1 gallon milk jugs for water storage?

[Clay]

when the storm came through last week the first thing I did was fill the bath tub with water to flush the toilet/or what ever. I also saw a newly empty milk jug in the kitchen, so I washed it out w/ soap, rinsed it very well, then filled it with water. I figured this would be some drinking or cooking water if needed.

what do you guys think about keeping a few gallons of water in milk jugs around for emergencies? I figure if I rotate them every 6 months with new water I should be good to use them if needed, but Im sure someone here has an opinion.

thanks,
clay

 

[shibumiseeker]

Very short term like the storm is approaching, sure.

Long term, no. The plastic is very fragile and WILL leak over time.

 

[gunman41mag]

I would clean those 1 gallon jugs with bleach

 

[kickbacked]

i actually recently started doing this, and currently have 3 jugs in my collection.

 

[woowoo2]

Two liter bottles are far more durable......

 

[JetGirl]

We have 12 that we rotate very often. Over the course of about 10 years, we've had 3 or 4 "leakers". Sometimes those were due to other factors...

 

[Leo]

It would be better to get the 5 gallon plastic bottles that water services deliver for water coolers. These are a different type of plastic and they do not contaminate the water over longer term storage.

 

[shibumiseeker]

We have 12 that we rotate very often. Over the course of about 10 years, we've had 3 or 4 "leakers". Sometimes those were due to other factors...

Your experience is better than mine. When I first started prepping I had 8 of ten fail in the first year just sitting there on their shelf in the basement.

I keep 3-4 gallons of distilled water on hand for my battery bank and though they get rotated out (used) every year or so I'll have at least one leaking each year.

 

[JetGirl]

Your experience is better than mine. When I first started prepping I had 8 of ten fail in the first year just sitting there on their shelf in the basement.

Maybe because we rotate them often...

 

[shibumiseeker]

Maybe because we rotate them often...

Are they the same 12 or are they new ones each time you rotate?

 

[JetGirl]

Are they the same 12 or are they new ones each time you rotate?

They're the same for four to six months...then new.

 

[irishfan]

They're the same for four to six months...then new.

That is not a bad life span for a milk jug. I have had them last months and others last days. They are just made of a weak and thin layered plastic that can't take a lot of beating without failing.

 

[TREETOP]

One gallon bottles of water are like 68 cents each at WalMart. I buy a couple more every time I'm there and just stash them wherever I find room.

 

[Brown]

We started out with Milk Jugs. DO NOT stack them.One layer of jugs on top and we came home to a VERY wet carpet mistake learned

now we use liter bottles after the kids empty the soda, thin plywood over them before the next layer in stacking. We use a little bleach to clean them out and rotate each 6 months to keep the water fresh as possible

 

[JetGirl]

That is not a bad life span for a milk jug. .

Maybe it's because they didn't start life as "milk jugs"...?
They were purchased as distilled water and refilled with same repeatedly, then rotated out while new ones replace them.
I'm assuming the plastic is the same, but is there something in milk that would break it down faster? I've heard well water does...so maybe?

 

[bwframe]

I too have had bad results with milk jugs. I have had excellent results since switching over to the heavier plastic juice/tea jugs.

 

[futureofwar]

You are risking alot of bacterial build up from the milk any long term storage with milk jugs is bad news. Get a Berkey filter if you can afford it if not I have read alot of people talking about pool hypoclorite on survival websites for emergency water. If your wanting to go for the real short term as far as days prepared to go without water for I would definitely drop the dollar a jug it takes to get sterile jugs at the store. At a minimum one gallon of water for DRINKING a day and thats not counting your washing etc.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

I got these...

After having leaking water jugs from Wal-Mart I decided to cry once and bought one of these for each member of the family.

Got them on sale for around $27 each from US calv. with free shipping for my $100+ order a couple years ago.
I refill them every 6 months and check them once between fills keeping a predated check off sheet hanging on the wall next to them.
These will be the last cans I ever purchase. They'll outlast my time here and likely my kids.

Keeping up with regular plastic gallons is possible by rotating containers. I'd lean toward purchasing water in them vs. refilling milk containers. YMMV.

 

[Iroquois]

First of all, I don't believe you can reliably clean a milk jug of all milk residue. Even a little bit can open you up to serious bacterial contamination. Even if you can , why take the risk. Bottled water is cheap and you can safely reuse the bottles. The last thing you need in a water-short situation is a is case of screaming diarea !!!

 

[shibumiseeker]

They're the same for four to six months...then new.

Ah, got it, that makes more sense!