Who stores water?

[Carrot Cruncher]

But "long term" those candles will be useless and difficult/impossible to get new ones, it depends on the duration we are considering as "Long term"

Depends how many you store I guess but for convenience they are hard to beat.

I forget the name of the stuff but you can also buy the granuals they use for pools that has a much longer shelf life than bleach

Living next to a river also helps

[the-gnole]

Well I should think having them stored in Mylar could help preserve them, but should it be vacuum packed or Nitrogen filled.

Swimming pool bleach tablets will do tens of thousands of litres of water for many years so long as the tablets are well cared for.

[skippy]

Yes, That is a lot of drinking water, but then you have to add in other things that the water will be needed for, cooking, reconstituting dried goods...I really should look into one sometime

I thought that for 2 people a realistic scale would be about 200 days providing all water except toilet flushing.
you can also buy replacement filters.

Skips

[Mad Scientist]

Must admit I've only got a couple of litres frozen away but we live close to a stream. You can buy activated charcoal from most aquarium stores for deactivating toxic substances. Sounds stupid but I always make sure the kettle is filled up. You can cope with the world on a good breakfast.

[jansman]

Must admit I've only got a couple of litres frozen away but we live close to a stream. You can buy activated charcoal from most aquarium stores for deactivating toxic substances. Sounds stupid but I always make sure the kettle is filled up. You can cope with the world on a good breakfast.

Quite true, that. Seeing as how I started this thread in 2011!!! I can provide a very appropriate update.

Over the last week or so, our end of Leicestershire has been enduring no water/ contaminated water, owing to a burst water main. By main, it is a 3m supply pipe coming in from South Derbyshire. Severn Trent said they could fix it in 2 days but they could not get concrete as the building industry(like everything except retail) shuts down for freakin' ever 'cos of Christmas!
Here at Chez Jansman we had stored water. It was boiled, to be sure. I made sure the lady next door had water as she has a newborn.
When the water went off we used warmed water in the solar shower. I have a hook ready drilled in above the normal shower to hang it. So apart from the washing machine, we had it covered. Had the 5 gallon drums ran out, we had the rain butts.
So... Store a drop of water. You will never cover it all, but at least you can sort out a small emergency.

[cpslashm]

On the BBC's "Tudor Monastery Farm" they said our ancestors didn't drink water but boiled it then used it to make ale. The boiling sterilized the water and the alcohol kept it that way.

Not strong stuff but safe to drink.

Can keep for a while.

[Malthouse]

If I remember my brewing history correctly, the were three brews made with each batch.

The first brew was the strong one and used to trade or store for special occasions. The second was an ever day quaffing beer and the third was "small beer" I think that was used as a water substitute, i.e. taken to work and used as a thirst quencher.

I also seem to think (probably wrong) that more hops you add the longer the shelf life.

[jansman]

The beer, be it the strong, first brew or the 'small beer' the last one will keep. It is the alcohol. The hops in beer were introduced by Elizabeth I. It was a Puritan thing, the hops made the beer bitter , and "if you want that pleasure you will suffer the bitterness. "
I love a pint of my home brew bitter. But then I would wouldn't I ?
To be fair all boiled water will be good to go.