How often does water need to be rotated? (Part 2)

(THESE ARE MY PERSONAL OPINIONS ONLY. )




Her:   "How long would you consider the shelf life of stored water safe for drinking purposes?"


(She is talking about city tap water she puts into containers herself.  I believe commercially packaged water is probably germ-free forever until the packaging gets a hole in it.  I don't think there are any problems drinking commercially packaged water that is many years old.)


Me:    " Personally I would probably not worry if I knew I had personally cleaned out the bottles well, and it was six months or less since I filled them.  Maybe when I get into a disaster situation I might be even less picky, I don't know."




Her:   "DANG!  So I guess drinking water stored 5 years or so would be out of the question?"




Me:  If you don't think you'll rotate it for 5 years, I  want you to understand that storing it is still a good idea.  If you have room for it, do it.

Like I said, older water would be fine to use "as is" for flushing, washing, etc.  And you could still put it through a camping water filter for drinking.

You've got to ask yourself what types of disasters are you preparing for.

Nuclear disasters:  Covered containers of water would not have radiation particles in them.  Every drop of water you had would be worth gold.

Hurricanes flooding the water treatment plants:  You would have to boil all water coming into your house, it would be easier to use the old water.

A temporary breakage of the water treatment plant, or even a pipe breaking in your neighborhood.  Your stored water would be enough for that.

The breakdown of society as we know it?  No water treatment plants left?  In this very extreme example, you would have water for a little longer than your neighbors, but eventually you would have to live off pond water anyway.

So just ask yourself what scenarios are you thinking of?  I think storing a lot of water, even if you don't rotate it for five years,  is still useful."