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I've just acquired, for free, an amount of 20 litre ex-veg oil, opaque containers.. that have been very thoroughly washed out. ( i did it in an industrial sink)

I was wondering.. how long, if stored in a shed, would the water remain fresh for?

It could be one of those stupid questions.. that water doesn't "go off"... or it could be.. change it every six months..

But honestly, I don't know the answer..

(and if you want 20ltr oil containers.. go visit your local school... they have loads... most are used to recycle the old oil, but they always have some that are spare as food soaks up some of the oil.. the bigger the school.. the more likely they'll have more containers!)

Wouldn't rely on water in sealed containers keeping fresh for long without treatment. Definitely not six months. Contaminants and nutrients are easily introduced when filling, even by dust in the air.

Get one of these...

http://www.lifesaversystems.com/

You can run pretty much anything through it, to produce potable water. It's fine for emergencies. Stuff that's been sitting in your water bottles for years will purify down.

If you need anything more, knock up a slow sand filter and a UV screener.

Water tends to spoil in storage due to growth of bacteria, it will certainly taste bad and may become a health risk.
If the water is absolutely clean, then it will contain no food for the bacteria and they cant multiply, but in practice most water sources wont be that clean.
Likewise if the water contains no bacteria initialy, they cant multiply, but few water sources are sterile, and anyway some bacteria will be in the air.

Water keeps better if chorinated as the containers are filled, a few drops of chlorine bleach per gallon is sometimes recomended.

I would be very doubtfull about reusing cooking oil containers for drinking water, oil would impart a rancid taste and also be food for bacteria.
I doubt that even thourough cleaning would remove every trace of the oil, which may have been partly absorbed by the plastic.

It might be better to buy bottled water for drinking and to reserve the second hand containers for non drinking water such as laundry or toilet flushing.
For long term storage I favour carbonated mineral water in glass bottles. Glass wont taint the water, unlike plastic which imparts an unpleasant taste in time. The dissolved carbon dioxide discourages bacterial growth, and the internal pressure, if still present when the bottle is opened, re-assures one that the seal was intact and that therefore no contamination has entered.

I dont normally drink bottled water due to the cost and energy waste, but do keep some for emergencies.

Lol, beans, ammo and Perrier - the discerning doomer's prep kit.

Hello, this is my first post so please keep the spelling police at bay for a while longer.

I came across this earlier which pretty much covers things regarding water storage. I hope this helps you Postie.

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extens ... suppl.html

Welcome BabyOyle!

Yeah, you're fine. No spellings to correct.

Thanks baby oyle, the link had some top quality advice. And welcome to PS

As for the containers not being suitable, I think they will be ok as I know how thoroughly I washed them. ( 2 deep industrial sinks that could fully immerse them, in scalding water, one sink with detergent, one with clean water, then washed out again. Admittedly not something I could do at home easily.)

A tiny spot of bleach might not come amiss if you're not sure about the quality of the food that was in there (school dinners...dodgy )

We store 100l of tap water in 20l containers from a camping store. It keeps easily for 6 months without tasting flat, and would probably keep for a year. A 20l container is easy enough to handle. If it does taste flat, pouring it from one container to another will reoxygenate it. I don´t add bleach but we have some in case we have to disinfect other sources. I rotate it every 6 months or so. We also have about 150l of bottled water from the supermarkets, a 250l water butt outside, and 2 empty 80l water bags that we would fill in the bath and leave there if we had enough warning of a water out.

I get annoyed at the number of bottles of water that materialise in our house after anyone has been on a trip anywhere. Or at least, I did. Now if they''ve been bought but not openned (which is usual) I just quietly stash them in a cupboard

Our water butts are back in action but they still have huge lumps of ice floating in them.

Recent events reported here show the wisdom of being prepared.
No water for 24 hours due to mechanical breakdown.

Note also the bad behaviour of some of those affected.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ox ... e-15165479