Water Storage Research Error

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

Almost two years ago, I wrote about my beginnings in emergency preparedness. I learned many things but let much of it slide. Even so, it is good to keep some things stocked for situations such as blizzards, power outages, confinement, and so on. Especially water.

An employee in a big box store was asked about storage containers. A storm was coming, and she wanted to fill them with water from the bathtub. If she found containers, I hope she washed them first. It would be good for a short-term solution.

Desiring to have an emergency supply of water for long-term, I did research. I made mistakes. You can learn from my errors and what I did right.
Water storage bottles, Unsplash / Jude Wilson

The CDC recommends having at least one gallon of water on hand per person for three days.

Water from the typical municipal faucet is regulated and safe even if it does not taste wonderful.

I learned that those gallons and smaller bottles of water deteriorate structurally, and plastic breaks down —  and microplastics and chemicals leech into the water. (Those clear or slightly-tinted bottles are good for a few days.) I decided to get containers that are designed for long-term water storage.

Many of the emergency preparedness (prepper) sites and videos are great if you have money to invest, own property, can renovate areas for storage, and all that good stuff. (I reckon that a senior citizen widower in a one-bedroom apartment is a unnützen Esser — not useful for the group.) Lots of useful information is available for storing water in 55-gallon drums, but unhelpful for folks like me.

After doing online research, I decided on a container that was right for my purpose. Then I looked up disinfecting it and making the water safe for six months. I was also planning on labeling them with the date. This concluded my research and I made my purchase.

It did not go well.

Nothing wrong with the containers, but I did not take into account the size and weight. The original idea was to put them on the bottom of a shelving unit in a closet shielded from direct sunlight. But fresh water at room temperature in those seven-gallon containers is over fifty-eight pounds. Lifting it out of the bathtub and carrying it... I'm not able to do that right now. Also, if it actually fit into the planned storage space, it would break the shelves. And I had two containers. Repeat every six months, too.

I was able to return them for a refund, and I am going to try again with four-gallon containers. Hope someone can learn from my experiences and errors.

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