How do you safely store drinking water?

[airborne]

With all the doom and gloom in South Africa I got a 25L HDPE container to use for storing emergency drinking water.
I'll fill it with Cape Town tap water and store on the stoep in a shady spot, which is not ideal but I don't really have anywhere indoors to store it.

What's the best method to keep the water safe and drinkable?

 

[Speedster]

I just open the tap when I need drinking water. I have no idea how it works but I guess there's some reservoir close by and when I open the faucet clean water comes out.

 

[ArmatageShanks]

I just open the tap when I need driving water. I have no idea how it works but I guess there's some reservoir close by and when I open the faucet clean water comes out.

Kinda clean

Demonstrably fine, but still.

Also I do the same.

 

[Pegging]

You could boil it in your room so it evaporates into the air.
Then whenever you need it, you use one of these machines to get it back.

Takealot

 

[bwana]

With all the doom and gloom in South Africa I got a 25L HDPE container to use for storing emergency drinking water.
I'll fill it with Cape Town tap water and store on the stoep in a shady spot, which is not ideal but I don't really have anywhere indoors to store it.

What's the best method to keep the water safe and drinkable?

I fill multiple 25l with RO. I wouldn't store SA tap water for any length of time.

 

[saor]

Maybe keep some of those purifier tablets on hand as well just in case.

 

[Dimpie (JIGSAW)]

I turn it into beer ... stays safe and drinkable much longer than tap water

 

[Speedster]

I turn it into beer ... stays safe and drinkable much longer than tap water

I've heard wine stores well too

 

[etienne_marais]

Preparing water for long-term storage​

The first step is to clean and disinfect the container thoroughly. Water storage containers should be cleaned with warm soapy water and then properly rinsed. If you are using a container that previously contained beverages or other food items, you need to pay special attention to its cleaning to avoid having residual odour in the water or retaining any contaminant in the container. It might be necessary to sanitize the container.

Secondly you need to disinfect the water if necessary. Long-term storage of water necessitates that it be sterilized. This is because tap water is typically impure, carrying bacteria that may accumulate during storage. There are three recommended methods to disinfect water, namely by boiling it, treating it with chlorine or using water purification tablets.

Boiling is a very simple water purification method and you need to boil the water to 100 degrees Celsius for at least 20 minutes. Transfer the boiled water into your storage container after it has cooled.

As a highly effective method of disinfection, liquid chlorine can also be utilized to sterilize water for long-term preservation. For best effectiveness when purifying water with a chlorine solution, it is recommended to use fresh chlorine bleach. This is due to the fact that a chlorine solution that has been held for around six months may lose approximately half of its potency.

Water purification tablets kill pathogens in water and are proven to be effective against bacteria, viruses, and spores.

Once the container is clean and the water to be stored is purified, it’s time to pour the water into the container and do the actual storing.

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[Pak Fa Fui]

Why not buy 5 5l water bottles

 

[MrGray]

Why not buy 5 5l water bottles

That's what I do. Bank on 1x5L per person per day for a 2 week contingency (or more if you have the space). Apparently sealed still water like Aquelle will last indefinitely.

 

[Geoff.D]

Two containers (whatever size you like) and rotate the usage all the time. Then when the crunch comes you always have at least one full container on hand that has water in it that has been stored for only a short period. Always clean the container thoroughly between fillings. A PIA operation but that is the penalty we all endure for voting in a useless corrupt government.

 

[Pak Fa Fui]

Doom and gloom reporting is affecting some people it seems

 

[rh1]

Doom and gloom reporting is affecting some people it seems

Pipe bursts all the time. It is good practice to have some form of backup. Most of SA infrastructure is not maintained or not properly maintained.

 

[airborne]

Thanks to all the helpful posts. I had a 36hr water outage a while back due to some localised issue and it would have been awesome to have 25L of water on hand even just for washing hands/bucket bath. A proper blackout would kill all the pumps and having some water on hand would be pretty helpful.

 

[Pak Fa Fui]

Thanks to all the helpful posts. I had a 36hr water outage a while back due to some localised issue and it would have been awesome to have 25L of water on hand even just for washing hands/bucket bath. A proper blackout would kill all the pumps and having some water on hand would be pretty helpful.

Do you not have any shops around you

 

[RedViking]

Thanks to all the helpful posts. I had a 36hr water outage a while back due to some localised issue and it would have been awesome to have 25L of water on hand even just for washing hands/bucket bath. A proper blackout would kill all the pumps and having some water on hand would be pretty helpful.

Ah my bad. Thought we are talking here about 2 Weeks+ without any water at all.
Drinking water is not the problem. Will even have watertankers and private companies giving water service.

A day or two without water is not doom and gloom, it happens under the best of "circumstances".

Flushing toilets and washing I think is the biggest issue, talking doom and gloom.

 

[soulie]

With all the doom and gloom in South Africa I got a 25L HDPE container to use for storing emergency drinking water.
I'll fill it with Cape Town tap water and store on the stoep in a shady spot, which is not ideal but I don't really have anywhere indoors to store it.

What's the best method to keep the water safe and drinkable?

tapwater is good for 21 days standing unsealed ,keep the container full ,no airgap on top ,keep in the shade ,if uncertain 5ml of jik to 25 litres kills all bacteria within 30 minutes .water can stand for ages if sealed properly but leeches chemicals out of plastics ,old water basically goes flat after a while ,drinkable but unappetising ,we keep 200 litres of drinking water in containers in the garage sometimes for months and have never had an upset yet .our water supply used to be very erratic .we also keep 5000 ltrs in jojo ,but tastes gross ,jojo and eco make 260 litre urban dispensers for drinking water .allways good to have a safe supply on hand

 

[RedViking]

tapwater is good for 21 days standing unsealed ,keep the container full ,no airgap on top ,keep in the shade ,if uncertain 5ml of jik to 25 litres kills all bacteria within 30 minutes .water can stand for ages if sealed properly but leeches chemicals out of plastics ,old water basically goes flat after a while ,drinkable but unappetising ,we keep 200 litres of drinking water in containers in the garage sometimes for months and have never had an upset yet .our water supply used to be very erratic .we also keep 5000 ltrs in jojo ,but tastes gross ,jojo and eco make 260 litre urban dispensers for drinking water .allways good to have a safe supply on hand

Ah yes, this makes a lot more sense to me. Again sucks to rent as its not that simple to move a jojo.

 

[s0lar]

I'll fill it with Cape Town tap water

Why not get from Newlands spring if water is out or dodgy?