A couple years back my water line broke at the city’s valve and due to some confusion on their end I was without water for almost 2 weeks. We got into a routine where we were shuttling water 20 gallons at a time from our neighbors.
Immediately after that happened I looked into installing a 200 gallon water tank in my basement. I never pulled the trigger because, honestly, what are the chances I would ever be without water again? But I can’t seem to let this go. And with the heat dome bearing down on us, it’s back on my mind.
It’d be about $500. Waste of money or reasonable peace of mind?
You need to treat water for long term storage, and you’ll want to keep in BPA-free containers (or preferably in stainless steel or glass) if you are intending it for consumption. I would keep multiple individual containers rather than one large tank for consumption purposes so that if there is some contamination (pests, fungi, bacteria) it doesn’t affect the entire supply.
I’ve got one of these, pretty happy with it. It’s strapped to a wall stud in the garage like a water heater, but more casually because it doesn’t have to meet code. Thinking about getting a few more. These can be had for much, much cheaper than this; just look out for BPA-free and avoid anything used to store anything other than food or water. Even brand-new it needs to be cleaned out and sterilized, so used might be the way to go.
If you can do it safety, go for it.
There’s not one thing wrong with being prepared for disaster.
If you start feeling like zombie killing maybe talk to a loved one😱
Really asking…how do you get the water out of your basement to the rest of the house?
I suppose you could have a tap in the basement container and carry the water upstairs which would be fine for drinking but, other than that, it’s no use for bathing or washing unless there is some other mechanism to get the water around the house.
BPA-free or not, I’d be wary of certain plastics which could leech into the water. This is not to say that all plastic containers should be avoided, but certainly the degradation of cheap plastic water bottles after just several years of storage was surprising and concerning. Whatever you use for long-term emergency water storage, I would definitely not use bottled water in the original plastic bottles.
How much of the stored water needs to be potable? Some, presumably, is for bathing or flushing the toilet. Only the smaller amount needs to be safe to drink, meaning the majority can be stored in whatever container is convenient.
A spigot at the bottom to fill gallon jugs would have put us in a decent position. We went through a little less than 20 gallons a day, but we also spent as much time as we could out of the house. 1 gallon would get us a solid flush (no #2s, natch) and we tried to keep dishes to a minimum. Our camping setup came in handy. That’s basically what it was, glamping for 13 days in our own house
We do a version of this. We use “leg tanks” from Tractor Supply and a minimal amount of bleach to treat the water. Our goal is for months of storage, not years. And we cycle it through for washing cars, foundation watering, and other uses. As @Stranger_On_A_Train advises, we have it in separate containers to guard against contamination and leaks. We have been cycling and using the water such that it’s stored a maximum of 60 days in any tank.
Two 65 gallon tanks in a corner of the garage, raised to allow a bucket under the spigot:
A 45 gallon tank that does double duty as ballast for our heavy duty truck (the unloaded ride is brutal, so I store the water there). This one is cycled more rapidly, as it’s easier to position and use, and it serves as additional water for camping (shown mounted in the truck bed). In the winter it joins the other two in the garage.
In addition to this, our RV holds another 80 gallons and mizPullin keeps ~5 cases of bottled water in the pantry room. Grand total of ~285 gallons potable, plus another 400 gallons non-potable in the hot tub.
I have 2 12V demand pumps, and a high pressure 120V pump to move water higher/faster. Rather than heave 5 gallon buckets around the house, we just use a hose to supply toilets, sink, or washing machine. This worked quite well during the Texas deep freeze a few years ago (we had no water pressure for 3 days). If we were to use the RV as a lifeboat, it has enough solar, propane and battery to run pumps and water heater for around 10 days, based on our normal use when camping. So we figure we’re good for roughly a month with our normal supplies.
A typical water heater holds 40-50 gallons, while shy of your 200 gallon goal, it can help bridge that a bit. I store a couple of 5 gal water jugs for such an occasion, however I do have a nearby stream that I could use for non-potable water, and purify that if really needed. I also have access to another well with a site with a standby generator.
So first access your situation, do you have natural water nearby you can tap into? If so, its degree of purity can help defer water storage needs, even if it’s just for flushing and would decrease your water runs to your neighbor(s).
We’ve had problems with our well a few times, causing us to be without water until the well people came and fixed things.
We have two rain barrels that collect water from our home’s gutters/downspouts, and one at our barn. We use that water for bathing/toilet flushing and watering the horses. We buy gallons of water for drinking.
When the well is functioning normally, the rain barrel water is used to water plants.
Couldn’t your regular drinking and washing water run through storage tanks so you always have a supply of fresh water available? One problem would be the possibility of contamination to the water supply before you find out about it.
One of our houses does not have city water. We have to haul water from a local water supplier (Bearizona). Our water is stored in a large, mysterious underground tank, with a well pump. During the pandemic we couldn’t get water delivered for love nor money - our needs were too small, and the delivery guys made excuse after excuse as to why they couldn’t deliver. Since the house was pretty useless without water, I ended up buying a small trailer with a “Tote” on it:
These are widely available used, and since they are designed to store food products, they are (presumably) pretty safe. You can pick one up for under $300.
How about just buying one of those and keeping it empty until there is another interruption in the water supply? At that point, presumably you can go someplace to get it filled.
Here’s my story fwiw: I wanted at least a couple of 5-gallon jugs handy so I responded to a for-sale ad online. The owner was the manager of a local water cooler company who had a storage unit full of water containers. They were perfectly okay except that all his customers wanted the newer model containers with molded-in handles. So for twenty bucks he let me take as many as I could haul away so he could stop paying for the storage unit; I could fit 24 of them in my car.
I store them in my basement. I rotate them by once a week carrying a container upstairs in a backpack. I turn off my toilet valve and use the old water to flush. Then I refill, add a little bit of bleach to make sure it’s clean and sterile, mark the date and then pack it down to the basement again.
So if worst came to worst I have 120 gallons of potable water, which would last a 2-person household a goodly while. I also have a 50 gallon rain barrel which would do for flushing if there was ever an extended period without water.
I have 2 wells. The older one was here 100 years or so. Was never enough to work for the house.
When we built the house we had another well dug.
In the event electric is out also, it would be impossible to manually pull water up. Without a mule.
The old well it can be done.
I’d have good biceps if I had to pull up more than a bucket full.
Man it was tough in the pioneer days. I kinda like modern conveniences.
