# Questions about water storage



## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

I've noted on a few threads in the last couple days that the general consensus on water storage is 1 year is about the maximum lifespan.

1. Is that correct?
2. Is that with water stored in containers, and shelved (not being moved)
3. Has anyone tried anything to extend the lifespan of stored water?
4. If anyone has tried anything, what did you try and what were the results?
5. Has anyone tried to recover water that has reached the end of its lifespan?


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I have experimented with water stored in a 55gal plastic barrel. You just can't take the chance that that water is good no matter what. You can extend the storage time by adding bleach about every six months. Another issue is the water is going to go "flat" from sitting so needs aerated. 

That being said, I have a rain water collection system & that water only goes threw a mesh screen to keep leaves & such out. Eight 55gal barrels holding water. Water for plants doesn't need filtered. But for everything else it needs filtered & purified. Filtered can be run threw a pillow case or coffee filters. Then basically two choices for purifying. Either boiling or activated charcoal filter. The problem with relying on bleach to purify the water is bleach has a very short shelf life.


If you are going to cook or do dished with the water just boil it as it needs heated anyhow. My choice for boiling is a LP BBQ grill with side burner & some spare 20lb bottles. A three gallon pot with lid on the side burner to bring the water to boiling.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

edit fail


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

HuntingHawk said:


> I have experimented with water stored in a 55gal plastic barrel. You just can't take the chance that that water is good no matter what. You can extend the storage time by adding bleach about every six months. Another issue is the water is going to go "flat" from sitting so needs aerated.
> 
> That being said, I have a rain water collection system & that water only goes threw a mesh screen to keep leaves & such out. Eight 55gal barrels holding water. Water for plants doesn't need filtered. But for everything else it needs filtered & purified. Filtered can be run threw a pillow case or coffee filters. Then basically two choices for purifying. Either boiling or activated charcoal filter. The problem with relying on bleach to purify the water is bleach has a very short shelf life.
> 
> If you are going to cook or do dished with the water just boil it as it needs heated anyhow. My choice for boiling is a LP BBQ grill with side burner & some spare 20lb bottles. A three gallon pot with lid on the side burner to bring the water to boiling.


Would chlorine be better/easier than bleach? It has a longer shelf life. (I'm thinking military field sanitation/pool cleaning?)
Aeration was one of my thoughts, which is why I mentioned the part about it sitting and not being moved. Do you have a system to aerate your water? If so what do you use?
What about water you have already purified and stored? (ie. bottled water, or filtered and stored)

Sorry about all the questions, Shoots and I are starting to increase our water storage and I don't want us to end up with something unusable. Especially since we live in Texas, where water restrictions and droughts can be rough, and we have already experienced two water outages at our place that lasted 1 and 2 days.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Active ingredient in bleach is chlorine.

Aeration can simply be done by pouring the water between two containers. Higher the drop between container the quicker the flat water will get air in it.

Ambient heat is bad for water. It can cause all kinds of nasties to start growing. Can you say bottled water that 100% it is pure? Or even the bottles themselves were 100% sanitized before being filled? Short term, not an issue like buying a cold bottle of water from a store. But stored even months is the issue. I just don't want to stake my life on someone working minimum wage. Same reason I don't eat at fast food places.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

The choice for long term storage of chlorine is purchasing pool chlorine but there is a specific type you are suppose to get. Its something like pool shok but better quality.


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## jdbushcraft (Mar 26, 2015)

The water in your barrels is millions of years old. Water doesn't go bad. If you put treated water into sterile containers, seal them and store in a cool, dark place, the worst you will have to do is re- treat it and aerate years later when needed. If it is sterile when capped off there is nothing there to grow.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

I'm familiar with the process of aeration, but I was curious if anyone already has a standing system to keep water aerated. 
Ideas that occurred to me were rolling the barrels occasionally, aquarium aerators, pool filtration systems connected in closed systems etc.
the problems I see with all my ideas are that either eventually the air in the containers goes stale as well or the system is open to ambient air (and thus ambient contamination.)


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Even inducing fresh air into barrels to aerate can cause problems because of contaminates in the air like pollen.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

HuntingHawk said:


> Even inducing fresh air into barrels to aerate can cause problems because of contaminates in the air like pollen.


Agreed. So does anyone have a closed loop system to aerate water, or is the general consensus that simply letting it go stagnant, and then aerating immediately prior to use is the best system?

Also, does anyone tap their barrels? It seems a tap would allow slow usage without introducing contaminates, provided the tap were cleaned before each use.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Aerate after purifying. Even boiling water the air is removed so have to aerate it.


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

Bleach doesn't hold up as long as people think. In a SHTF situation where you won't be able to go to the store and just pick up more you may have some trouble. Here's some pretty decent info on the shelf life of bleach.

Chlorine Bleach Shelf Life


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Sasquatch said:


> Bleach doesn't hold up as long as people think. In a SHTF situation where you won't be able to go to the store and just pick up more you may have some trouble. Here's some pretty decent info on the shelf life of bleach.
> 
> Chlorine Bleach Shelf Life


That's one of two reasons I was asking about chlorine. (#2 being that Army field sanitation teams use chlorine) 
The problem is that 1. I have no idea what chlorine the Army uses, and 2. even if I did, I'm not sure I could get ahold of it.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Hypochlorite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Yea, I believe the Army uses tablets... not sure if they are more stable or just more convenient. But my field sanitation course spent 99% of its time talking about latrines and cleaning the water buffalo than anything else. -_-


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## MaterielGeneral (Jan 27, 2015)

Jak, check out this powdered chlorine. This may help you out.

Calcium Hypochlorite Emergency Survival Water Purification 1lb 10 000 Gallons | eBay


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

MaterielGeneral said:


> Jak, check out this powdered chlorine. This may help you out.
> 
> Calcium Hypochlorite Emergency Survival Water Purification 1lb 10 000 Gallons | eBay


Now that is some heavy duty space/resource saving awesomeness!


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Although, I found one of disclaimers amusing "you can't overdose on this product"


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## rjd25 (Nov 27, 2014)

MaterielGeneral said:


> Jak, check out this powdered chlorine. This may help you out.
> 
> Calcium Hypochlorite Emergency Survival Water Purification 1lb 10 000 Gallons | eBay


Pretty sure that is Pool Shock. Available in bulk at any Walmart for 5 lbs for 17.00$


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Yes, pool shock is calcium hypochlorite.
As long as it is kept cool and out of contact with UV it will remain stable. 

As soon as you add either hypochlorite to water it will begin to degrade unless it is kept very cool (without freezing) and away from UV sources.

I have personally used water that was stored, after treating it with bleach, sealed in MILK jugs with screw on plastic caps and paraffin wax, two years after it was put away. (it still had a slight chlorine smell)
"Flat" water is still water. It has no taste but you do not need to add air. It is safe to drink and use for cooking or drinking.
If the water is properly treated and sealed it will last forever. (if nothing can get into it then it remains sterile) You can place distilled water into clean containers and seal it without any bleach and it will remain pure water as long as nothing gets in.
Water, after all does not spoil or go bad - it is always water. It is the stuff that gets into the water that makes it unsafe to drink.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

For what it's worth, I e-mailed Clorox and asked them for the shelf life of their 6.25% 
bleach with no smelly stuff in it. This was their response, it's from the end of Aug. 2013.

“Thank you for contacting us about our Clorox Bleach.

We follow the Julian date code system. An example of our code would be G18099. 
There may be other plant information that follows, but that is not important to the date 
of the product itself. 

The first two characters of the code will be the plant, in the example above that would 
be G1. The third character of the code is the year the product was manufactured. In the 
example above that would be 2008. The forth, fifth and sixth characters stand for the day 
of the year the product was manufactured on. In the example above that would be the 
ninety-ninth day of the year or April 8th.

The shelf life of the product you inquired about is 1 year. Anything past that date 
is not a health issue, but more of a quality issue.

Again, thank you for contacting us.
Sincerely,

(name deleted)
Consumer Response Representative
Consumer Services”

The date code has been very helpful when purchasing new bottles.

As far as the water itself, water is water. It might be growing something in it but then you filter and purify it.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

All good information. 
I guess my original question is directed more toward preserving water in a potable condition for immediate use, and y'all's practices for doing so.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

Jakthesoldier said:


> All good information.
> I guess my original question is directed more toward preserving water in a potable condition for immediate use, and y'all's practices for doing so.


I simply rotate it.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Diver said:


> I simply rotate it.


Do you live off your water stores?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Down here in AZ water is a big concern. My main storage is 260 gallon tank. It was city water that i added 1/2 the usual recommended bleach to the tank for storage. Due to cost, etc., I check it once a year under a microscope. So far nothing is living in it. If I find anything, I'll add more bleach. I still need to make a small propellor on a shaft to put thru the ill hole to stir the bleach into the water.


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## GasholeWillie (Jul 4, 2014)

Nut'nfancy has a water storage video. It is long and a bit in depth as that is his style, he has stored water +5yrs. Right tank, right amount of oxygenation of the water, sealed up and kept away from light. Good to go.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Sounds highly similar to up keep on a pool or spa. Pool shock has got to be much better than bleach as a sanitizer. Seems like if kept dry the expiry date is infinite. In fact somebody on here posted some math on how much of it to use per so many gallons of water in smaller batches. Found this on a first google hit.

http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/how-to-use-pool-shock-to-purify-water/


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

paraquack said:


> Down here in AZ water is a big concern. My main storage is 260 gallon tank. It was city water that i added 1/2 the usual recommended bleach to the tank for storage. Due to cost, etc., I check it once a year under a microscope. So far nothing is living in it. If I find anything, I'll add more bleach. I still need to make a small propellor on a shaft to put thru the ill hole to stir the bleach into the water.


How do you dye your slides?
Bacteria may be present even if not visible, if you want to be scientific about it learn to make blood agar plates, and how to swab and culture them.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

paraquack said:


> Down here in AZ water is a big concern. My main storage is 260 gallon tank. It was city water that i added 1/2 the usual recommended bleach to the tank for storage. Due to cost, etc., I check it once a year under a microscope. So far nothing is living in it. If I find anything, I'll add more bleach. I still need to make a small propellor on a shaft to put thru the ill hole to stir the bleach into the water.


We use these at work to keep the tire lube mixed up. Works great for the 275 gallon IBC totes and mounts to 1/2 inch chuck drills.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Jakthesoldier said:


> How do you dye your slides?
> Bacteria may be present even if not visible, if you want to be scientific about it learn to make blood agar plates, and how to swab and culture them.


Since I plan to filter and purify (with bleach) the water that I have stored long term, I am only looking for anything that wasn't there in the beginning. Since it is sealed the prospect of real nasty bacteria such as streptococci, cryptosporisium, rotifers, etc. But your idea is good, since after the stored water is gone, I'd have to rely on pool water, etc.
Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

paraquack said:


> Since I plan to filter and purify (with bleach) the water that I have stored long term, I am only looking for anything that wasn't there in the beginning. Since it is sealed the prospect of real nasty bacteria such as streptococci, cryptosporisium, rotifers, etc. But your idea is good, since after the stored water is gone, I'd have to rely on pool water, etc.
> Thanks for the suggestion.


My question about the dye is because bacteria is incredibly difficult to detect in unstained samples.
My point on the plates is that it could very well be growing, but the ppm are so low that you could scan 50 slides and see only 1 or 2 individual bacteria, when that a more than sufficient quantity to kill you.

This comes from my lab tech experience. Just letting you know I'm not tossing out uneducated guesses


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