Storing Water ?'s

TxCloverAngel · #1 08/30/05, 02:23 PM

Hi. I just found a place to buy those big blue plastic water barrels for a good price... my question is.... if I fill them up w/ drinking/cooking water... will it be ok stored for long periods of time? Or will it "go bad" and need to be treated or boiled before drinking?
What about water in store bought gal jugs? ok after a long time?

This last storm got us thinking.. we would be just fine for a long period w/ no elec.. except for water needs.

I also plan to use some for rain water collection for plants livestock washing etc....
But I just need your thoughts on the drinking water aspect of storage.

Thanks in advance!

Gary in ohio · #2 08/30/05, 02:27 PM

First of all make sure you know what if anything was in the barrels before you buy it. If its not food based then skip it. You will never make the water safe.
If it was food based then you need to see if there is any odor or smell. I have some barrels that had orange crus syrup in them. Even with several power washing and steam cleaning I cant get the smell out and the water takes on a hit of orange.

You going to need to rotate the water every 6-12 months to keep it fresh.

rzrubek · #3 08/30/05, 02:30 PM

Add a tablespoon of chlorine (bleach) to each 55 gallon drum and store out of sunlight. When you go to use the water you can let it sit out for a period of time to let the chlorine dissipate, and it should all dissipate within 24 hours when left out, uncovered. WE actually use a little more chlorine just to be on the safe side knowing it will dissipate if left out. Same with gallon jugs i would think, couple of drops of chlorine and keep out of sunlight. Whats a good price? we pay $12 apiece for them, ours are white.

TxCloverAngel · #4 08/30/05, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rzrubek

Whats a good price? we pay $12 apiece for them, ours are white.

My neighbor told me that they are under $10 each..

I have only drivin by them so far and they do have both white & blue. Another one of my neighbors is the head of all foodservices for our HUGE (houston) airport so she can get me a bunch for free. if I clean them and then I would be 100% sure of what was in them before I got them.

She is also getting me as many 5gal food grade buckets as she can as well. God I love her! lol

Quint · #5 08/31/05, 01:22 AM

I keep 8 barrels with water in them and change it out once a year or so. I don't add bleach any more since I could detect no difference in the water after a year. If I kept it longer it might be worth it. I have another 12 barrels that I keep on hand to be filled in case of impending emergencies.

Like others have said be sure of what was in them. I have a couple that had a strawberry concentrate it them and they still smell of strawberries even after steam cleaning.

YuccaFlatsRanch · #6 08/31/05, 06:12 AM

Is $10.00 good or bad price??

Well - I buy the 2500 gal black (barrels need to be black to keep from growing algae) for about $650.00 each. 50 blue barrels rhat need to be painted will cost you $500-600 at prices quoted. For my money, I'll take one of the already black big tanks and keep my water in one place. Of course I catch rainwater on a big time basis -have 28,000 gal storage.

Paint your barrels black with the Fusion Plastic spray paint.

Don Armstrong · #7 08/31/05, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

Well - I buy the 2500 gal black (barrels need to be black to keep from growing algae) for about $650.00 each.

Do you mean barrels that have already been used to contain something else? If so, what industry uses those (where should I look)? Or are they specifically manufactured to be water tanks?

COMMENT: note the people talking about tastes (orange, strawberry) staying in the drum forever - that shows us why you use only new drums or ones that have been used for foodstuffs.

antiquestuff · #8 08/31/05, 07:02 AM

Don: I've seen those huge containers sold for water storage purposes. So, you can get new ones made for storing water...not sure what they'd cost though.

Don Armstrong · #9 09/01/05, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antiquestuff

Don: I've seen those huge containers sold for water storage purposes. So, you can get new ones made for storing water...not sure what they'd cost though.

Yeah, I know about them. No trouble buying them - except the cost, and they cost more over here. What I was hoping had been said was that there was some industry using tanks that big as barrels, and I could get a pointer on a cheaper source of BIG water tanks.

antiquestuff · #10 09/01/05, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Armstrong

Yeah, I know about them. No trouble buying them - except the cost, and they cost more over here. What I was hoping had been said was that there was some industry using tanks that big as barrels, and I could get a pointer on a cheaper source of BIG water tanks.

Hmm, any food plants around you that might have large containers of water they use in food? Water bottling plants? Maybe some of these places would be replacing water storage tanks occasionally....just be careful to be sure they were not used for chemicals of any sort. It's too bad really that those tanks cannot be cleaned well enough to use with water. Such a waste.

Yep, know they are pricey for sure. Not sure on exact prices though anymore, it's been a while since I last looked at one. They were several hundred dollars and even thousands depending on the size last time I saw some a couple years ago...

RLMS · #11 09/01/05, 07:10 AM

Whatever the price is today is probably cheap. The material that those plastic/plastic-type barrels come from is oil.

dheat · #12 09/01/05, 12:59 PM

Others in another thread suggested getting them cheap from a bottling company. I called a couple in town. Nuthin' doin'. They are contracted with companies to refurbish them.

dheat · #13 09/01/05, 04:27 PM

I did find a 57 gal. refurbished, HDPE, black barrel for $26.50 locally. It has a clamp on lid, however, I think with a metal ring. Will that work for potable water storage?

Thanks

YuccaFlatsRanch · #14 09/01/05, 06:41 PM

New black 2500 gallon tanks - sorry for the confusion

Cyngbaeld · #15 09/02/05, 08:05 AM

Don, any farm/ranch supply and many lumber yards and plumbing supply places carry those tanks here. They are intended for cisterns. I bought a 1500 gal one for 450$ a few weeks ago. A new poly septic tank would work also if that is all that is avail.

CherieOH · #16 09/02/05, 08:30 AM

Having no livestock, I never considered using a big barrel for storing water. I just store gallon jugs everywhere I can find some extra space. I read where you should change the water every three months, so I checked my supply (which was nearly a year old) and found black mold on the inside of the cap though the water appeared to be fine. I was really surprised to see that considering I used tap water (which has chlorine) to fill the jugs. After reading some more, I learned you should add a tiny bit of chlorine to your water, even tap water, before storing. That got me to thinking....why not just recycle empty bleach jugs to store the water in? So that's what I'm doing now. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Calico Katie · #17 09/02/05, 10:17 AM

Years ago I was told that when you finish off a bottle of bleach, don't rinse it out just fill it with water. The bleach residue in the bottle will keep the water free of contamination. Because our tap water is so bad here, I buy bottled water that is sealed and rotate it as I use it.

hollym · #18 09/02/05, 11:43 AM

I can get white and blue food storage barrels for $15 north of San Antonio.

DE keeps algae from forming in my chicken waterers, it's great! I suppose it would work in barrels, too.

hollym

ellebeaux · #19 09/02/05, 08:47 PM

I did a bunch of poking around online and found this site -

http://gardenwatersaver.com/home.html

I'm going to get a couple of these for my house. Now I just have to find the barrels.