Here are some of the questions we were asked by you, our readers when we started the series. Through out the series, we’ve covered these answers in different posts.

What types of water storage containers are best?
In our post about “Water Storage Containers”, we covered all sorts of container options. Some were free, some were more expensive to fit custom needs.

Where can you find containers for free or cheap?
Our post about “Water Storage Containers” covers this topic as well. You can use old juice bottles, and soda bottles. Make sure not to use old milk gallon type containers as they deteriorate over time and will leak.

How can you store water with limited storage space?
Many of the “Water Storage Containers” we talked about can be stacked in closets, under beds, or behind couches. If space is still a limitation, it may be wise to determine where your closest source of water may be (river, pond, lakes) and have “Water Filtration Versus Water Purification methods you can turn to.

When and how should you treat your water before storing?
In the post “All About Water Rotation”, we give you tips on how to rotate water less often. This can be accomplished by treating your water.

How often should you rotate your water and how do you do it easily?
In our post “All About Water Rotation” we covered why you rotate water, how often you rotate water, tips to rotate less often, what to do with rotated water, and how to improve water that hasn’t been rotated.

How can you make water rotation more efficient?
Using containers that are either easy to move, or have built in rotation mechanisms like the “Water Barrels” we talked about, helps make water rotation easier. Being able to pour water out easily, or drain it easily help with rotation.

What is the difference between water filtration and water purification?
The basic answer to this question is: Filtration is taking larger impurities out of water (like a strainer). Purification is taking out bacteria and viruses from water. Learn more about this, and methods to filter and purify in our “Water Filtration Versus Water Purification” post.

How do you deal with long term water emergencies?
There are many water saving tips we talked about it our “How to Deal With Long Term Water Loss” post. There are many things you can do to conserve water in an emergency where you may not have stored enough.

WATER SERIES POSTS
Here is a list of all the posts we did throughout our water series the past few weeks. There are also a few here listed we covered in the past. We hope they have been helpful and good luck starting, or keep on working on storing your water:

• BabyStep 2: Water
• Water Storage Containers: Pros and Cons
• Jodi’s Water Storage Evolution
• All About Water Rotation
• How to Deal With Long Term Water Loss
  
• Water Filtration Versus Water Purification
• Water Barrel Towers
• Water Evaporation Still
• Beyond the Babysteps Water Purification
• Alternate Water Sources

WATER STORAGE PRODUCTS
Here is a list of useful water storage products we talked about throughout the series, and a few extras you may find suitable to your situation:

• Water Barrels
• Water Towers
• Water Bricks
• AquaPail
• Aquamira Water Treatment
• Berkey Water Filters
• Mayday Emergency Water Pouch
• Aqua Blox Water Box
• 5 Gallon Container
• Water Storage Box Kit

• First off, FILL YOUR WATER CONTAINERS. We hear from SO many people that they have containers that they just haven’t gotten around to filling yet.
• Bathe in a large bucket or bin, and use bottles that have the types of tops that squirt (refillable condiment containers) when pressure is applied. This will help with faster rinsing. Use the remaining bath water in the bucket for flushing toilets.
• Use coralite bath wipes, for quick bathing.
• Store some no rinse shampoo and conditioner for hair.
• Have paper plates, plastic cups, and disposable tableware to use to allow you to cut back on dish water.
• Use recipes that mix most ingredients in one dish or pan that you serve straight from to cut back on dish-washing.
• Store wet wipes and hand sanitizer to help clean up messes and wash hands.
• Tap into your water heater and toilet tanks for water if you run out of stored water.
• Wear your hair in ponytails, or wear hats when you can’t wash your hair as frequently during prolonged times with no water.
• If you have a swamp cooler that runs on water, make sure you have back-up cooling methods such as fans or wet rags to cool your body off during hotter weather.
• Fill liquid soap/detergent bottles with water. You’ll have water for washing small load of dishes. Soapy water for hands, and the bottles squirt out better then soda or juice containers.
• Save water from cooking noodles or other foods to use for other things. Use water from canned vegetables.
• Don’t wait until you are out of clean clothes to do laundry! If you’re always on top of your laundry, hopefully if crisis hits you won’t be stuck with 7-10 loads of dirty laundry to do.
• If you have to do laundry get a bucket, put a little baking soda, a tad of water, plunge by hand or with plunger. No need to rinse with baking soda. Baking soda will eradicate smell too.
• If you’re water has a funny taste, store drink flavoring to improve the taste. You can also aerate the water by pouring it back and forth between two containers. It adds oxygen to the water and gets rid of the stale taste.
• Flush conservatively. Use water you previously used for bathing or washing dishes to flush the toilets.

We hope some of these ideas are useful. It may be a good idea to print out this list so you have access to it and add it to your Food Storage Made Easy binder. You never know when emergency strikes if you are going to have access to the internet!

• Grab N Go: Have some small, portable water containers included as part of your Disaster Kits so you can grab them in case of an evacuation.
• Bulk Storage at Home: In case of an emergency where your water supply is cut off for a short period of time, you should have at least a two week supply of drinkable water on hand. Choose water storage containers that fit your space and budget constraints.
• Long Term Water Needs: Since you can’t store endless amounts of water, if there is a long term water shortage, you must find a source of water and have some means of ensuring that it is drinkable via filtration and/or purification.

We want to explain the difference between filtration and purification so that should you need to access water for a long term emergency, you will know how to properly treat your water. Depending on how contaminated your water is, a simple filter may be safe enough. But it is usually better to be on the safe side and fully purify all drinking water.

Water Filtration

Think of water filtration like a strainer. You have a filter with tiny holes in it which will block certain undesirable things from getting through. Any chunks of dirt, rocks, bugs, etc. will be filtered out. Most filters today will also do a good job at blocking protozoa (i.e. Cryptosporidium, Giardia) and bacteria (i.e. Salmonella, E. coli). However, viruses are so small that they will get through the holes in a regular filter. If you use a water “filter” it is a good idea to also purify the water once you have strained out the larger impurities. Here are some of the common water FILTERS you may be aware of:

• Katadyn® Gravity TRK
• Seychelle Water Filters

Water Purification

Water purification makes water safe to drink but does not necessarily remove all undesirable elements from the water (large items such as dirt, rocks, etc.). Water can be purified by boiling it (for at least 3 minutes to kill everything), by using chemicals such as iodine or chlorine, by using UV, or by using special water purifiers that are rated to actually kill viruses (i.e. Enteric, Hepatitis A, Norovirus, Rotavirus). Here are a few products that only PURIFY your water:

• Water Purification Tablets
• SteriPens (UV light sterilization)

Filtration/Purification Combos

If you prefer to have one product that will both filter and purify your water there are two great ones that we recommend. The Berkey Water Filter is very popular among our readers and it’s great for both every day use AND for emergency situations. There is a new product called AquaPail which works in a different way than the Berkey but is equally effective. It has an indefinite shelf life so you can store it and know that it is available in a long term water emergency.

Getting started – FREE water storage containers

Before I ever REALLY thought about food storage I had at least made a set of 72 hour kits for my family and include two liter bottles full of water to go with them. This is a GREAT way to get started! If you don’t drink soda you can use juice bottles and/or ask your family and friends for their containers. I was able to store a nice little collection on my hall closet shelf.

Moving Up – Plastic storage jugs

When we put together the research for BabyStep 2: Water I quickly discovered that I didn’t have NEARLY enough water, and I wanted to get it in place quickly versus waiting to collect containers. At that point I had set aside a $50 budget to work on my food storage each month, so for June I purchased 10 6-gallon plastic camping jugs to get a 2-week supply of water for my family. This cost a little more than $50 but it was a good price per gallon of water stored.

Water Storage Disaster

We had some readers make comments about our water jugs saying they had issues with them cracking. We decided to stick with them and see what happened. Well about two years after I got my jugs … disaster happened. One night at about midnight, I decided to rummage through my basement looking for an important document that was hidden away somewhere down there. I just happened to glance over at my food storage area and saw a puddle of water on the floor. It was raining that night so I thought we were having a flood, but no water was running from the basement door. I poked around a bit and discovered water was pouring out of one of my water jugs in streams. I had some boxes that were damaged but overall it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. After that I knew I needed another solution.

Next Phase – Water Boxes!

Around the time of my “disaster” we had discovered Water Boxes from Emergency Essentials. They were about the same cost per gallon as my plastic jugs, but they can stack 3 high, you don’t have to rotate them as often, and they don’t LEAK! Julie had done a great little post introducing these, and I finally got around to getting some and filling them up. 10 5-gallon = 50 gallons of water and I had continued collecting 2 liter bottles to supplement that.

MORE WATER PLEASE – Water Barrels

If you have followed our blog for long, you have probably seen the 7 Day Challenge that we put on every September. We practice living through different emergency scenarios and do it along with all of our readers and we all learn a TON. Well after going through some water emergencies I started to panic about not having enough water. I wanted to get some 55 gallon barrels but was worried about storing them outside (I don’t have a garage). I recently finished my basement and have a great little food storage room but it realistically can’t fit more than one barrel inside. We were introduced to these AMAZING water barrel towers a few months ago and I knew that was the solution for me. So I’ve been gradually getting my barrels over the last few months and now THIS MONTH I am getting the tower that can fit THREE barrels into the same space that ONE normally takes up, by letting them stack sideways. I am SOOO excited for this! (this was mid basement finishing process, so I haven’t stacked it on the tower yet- otherwise I would have it on woodblocks so it wouldn’t be directly on concrete)

Diversity in Storage Solutions – Water Bricks

With my 3 big barrels I feel fairly confident in my ability to withstand some kind of disaster that last several weeks. However, it is pretty difficult to get the water out and USE it in small quantities for a short-term emergency. I decided I definitely still want to keep some smaller storage containers around. I love my water boxes but they aren’t super portable for a disaster kit and neither are the 2 liter bottles. I discovered these Water Bricks and fell in love with them. They are NOT a cheap storage solution but they have so many uses that are great for me, so I’m picking up a few every month to build my collection. First off you can STACK them floor to ceiling, so I can fill in some of my small “unusable” spaces in my storage room. Second, they are safe to freeze, so if I want to continue to add to my water storage I can start a little collection outside and I now keep one in the trunk of each vehicle too. Third, they have a HANDLE and are only 3.5 gallons so they are MUCH more portable and convenient to use and/or grab and go than many other containers. I keep several Water Bricks with my 72 hour kits to grab in an emergency, they are perfect for that!

As you can see, my opinion on water storage has evolved over the years. There are many great options for water storage containers, but only you can decide what will work best for your current needs. For some pros and cons of each solution check out this post we did a few weeks ago. And don’t forget, you don’t have to stick with what you start with … my water storage evolution is a testament to that

Why You Rotate Water

With properly treated water stored under perfect conditions you may be able to get away with never rotating your water. However, it’s usually better to be safe than sorry. Bacteria, algae, etc. can start to grow in your water making it very unpleasant (and unsafe) to drink should you need to use it. Store-bought water needs to be rotated by it’s “expiration date” because the plastic used for the containers can break down and/or start to leech chemicals into the water. If you re-use containers it is also very possible that there could be remnants of food/water left in the container that can be a contaminent to the water over time. Even if you are using brand new containers and purified water, there is always the chance that something from the air can get into your containers and cause the water to become contaminated.

How Often to Rotate Water

There are many differing recommendations on how often you should rotate your water storage. You may hear anywhere from every few months, to a year, to five years, to never. Assuming you have properly stored your water, we feel that it is a good idea to CHECK your water every six months. Make sure nothing is growing in it and that it is still drinkable. Unless you add a special additive (see below) we recommend that you rotate your water once a year. Your water probably will still be ok if you go longer than that, but it is better to be on the safe side (plus it seems a bit gross to drink 10 year old water, lol).

Tips to Rotate Less Often

Here are a few things that can help your water storage be good for longer:

• Store in opaque containers to keep out light (dark green and blue are best)
• Store in a place that is dark and cool consistently
• Sterilize any containers you are storing water in before filling
• Treat your water with a special water treatment. The Aquamira Water Treatment combo can treat up to 60 gallons of water and they claim “When used according to instructions, and kept in a sealed container, treated water needs no further treatment for 5 years”.
• If you have a good water purifier you may choose to avoid rotating and just treat all water when the time comes to use it

What to do With Rotated Water

If you have hundreds of gallons of water stored, you want to make sure to be able to USE the old water so you aren’t wasting it. Some ideas for using your water are:

• Rotate in the spring and water your lawn and gardens with it
• Use it to flush your toilets
• Run several batches of laundry using stored water
• Wash your car with it
• Water house plants
• Purify it and use it for drinking/cooking
• Give your dog a bath
• For more ideas check out the responses from our readers on Facebook

If you store water mainly in large barrels some of these ideas may not be that easy to facilitate so you may want to consider treating the water to give you a 5 year rotation time frame.

How to Improve Water that Hasn’t Been Rotated

If you haven’t been diligent about rotating your water, all is not lost! Most often the biggest complaint is just the taste of the water. You can improve the taste by pouring the water back and forth between two containers a few times. This will aerate it and improve the taste. It’s also a good idea to store some sort of drink mix like tang, crystal lite, koolaid, etc. if you have picky “drinkers”. If you are worried about the safety of your water, you can always boil it to purify it. If you are conserving fuel or need to also filter out any particles, then have a good filter/purifier like a Berkey or AquaPail on hand. The idea is to make sure you have a way to have clean and drinkable water in the case of an emergency.

Stay tuned all month long as we go over more water storage topics!

Here are some of the questions we will be answering:

• What types of water storage containers are best?
• Where can you find containers for free or cheap?
• How can you store water with limited storage space?
• When and how should you treat your water before storing?
• How often should you rotate your water and how do you do it easily?
• How can you make water rotation more efficient?
• What is the difference between water filtration and water purification?
• How do you deal with long term water emergencies?
• What are the different methods for water purification and when would you use them?
• What is the difference between Berkey and the new Aqua Pail?

We will also be introducing a new water storage container that we recently learned about and think is great for certain circumstances. It’s going to be a busy month!

What questions do YOU have about water storage?
We asked on our Facebook page what questions people have about water storage and got a lot of great responses. Feel free to leave your own questions on that Facebook post or in the comments of this post and we will try to incorporate the answers into our posts. Here is a sample of some of the questions people are asking:

Today we are highlighting the Water Storage board. Storing water is one of the most important parts of emergency preparedness. There are so many different ways to store water, each containing pro’s and con’s. It’s great to be able to see so many options, and then to be able to pick which works best.

• PIN 1: This is one of our favorite methods for storing water on a budget
• PIN 2: If you had time to plan for this (like if you knew a storm was coming, and could get ready in time) this is an AWESOME option for water storage.
• PIN 3: This is the kind of information that would be hard to remember off the top of your head, so it would be worth printing!
• PIN 4: If your budget allows…. these are AWESOME!

Make sure you check out the rest of the items on the Water Storage board. We’ll keep adding to these boards as we find great stuff, and we’ll see you tomorrow to highlight another one of our boards!

Don’t forget you can Follow us on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of the great stuff we will be pinning in the future.

Remember this is for actual WATER STORAGE, if you have some solutions in place for purification/filtration your storage needs may be less. However, we feel like it is never a bad thing to have lots of actual water stored in case you don’t have access to ANY water in an emergency.

Used 2 Liter Pop Bottles or Juice Bottles

Pros
– Essentially FREE if you buy them anyway or get from someone else
– Convenient size for smaller water emergencies
– Easy to store anywhere in the house

Cons
– Must rotate every 6 months to 1 year
– Hard to clean out enough that the taste isn’t a bit “off”
– Concern about bacteria if not cleaned out well enough

Best Used For
– 72 Hour Kits
– People on a tight budget
– Small spaces storage solutions

Store-Bought Water Bottles

Pros
– Great tasting, so it’s ideal for drinking water
– Easy to rotate through the individual bottles
– Easy to store anywhere in the house

Cons
– Must rotate every 6 months to 1 year
– Price per gallon can be fairly expensive
– Difficult to store in large quantities
– Bottles will freeze in winter, and chemicals can leach into them in severe heat, so not ideal for car kits in extreme conditions

Best Used For
– 72 hour kits
– People concerned with taste of drinking water
– Small emergencies

Small Water Pouches or Water Cartons

  

Pros
– 5 year shelf life!
– Awesome for 72 hour kits
– Water typically won’t freeze in the pouches or small water boxes

Cons
– Expensive storage method
– Not ideal for large quantities
– Not available in local stores everywhere

Best Used For
– 72 Hour Kits
– Car kits

Found Online
– Mayday Emergency Water Pouch
– Aqua Blox Water Box

5/6 Gallon Plastic Jugs

Pros
– Decent price per gallon
– More convenient size than large barrels
– Pretty easy to empty and rotate
– Easy to find in the camping section of most stores

Cons
– Many of these jugs end up having problems with cracking and leaking so beware
– 5 or 6 gallon jugs can be HEAVY if you are trying to pour with them and haul them up and down stairs by yourself
– Must be rotated every 6 months to 1 year
– Take up a lot of space in storage since you can’t stack them

Best Used For
– Smaller storage spaces
– Tighter budgets

Found Online
– Options at Amazon.com
– 5 Gallon Container from Shelf Reliance

Water Box Kits (Mylar bags inside cardboard boxes)

Pros
– Good price per gallon
– Stackable up to 3 boxes high
– Only have to rotate every 5 years

Cons
– A little bit complicated to set them up and fill them
– Wasted space in your storage room above the stack of boxes
– Not very convenient for accessing small amounts of your water storage
– Not available in local stores everywhere

Best Used For
– Larger quantities for people who don’t like rotating
– Great for sliding under beds or sticking on closet shelves

Found Online
– Water Storage Box Kit from Emergency Essentials

Water Bricks

Pros
– 3.5 gallons per brick makes it more manageable than 5/6 gallon containers
– Stackable from floor to ceiling!
– They are safe to freeze so can be stored outside
– Great size to stash under beds, in closets, etc.

Cons
– A little more expensive per gallon
– Not available in local stores everywhere

Best Used For
– Storage rooms where space is an issue
– Shorter term water emergencies for drinking and cooking
– People without considerable budget restraints

Found Online
– Water Brick Containers

Water Barrels

Pros
– Best solution for storing LOTS of water
– Available in multiple sizes from 30 gallons up to 250 gallons
– With additives, can extend rotation needs to every 5 years
– Great use of floor space in a storage room with water barrel towers

Cons
– Slightly difficult to fill and rotate
– Not very accessible when you have to actual USE the water
– Not an ideal solution in small homes/storage areas and can’t be stored outside

Best Used For
– Longer term water shortages
– Large quantities of water storage

Found Online
– Water Barrel Towers
– Water Barrels from Emergency Essentials
– Water Barrels from Shelf Reliance

Remember, you will probably find that a combination of these storage containers works well for you. We use almost all of these options for one purpose or another in our water storage. What water storage solution works best for YOU?

Once you have a little more of a budget to work with you may like storing water in water boxes, and or barrels. After purchasing a few water barrels for ourselves, we asked on our Facebook page if people thought it would be wiser to store these barrels in the garage of the basement. Since we live in Utah, and earthquakes are a threat here, most people recommended storing it in a garage so you would have better access to it in case of an earthquake.

Another suggestion that came through our facebook page was water towers. We were sent a link to Trigen Manufacturing who made these water towers. In a perfect world, our husbands would have enough time to build these for us – but since that’s not happening anytime soon, we got some for ourselves. These are great space savers as opposed to having barrels lined up side by side, and allow for easier filling and draining. These shelves are not cheaply made, or going to break down on you after awhile. They are industrial parts and supplies and therefore will last as long as you need them to. Here’s a little peak into their 3 and 2 barrel towers.

see list below for discounts

	The Triple Barrel Tower is Designed to vertically hold 3 blue 55 Gallon Barrels. This will allow you to have over 160 gallons of water that you know is clean and ready to use. The heavy-duty construction is made of high strength steel and is easy to assemble. It safely stores the barrels vertically which frees up valuable floor space for you. (Barrels Not Included) Dimensions: 6′ 8″ tall x 24.5″ wide x 36.5″ deep
	The Double Barrel Tower is made with the same heavy duty steel as the Triple Barrel Tower but is designed to hold 2 barrels and so it fits into a shorter space. (Barrels Not Included) Dimensions: 4′ 8″ tall x 24.5″ wide x 36.5 ” deep
	When you purchase the Barrel Towers with Trigen you also have the option to get the upgraded plumbing kit. This fully integrated option plumbs the barrels together so that only the top barrel needs to be filled and the water flushes down through to the bottom barrel. This allows for easier draining and rotating of the water. Kit contains all necessary hose, hose clams, fittings, ball joints, and threaded caps for each barrel to make assemble easy.

To order call: 801-997-0575. Make sure you mention Food Storage Made Easy when you order to get the following discounts:

• $20 off the Triple Barrel Tower with Upgraded Plumbing kit
• $10 off Triple Barrel Tower with Basic Plumbing Kit
• $10 off the Double Barrel Tower with Upgraded Plumbing kit
• $10 off the Double Barrel Tower with Basic Plumbing kit

Visit Trigen Manufacturing for pricing and full list of inclusions. To get the discount, make a phone order and mention Food Storage Made Easy.

Pick up your barrels here:

Advanced Preparedness Concepts

In BabyStep 2 we cover water storage. When you are just getting started, even going with the minimum of 14 gallons of storage per person can feel overwhelming. Many people start with just filling up juice and pop bottles as they acquire them, but over time gradually purchase better containers with more capacity.

After going through our 7 Day Challenge each year where we actually live through situations where we are using our stored water, we quickly realized that water storage is not a complete solution. For a long term emergency situation it is important to be able to collect and purify water. If you have to evacuate and can’t bring your water barrels with you, this is an important concept as well.

A few months ago, we asked our Facebook Readers what water filter/purification system they have/love/use. Overwhelmingly the response was BERKEY. We researched Berkey Purification Systems along with other filtration systems and kept feeling like we couldn’t quite get a grasp on what we wanted for ourselves or to recommend to our readers. When we went to the Self Reliance Expo last month we got to talk to a lot of knowledgeable people about water filters and purifiers. While we still don’t feel totally expert on everything, we do feel like Berkey is a product we want to own and want to help our readers get at the lowest prices possible.

Most filtration systems can get out the majority of bad stuff from your water, but to be really safe you would still need to either boil the water or use chemicals to purify it. Because of Berkey’s unique Black Berkey Purification Elements they are able to claim that their filter actually purifies the water as well as filtering it. This is great news if you want to avoid having to go through another process after you filter your water.

We worked out a dealer agreement with Berkey so that we can help our readers get the lowest prices possible (please contact us for special rates on orders of 2 or more units). We are excited to get our own Berkey filters and learn more about them and share on our blog even more information about water filtration, water purification, and some of the other options available to you.