Can I store tap water in one gallon spring water jugs?

How long can I store plain tap water in used water jugs without treatment, other than maybe boiling before filling the jugs? I would feel better knowing I had a 60-90 day supply of water laying around. If I could store a few months worth of water at a time I could just rotate the stock and refill once a week I'm thinkin...anyone in the know?

Do you live somewhere where water other than from tap is not available? I wouldn't store tap water for very long, a few days at most, without treating it after that. I live in a state where there are 15,000+ lakes, so I see no need to store more than a few days of water. I have a Berkey water filter, so if tap or other potable water becomes unavailable, I can just make a trip to a nearby lake, collect what I need, and filter it at home (there's a small lake in a park just across the street). And, if I should find the need to flee home, I can simply bring along my filter, and not tons of water. If I lived far from a natural source of water, I would probably store 50 gallons in a barrel and not worry about it for some time, because if and when I needed to use it, I can simply filter it to make it safe. BTW, boiling water, or treating it chemically, might kill bacteria, but that's only half the process, you still have them harmful chemicals in there. And, if I needed to suddenly store a bunch of water at home, hopefully I would have time enough to fill the bathtub, and I wouldn't really need to clean it first, because I would still filter it before use, just like I do anyhow everyday with the tap water here (it's horrible, it stinks like bleach, and it tastes awful, but it's the best water after filtering, ha).

Good question - I recently bought a few gallon-sized spring water containers and stored them in my basement. How long are those OK to drink?

would it be possible to boil the water before you put it in the jug?
That is what I plan on doing. But didn't know if it would help. Good thing you brought this up because I didn't even think about asking.
I would hate to rely on water that could have bacame stagnant.

Boiling you're water is enough for survival I think. If you want to get rid of the chemicals such as laundry soap and fluoride you will have to boil it about 5-10 times.

As far as storing it, you can't store it for long because the chemicals and left over bacteria will grow fast. Be prepared to filter and boil it.

I agree with everything Divinorumus said. Just remember that plastic is permeable and will let in 'bugs' eventually. The thin plastic is prone to cracking over time as well creating an unpleasent mess. I also have a creek and high water table, but if you have to store it then use something made of a stronger plastic and run it through a Berkey or other filter. I collect rainwater for that purpose.

reply to post by skeeveve

That is exactly what I have....only a ton of them I was saving to recycle. I'm just wondering how long I could safely store it after filling the jugs with boiling water. I have lots of lakes and ponds around, but I am in a rural setting where lots of chemicals are sprayed on the fields so I'm worried about runoff...and the potential danger of leaving my house in a sitx senario.

Originally posted by realboogyman
would it be possible to boil the water before you put it in the jug?
That is what I plan on doing. But didn't know if it would help. Good thing you brought this up because I didn't even think about asking.
I would hate to rely on water that could have bacame stagnant.

Boiling it before you put in the plastic jug is good but still you should be aware of what the plastic jug will do to the water over time.. I'm sure it would do something!

The decomposition of the plastic will eventually ware into the water and could do long term damage to the gene pool.



[edit on 18-3-2009 by Techsnow]

Originally posted by skeeveve
Good question - I recently bought a few gallon-sized spring water containers and stored them in my basement. How long are those OK to drink?

There should be an expiration date on the bottles. In any case, you could probably let it sit there for a few years and treat it will a little chlorine the day before use, or filter it, or both.

Originally posted by realboogyman
would it be possible to boil the water before you put it in the jug?

I would treat it BEFORE use.

There are lots of ways to treat water, from boiling, to distilling, to chlorine, to filtering. The solution I decided upon isn't fixed to a limited number of days of stored potable water on hand. I wanted to have a solution after those 50 or 100 stored gallons run out, thus I decided upon a good filtration system. And, with this solution, I can supply water to my neighbors if necessary, so long as there are nearby lakes or rivers.

I also have some chlorine to pre-treat before filtering if it is super nasty water. With a good filter system, you could scoop up puddles of water found in a parking lot, a swimming pool, or the nastiest pond with bird droppings floating upon it, ha. The only kind of water that wouldn't work is salt water, that is a filter killer. And, if the water is really bad and filled with junk, I could pre-filter it through a coffee filter, or piece of cloth (thus saving some life on the spendy filters before running it through them next).

BTW, those Burkey filters are scrubbable. When the flow rate becomes a dribble, I can take them out and give them a light cleaning with a scotch bright pad. A pair of them filters can process around 6000 gallons of tap water, more if your tap water is cleaner, less if you are using swamp water. At minimum I should be able to get 4000 gallons of lake water out of them, others report more. I keep two sets of filters on hand, one in use in the kitchen right now, the other stored for emergency use if I can't order another set.

Also, you can just by the filters, and make your own stacking bucket system out of a couple plastic tubs, and save some money.

I like the gravity filter system, as it provides more than enough water than trying to store 6000 gallons. As long as the source of water doesn't have a bunch of salt in it, I can make it drinkable, safer than tap water, AND it will taste great too.

[edit on 18-3-2009 by Divinorumus]

I have emergency water caches hidden in the areas of the desert 50 miles around where i live and i have drank water from them that was over 5 years old with no problems.

What i use is two liter soda bottles and a drop of chlorine bleach for each bottle.

They are buried about 6 inches underground at the cache sites.

This is just like drinking ground water from a well, likely cleaner.

It depends where you live, some places I wouldn't even drink the tap water
You can store tap water for longer than filtered or spring water.
Because it has chlorine in it.
I found this.
answers.yahoo.com...
Someone says 6 months.

cclorine tablets can be purchased at any survival store get those youll be fine. Also water doesnt really have an expiration date so if you store it in a container and the container itself has been sterilized youll be fine.

reply to post by mushninja


Actually I have researched it, you can save water for a year, - dark place etc. add some drops of chlorine......

www.baproducts.com...

It is a very good idea to store water, due to being prepared, and water may not be available after a big disaster etc.

VERY Smart!

Honestly, I wouldn't.
For example, down here in florida we always have our hurricane supplies and they did some study (and I'm soo sorry but I can't find it anywhere at the moment to provide a link) that showed how the "bugs" got in on almost a yearly basis...hence, telling us that if we don't have a major hurricane that summer use the water, don't keep it for next year.

Buy the large gallon sized containers sterilized and sealed with water already in them. If you have them for a few years....no biggie, even after what I stated above. But I wouldn't fill old ones with tap water-don't forget tap water has "nasties" in it anyway. Distilled water is preferable.

Oh and don't forget-ONLY BOIL WATER TO GET RID OF BACTERIA!!! Nothing else. Solutes and Solvents....any water boiled off then concentrates the amount of pesticides, detergents, antibiotics, feces, etc.

Boiled water is preferable in a bacteria situation, you're better off collecting rainwater than trying to boil water you think is contaminated with anything other than microbes.

After thot on water storage containers.......if you drink alot of 2-3 liter soda pop, rinse and use them. They have a hermetically seal interior for keeping CO2 from escaping and are excellent for several years. If you are without funds, yes boiling the water helps insure a longer shelf life, biggest problem is the taste.....going "flat" is a loss of oxygen, when you open them, leave enough room to shake the bottle vigiously to "reoxidate". Using a source of stablized oxygen will protect against the "flatness" AND kill any anaerobes that might grow during storage..good luck

boiling water doesn't remove flouride.

It needs to be filtered first, then boiled to remove all contaminants.

Remember too that chlorine evaporates pretty quickly, a day or so. It's why you should let tap water sit in an open container for a day to let the chlorine evaporate off before watering your plants.

Also note the type of plastic you store your water in. For example, that Berkey Light filter system is made from Lexan, plastic #7, and Lexan may leach bisphenol A, a chemical that some studies linked to cancer. I bought that system, however I do not store the water in there after it is finished filtering, I put it into glass bottles and put them in the fridge (it can filter 9 liters of water at a time, and I have three 3 liter glass bottles for storage after filtering).

It's also worthy to note here, that common water bottles everyone buys in a store have the compound Bisphenol-A. Drinking such water may be contradictory to one's health.

[edit on 18-3-2009 by Divinorumus]

If properly done, water can be stored for 5 years or more. The one gallon jugs you are considering are perfect for this if they are food grade plastic (and they should be) . The following site will tell you how to store water:

www.fcs.uga.edu...

[edit on 19-3-2009 by RKWWWW]

Originally posted by Techsnow
Boiling you're water is enough for survival I think. If you want to get rid of the chemicals such as laundry soap and fluoride you will have to boil it about 5-10 times.

All you will achieve doing that is concentrating the toxins in the water. The water will evaporate, but the toxins won't.

Distilling is the go. That's how rainwater is created - Pure H2O. Just like that evil Mother Nature intended.

Originally posted by xstealth
boiling water doesn't remove flouride.

It needs to be filtered first, then boiled to remove all contaminants.

Boiling does not remove particles in water. It only kills bacteria.

[edit on 19/3/09 by NuclearPaul]

Although I have little chemistry background, I have heard that grapfruit seed extract can be used to purify water, even doing a better job than chlorine in some cases.

I get the Citricidal full strength version only available from the website Nutriteam.com and share with friends. I take 5 drops a day in juice to stay healthy
only +/- $20 a year.

Nutribiotic is available at many stores but is 1/3 the strength. Both are organic made from grapefruit seed and pulp.

GSE is effective for 800 viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitical diseases, sicknesses and has been used in agriculture for 30 years. It can be used to treat diabetes, Athlete's foot, psoriasis, gingivitis, dandruff, Alzheimer's, candida ++. It needs more PR!

A worldwide traveler scientist friend takes it with him to purify water. It is good for campers too.

When filling water bottles BTW I have been told that you do NOT want a half inch air space at the top.