# Question about long term water storage



## Kahlan (Sep 16, 2014)

Sorry if this is a repeat question. I am quickly running out of room in my house for storing water. I have a shed but had hesitated storing it in the shed long term because of the extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter. Will the temperature affect the water? It would be great if I could store it out there. Thanks!


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

It will, but may I suggest if you are using storage containers just rotate a little more often. My primary residence is in the desert and I still only store about 300 gallons. We get 3-5 inches annual rain fail so we invested in getting and keeping rain water over storage. Of course I have the space for that, but most people ignore what they can take from God each year in rain fall.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

I am looking into a cistern due to space considerations and ability to passively replentish supply


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

This is a good time to bring up Sand point wells again. Many have never heard of them . They will not work every where but where they do work you can put one in without anyone knowing and a simple hand pump will get you all the clean water you need.
Stored water will keep longer if kept out of the light.


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

I have a pool that serves as a backup water supply. I cover it with a black tarpaulin in the off season preventing algae blooms. I also place a floating chlorinator under the cover. Once it is run through the Sweetwater MSA purifier it is completely potable. I will soon buy a Royal Berky to filter it as well. Once the pool is drained we can use any of several streams.


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

I personally put more money to rain water collection and ways to sanitize it. With only 2" of rain i get 1500 gallons of water from less than half my roof. We avg 34" a rain a year. I wont ever run out of water. Plus there is our well and water bottle storage.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

You guys make me envious, we only get average of 11 inches per year and last was about 8 inches. I manage to store 260 in the garage plus the water heater. I have a water BOB for good measure and have 18 pools with a few blocks.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

It is far better to be able to take whatever water you get and purify it at the point of use than it is to try and purify large quantities for long-term storage. I speak as someone who researched, engineered, and installed a couple of ultra high purity water systems. The water systems were used in some class 5 clean room situations.


Speaking in general, really pure water or 'Hungry water', as I used to call it, is extremely bad for feeding tp people, animals, or plants. We're talking de-ionized water, here. Living things need water with all manner of pollution in it. Anyway, the cleanliness we can stand comes from running incoming water through a softener and then an R/O water filter. You store your immediate-use water in a closed-loop system with a local storage tank of perhaps 100 gallons and a sterilizing point source in the loop outside the tank. This can be a pretty strong UV light or an ozone injection mechanism. If you can get hold of a hefty enough R/O filter, you can process water use at the same output as your average kitchen faucet- about 5+.gallons a minute. This you need to worry about, if your group is larger than 1 person.

The way the whole thing works is that the softener can be easily set up to remove crap like metal ions or chemical pollution (and bad smells). Then the big R/O filter takes out anything else you don't want. Also, you don't want any nonsense about your household water heater, so you put in at least one 'instant' water heater. Finally, you build the point-of-use leg (faucet) to be as short as possible. That prevents bacterial buildup in the areas of 'dead water' between the main loop and your use of water.

There you have your clean water. Store dirty water, filter the frogs , dead fish, and bugs out, then clean it unmercifully, then drink. This system will remove all chemical, bacterial, and viral contamination you don't want. It's also why you're not going to just bug out for the fun of it, if you have reaason to value a daily supply of clean water and you have access to a clean water system.

It's also great for keeping your hair shiny and soft


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

csi-tech said:


> I have a pool that serves as a backup water supply. I cover it with a black tarpaulin in the off season preventing algae blooms. I also place a floating chlorinator under the cover. Once it is run through the Sweetwater MSA purifier it is completely potable. I will soon buy a Royal Berky to filter it as well. Once the pool is drained we can use any of several streams.


We are doing the 24,000 swimming pool reserve. Right now it is suffering from Mustard Algae, from all of the debris the monsoon winds and rain blew in over the last week (we have had some DOOZIES in Phoenix this year).


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## Kahlan (Sep 16, 2014)

We do have a well and several rain barrels but water was just one of those things I always feel like I can never have too much of. Thanks for all the answers.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Small amount of copper 1 to 2 ppm can control algae. In modern systems of salt water pools copper plates are use to stop algae it works.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Consider buying and storing Granular Calcium Hypochlorite. Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water | Ready Nutrition


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Moonshinedave said:


> Consider buying and storing Granular Calcium Hypochlorite. Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water | Ready Nutrition


Thanks for the link and the tip. We just happen to have some of that stuff.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

bigwheel said:


> Thanks for the link and the tip. We just happen to have some of that stuff.


Yeah, from what I was told and read, it can be stored for a super long time in granular form, and just a bit can make a bunch of useable water. I just ordered 5 pounds from amazon this morning.


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