You’re making progress. How to store water isn’t easy. It requires your attention. But you can do this, because without water you’re toast in three days.
Don’t get overwhelmed. There’s an endless combination of ways to store water for short, intermediate, and long-term needs as I discuss here. Today I’m focused on providing you with a two-week supply or an intermediate-term storage solution. I’ve chosen four fifty-five-gallon barrels.
These barrels aren’t small. Imagine those big-yellow barrels getting dragged off the Orca in the movie Jaws and you get the picture. They are about two-feet in diameter and three-feet in height. I’ve searched high and low for the best prices and I’ve found them at Walmart.com for $51.55 each (a savings of $28.40).
You don’t even have to go into Walmart because they deliver. No driving through town with big-blue barrels hanging out of the trunk. You won’t be Mr. Obvious telling everyone “hey look at me I’m storing water.” Get them delivered.
The barrels arrive in boxes. Cut off the tops and save them. The boxes will be used to cover the barrels. This is a crucial step in helping you conceal from the outside world.
You now have food grade, Emergency Essentials, FDA approved, BPA free, barrels concealed in boxes that will be tough for someone to steal. Unlike Jaws these will be full of water. Each gallon weighs 8-pounds. No one is going to be running out of your garage like a harpooned shark with 450 pounds on their back.
Make sure you store the barrels on two-by-fours if storing on cement. Cement leaches chemicals when it gets hot. Mine are on non-pressure treated two-by-fours because if cement leaches chemicals I don’t want to learn later that pressure treated wood leaches chemicals. I don’t even know if this is scientifically possible, but having peace of mind and confidence in what I’m drinking plays a big part in all of this.
Now you’ve got a plan for intermediate-term water storage. Next up is how to prepare the barrel and the water for consumption.
If you are just joining my series on water storage, catch up by reading my previous posts here, here, and here.
