A question on water.

[taylor94]

Hey another question that might end up being a duh question but I wont know unless I ask.

I am planning on storing a gallon of water every week. Each week I buy 1 gallon of water (mainly for the container) then use the water. Refill from the tap and store it.

I have been reading and seen that water can indeed go "off".

I have an idea which has come to my question that someone may be able to answer.

Lets say I don't want to rotate my water. I have new crops to sort, and seal into my mylar bags. New crops to plant and tend to. I have my home made ammunition to make and my bunker to decorate. Tending to my water is another job on the list.

We all have jobs and things that make time sometime an issue im sure you all will agree.

As I am aware there are three ways to "purify" water. Chemically, Filtering and Boiling.

My hypothesis. - If I was to store my water and then leave it for say 4 years. At the end of that 4 years the SHTF. My water hasn't been rotated. It has sat in the barrel for 4 years. It is possible that the water could be "off" or spoiled.

Could I use these purifying methods to bring the water back to drinkable (and enjoyable lol).

If I don't want to tend to my water rotation because I have so many other things to do could I just boil the water and bring it back?

The idea in my head sounds like ye it would work.

But I wanted a second person view.

[Arzosah]

Erm, rather than answer your question (cos I don't know the answer to that one) I'm wondering why you buy a container of water and use it, then refill from the tap - the use-by date on the water is generally much longer than the recycling date recommended for tap water!

[Briggs]

Use POTABLE water containers. Water butts and similar low cost containers are made from recycled plastics, so there's no guarantee it's made from food-grade. Water containers must be marked potable for long term storage. Ecosure do a good low cost range and somewhere on their web they explain about plastics.

[Malthouse]

Water is water, you can almost always purify it. Having a filter system and boiling it too is sometimes sufficient.

But as has been asked - why not store the original stuff? It will last way longer with the seal intact.

And also, why store so much? Water is something that you need constantly, even the biggest store will run out eventually. I would rather know where to find clean water and how to get the most out of what I collect.

[Devonian]

But as has been asked - why not store the original stuff? It will last way longer with the seal intact.

+1

I can't understand the logic here either??

[Briggs]

A gallon a week for a year is 52 gallons. It seems a lot of work doing a gallon week to just fill a 50 gallon/220 litre which is the size of a large water butt. Wouldn't it be quicker and easier to use a larger container of 750 to 1000 litres and let rainwater and gravity do the work for you? Pre-filter the rainwater to remove 99.99% of the nasty stuff and then chlorinate it for ultimate precaution before it goes in the container. Keep the container out of the sun to stop algae growth. Use an activated charcoal filter to remove the chlorine taste if bothers you before drinking. That's the method I use to keep 1000 litres on rotation at home.

Perhaps we're missing a key part of this project and how it fits into the underground container project. Can you explain a bit more....

[delard]

Using bottled water and then refilling from mains water only makes sense if at some point (when you have loads of containers) you stop buying them.

However you do then have to keep rotating them - as has been pointed out the shelf life of your tap water is likely to be less than the unopened bottles. I don't think this is because the bottled water is inherently more pure than the tap water (in fact I think the requirements in terms of bacteria counts for bottled water are significantly less stringent than mains water). Instead - when you open the sealed bottled water - then use it over a period - it will get a bit of extra bacteria in it - which can then grow when you store the tap water for a long time.

If you properly sterilize the water bottles and tops before filling them from the mains - and be sure to use a sterilized tap at the start of your home plumbing - then it might be fine - but this is all very fiddly to do properly.

- Delard