What is the best type of container to hold water long-term?

I had a large amount of water stored in gallon jugs down in my storm shelter. I've had them in there at least a year. Yesterday I went down to check and noticed that perhaps 1/3 had broken open. My assumption is that it got pretty hot down there (it WAS a hot summer) and the bottles were cheaply made. Most of them seemed to split at seams. This happened in my mother's storm shelter as well.

Okay, so now I know that doesn't work. Do any of you have ideas for the type of container I can put down in a storm shelter that won't break? This water was supposed to be my several weeks' supply for me and my family when TSHTF. I can't bury a huge cistern in my backyard, so I really need something more portable. Would those bottles used in office water coolers work?

I'd love to hear any ideas you might have. I'd like to resupply ASAP.

Gallon jugs work perfectly... Just not in your climate


That's a tough one, I'd say plastic "gas can" type containers.

They make them for water and are usually blue and hold 5-10 gallons. Pretty cheap too.

Or a surplus store and get some old metal ones.

I'd go the surplus route, as Walmart ain't my style.

your best bet is glass. not exactly "portable" but it is less likely to contaminate the water in a long run when compared to plastic and metal.

Do not use any plastic bottle/container, the toxic chemical will release into the water.
Use glass or plain china, however, water kept in still for too long is not good either.

I have flattened 5 gln containers for emergency water. Like posters before me said, its not really good to keep water.

If in time of an emergency you need immediate water, you can buy these containers that can fit in a nap sack until needed, and you can get water to fill them right away. When you are aware in advance of an emergency, the first thing you should do is fill your bathtubs and sinks with water immediately.

Also, if you decide to keep water long term, make sure that you check the bottom of the container for a symbol, that has three interlocking check marks, with a number 3 in them.

If these marks are present, then they contain PVC, which is EXTREMELY dangerous.

Also if you live in a home, you always have access to you water heater, and depending on its size thats the amount of water contained.

For example, if you have a 50 gln water heater, thats how much water is ALWAYS inside. If you hook up a hose to the end, you can access that water.

It takes a while but its water. Hope this helps.

Peace, NRE.

Try setting up a rain barrel under a gutter for flushing waste and other use. Use collapsable water containers for drinking water they are tough and expand. Grab some water purification tablets to make the water safe. find a local water source for long term.

they have water bags you can fill up with water that can hold anywhere from 1 to 100 liters. Take your pick. Easy to carry around when empty, and just requires and additional bag to carry it in. Or you could probably buy one with a strap.

Silver... it kills microbes and bacteria. It isn't practical on the large scale, however.

Glass is the 'cleanest', but it also isn't practical on the large scale.

Polycarbonate is the closest plastic to glass you will find. The typical 5 gallon 'water cooler' jug is polycarbonate. Anything else is porous and nasty, although the more water you run thru a subpar plastic container the less nasty chemicals such as BPA will leech out. Those gallon jugs of bottled water filling a shelf at the grocery store: some of the most toxic stuff you'll ever consume!! I have an array of different shape and sizes polycarbonate jugs I use to go load up with RO water.

[edit on 8-9-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


This is basic home upkeep but you should hook a hose up to your water heater and flush it at least once a year. I would hate for someone to think that they have 50 gal of water when half the tank is filled with sediment. If it is not flushed regularly then the sediment builds up and could actually prevent the tank from draining. The water heater I had previous would not drain and made it a pain to replace because of the weight. I have rented places where you could fill buckets of gunk from out of the hot water heater.

isn't it safe to boil the water that has been sitting still for a long time and drink it?

reply to post by frozenspark


It kills bacteria...

...but not contaminants (some oil derived chemicals are even worse for you when heated).

[edit on 8-9-2010 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

Most water has bacteria or algae in it which will multiply quickly in your hot weather, turning it foul. Once this happens, I'd be wary of drinking it even after using purification tablets.

I'd recommend buying 10 litre casks of distilled water and storing them on a rack, well off the ground. I use Pureau in Australia, which works out quite reasonable at 66c per litre.

Pure water tastes great, quite different to chlorinated, fluoridated tap-water.


It might be an idea to dig a deeper storm shelter which could stay cool and double as a storage cellar. Then you could fill it with home-bottled fruits and veges, home-canned baked beans, and always have an emergency supply of food on hand in there.

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss



what if the water was stored in a glass container?

55 Gallon Plastic Drum
Make sure your storage units are "Food Grade"

Water Storage

reply to post by Kailassa


Do you know if the casks/bladders used by Pureau are the same ones you get in casks of wine? Maybe these would be good to collect as potential containers?

Also, do you (or anyone else) know which water filter may be considered one of the best (one that can process several litres a day) for filtering contaminents / fluoride...or one to simply make grey water drinkable?

Remember this:

Recycle your water storages every 6 months or so.

I got a 100 gal rain barrel at a yard sale for 25 bucks, a steal!
Brought it home and filled it with the hose (not much rain here in the Bay Area this time of year. It weighs 800 pounds filled so I know no one will steal it

Also got two 5 gal water bottles at a yard sale for 10 bucks.

I had 10 gal jugs of spring water I had bought about 6 months ago so I decided to recycle them. Put that water into the two 5 gal bottles and I use this for cats water and for the inside plants. I took the 10 empty jugs out to the hose and filled them up and then ran that water thru a Brita filter and refilled the jugs, put a label and date on them and stored them in a low cabinet.

During a crisis you can quickly fill your bathtub and that will give you a lot of water to flush the loo.

There are lots of survival sites that sell water storage items and also packaged water.

reply to post by cloudbreak


I use Brita, but there is one called Zero Water, supposed to filter out everything. They have them at Target. Glass containers and the filters are ExPeNsIVe!

There is also a water purifier called the Berkey - my cousin got one. I just found out about this one.
www.berkeyfilters.com...

Berkey Light Water Filter System Super tough and lite BPA free copolyester housing

Comes complete with 2 Black Berkey filter elements that have the ability to reduce lead, mercury, aluminum MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and a long list of additional contaminates from your drinking water Each Black Berkey water filter element lasts 3000 gallons, 6000 gallons for this Berkey Light system

Gravity flow design does not require water pressure or electricity 2 1/2 gallon lower water storage container Included is a lower base that lets you place this unit on any flat surface. (Light base optional) Produces over 3.75 gallons of purified water per hour.

Produces the same quality and quanity of water as the Big Berkey at a more economical price. Lifetime replacement policy for all of our registered customers

Starts at $209


[edit on 8-9-2010 by berkeleygal]

Thanks! All of your suggestions are great.

I already have 2 55 gallon plastic drums. One is inside my garage. One is along side the house. They originally contained soaps in them. (I couldn't find any in my area that were brand new.) I washed them out really well. I purchased a small pump so when necessary I can get water out of the drums. This water I plan to use for flushing toilets, etc. NOT for drinking. Bathing if absolutely desperate.

The storm shelter is 6 feet high. The entrance is level with the ground. So, figure the water was almost 6 feet underground in a cement box.

I wanted several weeks of water in case a tornado comes or TSHTF. Worse comes to worse, I'd live in the shelter since at least there would be a roof over my head and water to drink while everything around me went crazy.

I have used individual water bottles before and they held up well. (And I did switch them out before they went bad.) I was hoping that the larger bottles would work even better.

I know about the filling the bathtub trick. (I tried it once and discovered mine has a slow leak. At least I know that now!)

I also liked the reminder of the water heater tank. I guess this is just another reason why I don't want to go tankless!

My main concern is having enough water to last though a period of not having any. There won't be much warning to fill up, or if so, only a little. That's not enough time to stock up. Once it gets out that there won't be water, there will be a run for all the water all over town. (I've already witnessed that.) So, I want to have enough on hand so I won't have to frantically search for some.

Some of you suggested the water bags. The water bags would be a great, portable way to carry water. However, I'm looking for something a bit more permanent that'll stay put until I need it. Do the bags leak? How do you prop them up when they are filled with water? Have any of you stored water in them long term?

Some of you suggested glass bottles. Where can I get them?

Remember this:

Recycle your water storages every 6 months or so.

That's really the key. You shouldn't keep it much longer than that. We keep some on hand due to our hurricanes, but cycle it out every 3 months (even out of hurricane season)... We use the office water cooler type bottles now (after we had the same problems with milk jugs that you did)....

Remember, it's more important to have the containers at hand...not necessarily filled. Chances are, you'll have at least enough time to fill them when an event occurs.

i use Hawaiian Punch 1 gallon containers, lemonade and lemon lime taste best.over a year now ,no leaks, or bad taste,has a handle too, is same height as 2 liter, only a little wider ,but holds almost twice as much,Walmart sells a 7 gallon Regency blue colored container for camping,has a big built in handle and a spigot valve 8$ , used mine for over a year daily.can also be used for long term storage.