add a Sawyer zero point one filter to the system. This gives me 1100ish gallons on tap, plenty for my small family. I am near the Red Rock area. So similar urban set-up. My garage is the one room in the house that the wife doesn't have a say-in. So I use it as my work area/fun room. So I have a bit of room for storage. I plan on doing a very similar set-up as you though. I plan on using the 55 gallon drums for immediate use then as rain water collectors if the situation ran long enough for them to run dry. When the 55 gallon barrels run out I want to have a set-up like you to keep the family going for an extended amount of time. These barrels came with two hand pump filters. Not ideal for pumping out gallons at a time but it will work for the few gallons I day I plan on rationing if the time ever called for it. |
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Quoted: I am near the Red Rock area. So similar urban set-up. My garage is the one room in the house that the wife doesn't have a say-in. So I use it as my work area/fun room. So I have a bit of room for storage. I plan on doing a very similar set-up as you though. I plan on using the 55 gallon drums for immediate use then as rain water collectors if the situation ran long enough for them to run dry. When the 55 gallon barrels run out I want to have a set-up like you to keep the family going for an extended amount of time. These barrels came with two hand pump filters. Not ideal for pumping out gallons at a time but it will work for the few gallons I day I plan on rationing if the time ever called for it. 55 gal drums or the totes, you're not moving it when it's full. Sure, the totes are quite a bit heavier, but the room they take up isn't bigger than the drums. From a quick search, the 55 gal barrels are roughly 2' diameter and 35" tall. That means you COULD pack 4 of them into a 4' square of floor space in your garage. That would hold 55 x 4 = 220 gals. I'm guessing they are stackable as are the totes. The totes are slightly less than 4' square (44" x 48" if memory serves) and are stackable as well, but in the same floor space, you can hold 55 more gals of water per tier. Once stacked, the barrel fills are covered, so you have to remove the one above before you can get to the one below. The tote outlet is in a small sump at the bottom, so you always have gravity feed, but can still use a pump. I picked up a Shur-Flo 3.5GPH / 45psi on-demand pump from Ebay designed for the plumbing in an RV. Runs off a car battery (12VDC). My original thought was to plumb a spigot into my main inlet line (where the water softener loop is), use two valves and be able to switch from city water to tote/pump supplied water by throwing a valve and turning the pump on. 45psi will run my whole house. I haven't done that at this point, but it's doable. One tote is bound to be a lot less expensive than 4 barrels as well. |
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What did you decide LRB-M1A? Thanks for keeping me in mind! I decided to start off on a small scale so I went with the two 55-gallon drums from Costco. I have them side by side off of the concrete with the cardboard boxes still covering them to keep the light out as much as possible. However, I have already cleared out the area on the side of my house that I plan on storing the totes like you. One side of my house is always in the shade so it is useless to grow and has not been used for anything until now. I appreciate you posting that idea! |
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Sounds like a plan. No problem with the pics...that's what this place is for, encouragement to get going! :) Another thought, you may want to invest in a 12V pump (I bought a 3.5GPM, 45psi RV pump) and a filter that will allow you to filter all the water you pump back out. I'm sold on the Sawyer All-In-One SP181 kit. Has a spigot adapter and 1 million gallon lifespan. |
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I've been doing a lot of research (and still feels I haven't done enough) because it's part of my new years resolution . I think before you start getting containers (sounds like you already have) is having a goal of how much water person per day. My current plan is 4 gals per person per day. Yes that's a lot compared to the experts but I have 4 people in the house and 4 dogs (3 gals per person and 1 gal per dog). My dogs collectively drink/spill/play with about 4-5 gals a week.
Second I plan on not treating my water (if I do stablized oxygen). I am literally 3 miles from the water treatment plant to begin with. They are already treating water .There has been a lot of tested done with non extra added bleach water and it's the same .Some report a slight plastic taste of the barrels. Looks good smells good and tastes good it's good. Mind you if my water came from a stream underground well any place from any untreated source I would treat with bleach. |
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I have three 55 gallon barrels of water kept in a wooden box alongside the home. The water was poured into the barrels as pure water and in the 15 years I've been doing this hasn't turned into anything else. I do rotate the water out into the garden every year.
The primary purpose of the water is sanitation - washing and flushing but I do have filters to purify anything out of the water that's not water. I keep a chest high stack of water bottles for drinking and cooking and rotate those out and in as they go on sale. |