WATER STORAGE

Water may be stored in most any container. Heavy opaque glass or plastic is best. Do not reuse the small clear plastic bottles from bottled water.
Ideas for storage:
2 liter soda bottles
Glass jars. - Careful of breakage
Collapsible 5 gallon containers. - May leak over time
Hard plastic 7 gallon containers - Good choice - Expensive in quantity
5 gallon buckets - Good overall choice
55 gallon plastic drums - Excellent, but heavy - must be able to siphon water out
City water supply - As long as there is electricity and everything remains normal
Other storage ideas:

WATER TREATMENT PRIOR TO STORAGE

Note: Water does not go bad. It can become contaminated with chemicals and bacteria or may over time go flat. One person I know stored water in 5 gallon white buckets in his parent's basement. After 30 years the water had mild algae, but was still drinkable, especially with filtration.
Water may be stored right from the faucet. A good idea is to rotate stored water by using it to water gardens or houseplants. Containers can be drained and filled once a year to ensure quality.
If you would like to treat water before storage for added safety you may use bleach, colloidal silver or other commercially available products. City water already has chlorine; adding bleach does not really help. Rotate your supplies as needed and purify before drinking. (Methods of filtration and purification below) ALTERNATIVE WATER

SOURCES

Water heater - Most water heaters hold 40 to 50 gallons of water. Make sure you know how to safely retrieve this water. Remember, if the water supply from the utility company goes down the water from your house, including your water heater can be siphoned out, leaving you nothing. When the water is restored contaminated water may be pumped back in. It is a good idea to turn the water off at the street in a disaster.
Toilet tanks - Do not drink water in the bowl! (DUH!) Do not use the water in the tank if chemical cleaners and dye have been used.
Stored beverages
Stored can goods
Ice
Swimming pools and hot tubs - Used for hygiene only! - It is not recommended that you drink water from these sources. Acids and foreign liquids may be harmful. If this water is used it must be filtered.
Nearby streams, rivers or lakes - Treatment is essential.
Well - May not work without power unless backup pumping methods are in place.
Plants - A Transpiration Still is a good source of water.
Solar Still - Normally only works in moist climates where other sources are more efficient.
Rain - One of the best sources. If you collect rainwater, remember to allow the rain to wash debris and bird waste for at least ten minutes before collecting. It is still a good idea to filter this water.

WATER PURIFICATION

It is not possible to tell if water is drinkable by visual inspection!

Methods of water purification

Chlorine - Will remove most bacteria, but not chemicals. Chlorine is used to kill living organisms. Last time I checked humans were living organisms.

Boiling - Boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes will kill most all bacteria. Boiling will not remove chemicals.

Iodine tablets - Like boiling, iodine will kill bacteria but will not remove chemicals.

Colloidal silver - Excellent method of removing bacteria, not chemicals.

Filtration - There are many filters available today. Most are not worth the effort it takes to pick them up off the shelf. Granulated carbon is one of the worst as it soon allows channels to form for water flow, thus defeating the purpose.

OPINION: All household drinking water should be filtered. Bottled water is not regulated and may not be pure. It is only as good as the integrity of the person bottling it, a person you have never met.

I have used the British Berkefeld for home use. It's ceramic filter system and gravity feed will purify the worst water without electricity. There are many copy cats of this on the market today. Do your research.

A relative newcomer to water filtration is the Nikken company. Their work in air and water purification is state of the art and goes way beyond just purification and on to rebuilding the molecular structure of the water during city purification processes. For more information go to www.nikken.com or call Cynthia Mayes at 503 375 3700.

Katadyn is known as the standard in filters for backpacking, camping and emergency use. They are not cheap, but think about the alternatives of drinking contaminated water.

CONTAMINATED WATER

Never drink water you are not sure about unless it is the last option. Do not drink salt water or water from sources such as small desert pools, which have a white, residue around the edge. This is alkaline and will kill you.
If you drink contaminated water you will probably soon know it with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting or both. A natural cure for this is to build a fire and wait for the wood to turn to coals. Allow a red hot coal about the size of the end of your thumb to cool, then eatit. Continue this process ever 30 minutes until symptoms are passed.
Some bacteria's can lay domain for two or three weeks. Remember this if you have flu like symptoms or cramping after a situation