Mid to long term water storage
Posted by choyntune@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 41 comments
Hi everyone, been looking into water storage for mid to long term and wondering the best way to keep it (storage containers, purification etc.).
Is there a specific container type i should be looking at in order to keep tap water or am i better stocking up on large bottles? I have water purification tablets etc but have seen about a drop of bleach in with the water, can anyone explain please how the bleach would affect the water long term, and would it be drinkable with the bleach in straight away? Would it be better to store water in a large container then decant into bottles and purify with my tablets at a later date?
All prep will be kept in the cellar so will be kept dark and cool.
Based in the uk if relevant.
Thank you for any advice.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
Use whichever container you have room for, large or small, size and shape and material aren't as important. It should be opaque and sealed. Or at a minimum stored in a dark area. I used 55 gallon plastic BPA free food grade barrels, but I have more than enough space.
Tap water almost always has chlorine in it. You don't need to treat this water. You can, but its not needed. If you're concerned, then about the year mark open each container and put the appropriate amount of bleach in based on the size of the container. It's more than 1 drop / gallon, BTW.
When you go to use the water, you can open the container and allow the bleach to off-gas. If you store the water w/ the correct amount of bleach, it's highly unlikely you'll even taste it.
You should always use unscented bleach to treat water. You can also make your own bleach from powdered pool shock, but make sure you read the direction and follow them carefully. I have a 1 lbs bag of pool schock and IIRC, it will treat 10k-20k gallons of water depending on how clean the water is to begin w/. The dirtier the water the more bleach you'll need to put in it to clean it.
I have drunk 10 year old water treated w/ bleach. I didn't get sick or have any problems. I used 2 liter soda bottles to store the water and they were kept in a dark cellar.
hondata001@reddit
Also make sure it is not "splash free" or anything else, it should be straight bleach.
Yes there are tutorials on this if you search. Same as bleach it needs to have no additives (it will give a purity like 70% or something that is normal). Store in an air tight container, I prefer to buy lab grade bottles on Ebay or Amazon. I wrote the dilution instructions on the bottles.
That is really bad advice. That's like saying I've never been in an accident so I've never needed a seat belt. Water doesn't always grow harmful bacteria, it depends on the water source and what it's exposed to. Always be safe especially in emergencies. Rotate tap water and bleach treated water every 6 months. If you want a more stable treatment chlorine dioxide treated water is good for 4-5 years, there are products available made for water treatment.
Bleach used for water treatment should be less than a year old.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
Except it's not. Prior to moving, we drink our stored water. We have drunk water stored for 3, 5, and 10 years. Not just me, but my wife and kids. But it's not just us. My group has drunk years old stored water.
6 months rotation is unnecessary. If someone is overly concerned, you can open the water and add the appropriate amount of bleach every year and you'll never have problems.
Household bleach contains sodium hypochlorite. Water Preserver, made by 7C's Safety and Environmental Inc is sodium hypochlorite and it was EPA tested to preserve water for 5 years.
hondata001@reddit
Your experience does not make it good advice. It just means you weren't unlucky. There is a reason the CDC and other reputable entities recommend to keep water for only 6 months. Water borne illness kills millions a year and is easily avoidable.
Based on your limited experience only. Every water source and environment is different. You could have had bacteria in there, maybe it wasn't pathogenic. There are thousands and thousands of species of bacteria that can infect us.
"The active ingredient in WaterPreserver is a specially formulated and pharmaceutical grade of Sodium Hypochlorite"
It likely has something else in there that helps keep it stable. That is not the recommendation for household bleach. Read the CDC guidelines.
"The shelf life of bleach is approximately six months, but proper storage can help it last a full year before its effectiveness begins to drop by 20 percent yearly."
Bleach evaporates. It also degrades in a 100% sealed container. The free chlorine becomes sodium chloride mixed with other salts, without gassing off.
Please read some reputable sources before you continue giving your bad advice, based on a product you didn't even mention before.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
You can denigrate my experience all you want and call it "limited" or state that I was lucky, but it's not just me that has drunk years-old water treated with bleach. As I said before, my group of over 50 people have drunk water treated w/ bleach that was stored for years. Every time the group goes camping, we take our water storage to drink. Nobody has ever gotten sick over the course of at least a decade of doing this. My group includes an ER doc, a couple of nurses, and some EMTs. The simple fact remains that numerous people have drunk this type of treated water over a number of years.
Go read the Water Preserver website - it's made of sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in bleach, and nothing else.
The University of Florida disagrees w/ 6 months. "Although properly stored public-supply water should have an indefinite shelf life, replace it every 6 to 12 months for best taste." https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ss439
One of the most comprehensive prepping books - Dare To Prepare - also disagrees w/ 6 months. The author states, "If you are using opaque airtight containers, bacteria-free tap water can be kept indefinitely if you have treated it w/ chlorine and it tested to 3-5 ppm residual free chlorine." Page 74 of the 4th Edition.
Some prep books recommend tasting the water after 6-12 months and retreating if necessary, but none that I've read say to dump the water out.
I only post information from reputable sources or my experiences that have been tested. I test all my preps extensively.
east21stvannative@reddit
Thank you, very informative 👍
NohPhD@reddit
Use a food grade IBC if you have room. It’s the cheapest storage on a cost per liter basis. In the US they are about $100/etc and contain 1000 liters.
antwauhny@reddit
What? I have only found them for $500+ new, half that for used or refurbished. Plus over $300 for shipping.
NohPhD@reddit
They’re $100 USD, used, food-grade, rinsed and ready to pickup where I live. Seems to be a common price. Food grade in IBC context means they once held ‘food’ like flavoring syrups, sweeteners, etc.
antwauhny@reddit
Dang, I live in the wrong part of town
Jose_De_Munck@reddit
Adding a small piece of silver will keep the water longer :D
zeek609@reddit
Please don't store water bottles. Chemicals will leak into it when the plastic degrades. Buy water bricks or an IBC, put a small amount of bleach in it and rotate every six months or so. Alternatively buy canned, it lasts basically as long as the can.
asalt0032@reddit
At the end of world, I’ll just pass up water bottles and die of thirst because of plastic chemicals. Got it.
zeek609@reddit
I literally said it's better than nothing and at the end of the world you'll have bigger things to worry about but if you have the option now then don't go for plastic bottles.
hondata001@reddit
FYI cans are plastic coated inside.
zeek609@reddit
FEMA and other agencies use canned water over plastic bottles and have stated it's good to drink for over 50 years.
The plastic inside the can COULD leach some chemicals into the water after say 20 years of storage but they're not gonna kill you and I'd argue that if you're drinking 20 years old canned water, you're more concerned with ghouls and super mutants than dubious chemicals from plastic.
Water itself is completely shelf stable as long as it's stored away from sunlight, high temperature and nothing works its way in, that's why bottles aren't the best storage medium.
I'd also argue clean tap water with a tiny amount of bleach stored in a decent water brick or IBC would potentially last years anyway, it just might not taste great.
hondata001@reddit
It will be safe to drink it might have a plastic taste though.
zeek609@reddit
Yep absolutely, I never said it wouldn't. I didn't say aluminium is magical and will keep your water pristine for a millennia, I said it was the best option for storing water long term and it is.
hondata001@reddit
So bleach and chlorine in tap water both degrade. Tap or bleach treated water should be rotated after 6 months because chlorine degrades. After that bacteria can start growing, the amount used for treatment does not completely sterilize. Products like chlorine dioxide can be good for several years but I've yet to find one I would trust.
As far as plastics if you cannot find a container good for long term storage get a good carbon filter (you should have one anyway), it will remove most of the plastic chemicals.
You can also treat the water with bleach before you consume but keep in mind liquid bleach is good for a year at best. Look into calcium hypochlorate if you want to be able to make a bleach solution from a powder with a longer shelf life.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
Not entirely correct. Bleach and chlorine will evaporate out of water. If the container is sealed, then it won't evaporate and you'll have years, not months of storage.
I drank 10 year old water stored w/ bleach and I'm just fine.
hondata001@reddit
This is completely wrong and bad advice. Bleach in an unopened bottle degrades. Ask anyone who works in a restaurant. We use bleach at work in a lab we have to lookup the date codes and also test with a test kit. Look at the link I left for CDC guidelines. You drank it and you were OK means nothing, might not happen next time.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
I'm talking about bleach in water, not bleach alone. It wasn't just me that drank it, it was my family, and my group has done the same, as well. Over 50 people that have done it. So, it does mean something.
tyler111762@reddit
commenting so i can find this thread when there are answers lol.
ghost_in_shale@reddit
Use the save button
hondata001@reddit
I really want to write up a sticky on this.
marwood0@reddit
Someone gave me an IBC which I'll use for a gutter eventually, outside, with a first flush system to remove dust leaves and bird poop. For tap water indoors under the house, I got 15 gallon food grade barrels from the local homebrew beer store, that still contain a pound or two of malt syrup. I paid on average about US$10 each for them. I'll combine all the syrup for making beer, then fill the barrels with tap and just leave under the house. I'm not going to bother with bleach or rotating or anything like that; the input and barrels will be clean. I installed a hose in my crawlspace so I can put each barrel in place and then fill it. I will probably elevate each one on cinder blocks and/or pallets for easier draining / syphoning. Also have saved many wine and rum bottles for future use. I find wine jugs are also good for storing rice and beans.
Florida__j@reddit
Collect 5L water jugs. Being in FL i never have to buy hurricane water.
BigMain2370@reddit
You can BUY the water that comes from a Hurricane? OK, that was a joke... but I feel like people could making some good money bottling that... even if I'm bad taste, capitalism has no morals.
TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit
I just use Aquatainers filled with treated water (tap water,) then added in ResQH20. Should be good for easily a decade.
BigMain2370@reddit
I have 1 aquatainer. Started just using 5 gallon buckets. Take them stacked when canoeing with a group. Dip the orange bucket in the water, hang up and have it drip into my white one. Much easier to clean than aquatainer, not that it's "hard" to clean aquatainers.
hondata001@reddit
Yup me too, no plastic taste.
BigMain2370@reddit
I like 5 gallon food safe buckets. Multi-purpose, cheap, easy to handle, easy to clean. Drill a small hole and put a spigot on it. Can even get a cheap hand drill, and wait until yoi NEED to drill a whole when shtf to make sure it doesnt leak while stores. Buy a multi pack of spigots cheap on Amazon. When full, you can stack and store 1 or hundreds - your choice. When empty - remove spigot and you can stack thousands. If in US, tractor supply has $5 food safe buckets. Your choice on the lid.
BigMain2370@reddit
Also, get 2 different colors. 1 for dirty water, 1 for clean. Hang the dirty one (or set up on a table/chair) and have gravity feed it through a filter to the clean. I like sawyer filters for longevity. Also while your at it - if you have a good filter, you can use many water sources. Take the bucket to a lake/stream ,or use a cheap bilge pump with a hose to access hard to reach water.
BigMain2370@reddit
If you have access to any sort of water, and a filter, little need to use bleach - but if storing a lot long term, a tiny but of bleach works wonders. For a morale boost, store some "Tang-like" water flavorings. Augason Farms makes one that's cheaper and has a longer shelf life. Just don't count on that vitamin C to work well in 20 years.
DeFiClark@reddit
As long as freezing isn’t an issue or earthquakes, glass is great. I reuse screw top wine and booze bottles.
TwoRight9509@reddit
This. You win. Super smart!
tronic50@reddit
Rainwater catchment into IBC totes or a good size cistern would be the way to go.
Big-Preference-2331@reddit
I would go with IBC totes or a cistern. Obviously depending on where you live. I’m rural, so I can do anything. I live in the desert and fill mine up with hose water but had the capability to be hooked up to a gutter system on one of my outbuildings.
futilitaria@reddit
I use soft-sided bpa-free plastic cubes with spigots, 5.3 gallons each. I also have several heavy plastic jugs for camping, etc. I can’t remember if I put a few drops of bleach in it, but I’m not that worried about it.
If you start with clean water it will be clean when you need it. I don’t imagine that I’d purify it again unless it smelled funny. Quantity is more important than quality here.
Halo22B@reddit
If you rotate your water storage the water will always be "fresh".
"Set it and forget it" is always a poor pepper strategy and doubly so for water storage.
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