Needless to say if your water sits there open to the elements for a long time there is always the chance that it will become stagnant, grow algae, become home to bacteria, or viruses. In order to prevent the above mentioned mentioned from happening to your emergency water supply or to correct the situation if it does happen there are some very easy rules to follow and actions to take.

A very important factor that you should look at first is the kind of container that you will use to store your emergency water. My first suggestion is to buy one of the newer drinking water storage tanks which are specially created for emergency water storage. You can them just about any department or hardware store.

If you can't find one of many normal water storage tanks, don't have time and energy to shop around, or simply don't have the amount of money to purchase, one don't worry. The individuals from two thousand years back didn't have one either and the made out decent using what they had. You can even use one of those plastic tub containers which can be often used to store clothing until the next season.

When storing an emergency water supply you will need to store enough water to work for at the very least two weeks. that indicates saving one gallon of water daily, per person plus extra for pets. So for a family group of four persons and one dog that could come to between 75 and 100 gallons of water.

The key to using the plastic tub containers is in making sure that the container is FOOD GRADE or PETE plastic. When it isn't don't put your water straight into the tub. First put your water into Mylar bags or plastic drink bottles and then store them from the light and heat in the plastic containers. (Never store emergency drinking tap water in milk jugs.)

Before putting water into any storage container be sure the containers have been sanitized and rinsed well. Don't store normal water in containers which were used to store non-food items. Once your water has been stored for a while it should be replaced one or more times every year.