If you purchase bottled water what is the shelf life? Does the use by date carry much importance? Thanks for the help.
I believe bottled water to be good indefinatly if stored in proper conditions including keeping it out of the light, in a normal room temperature range, away from pests and gasoline or other types of harmful vapors that can permeate it.
I’m sure somebody will have some more techinical data but in a nutshell if you store it correctly bottled water shouldn’t “expire”.
biggest problem usually found with bottled water is the possibility of chemicals leeching if left in the sun or similar. that plasticky taste shouldnt exist. other will complain that it tastes stale but that can be remedied by pouring back and forth between a couple cups to aerate(sp) the water to bring back some flavor. same method can be used for water treated with bleach as it will allow the bleach to evaporate. there really isnt anything in water that can go bad if stored properly and basic precautions are taken.
i store water in reused 2L soda bottles, 5G bottles for more on the go stuff and 300G tanks. ive personally drank untreated tap water - no extra treatment- that was 2 years old. it tasted stale but no ill effects. tried the cup aeration trick and it helped but not 100%, id say 75% though. still a hint of stale but still better than nothing.
I use food grade BPA free seven gallon water containers which are sold at Wal-Mart. I change out the water every six months and have never had a problem. Other then the initial cost to purchase the containers ($9.96 each) they pay for them selfs after a few short years when compared to bottled water. The fifteen containers we have served us well with no problems to report.
Not knocking your method, if it works for you that’s great and it sounds like the optimal way to store tap water, but your comment about the containers paying for themselves sent me into number crunching mode. If somebody was on a tight budget and/or doesn’t want to deal with rotating tap water stock it is cheaper to go the bottled water route and while I personally don’t see any reason to rotate the bottled water if stored correctly I believe it to be a great alternative if cost is an issue.
You can get gallon jugs of water for less then a dollar so for the 105 gallons of tap water you have stored for $150(plus tax?) a person could have 150-175 gallons of bottled water for the same $150.
In the end we all have to decide what we are comfortable with and what works best for us, it’s always nice to have choices 
if buying gallons of bottled water, stay clear of the milk jug type bottles. the crinkled looking ones. some have had good luck but i have had a few spring a random leak. they arent as strong. they do have the stronger thicker plastic jugs that are the same shape and they hold up better. ymmv.
repurposing 2L soda bottles or 1/2G and 1G juice bottles work well for storage.
also keep in mind that you not only need potable water for drinking and cooking but for sanitation and cleaning as well, like filling the tank of the toilet to get it to flush.
also, if you dont store much water but have some warning like in the event of a severe storm headed your way, look into a WaterBob. its kind of a use once type of thing as i imagine drying and cleaning after use would be a pain. anyway, its a bladder that fits in a standard tub to hold potable water. should cost around $20.
True,
But when you look at storage and container durability its hard to beat the dedicated water storage containers. I just like the piece of mind knowing I have semi fresh water (6 months old) in the stores which I can rotate without cost at any time.
Good points in favor of that method. I do use the heavier duty gallon jugs so I’m not to concerned in that respect but it’s very possible I’ll be dreaming about 6 month old water if the time does come that I have to use my supply 
Ok, so I thought that as long as the bottled store purchased water was kept in a cool place out of the sun it would be ok, I am glad that I was correct. Phila PD I would like to go the 7 gallon drum route, but I do not currently have room for the storage hence the bottle route.
How much space do your containers take up? Thanks.
I would say as a minimum one 7 gallon container per person should last one week barring very hot temperatures.
Aqua Tainer container measures,
Length 11.25in
Width 11.50in
Height 15.25
Weight 2.0 pounds
Weight fully filled 60.45 pounds
I have some bottled water that is at least 1-1/2 years old, some of it is more like 2, and it is still fit. It doesn’t taste quite right but that doesn’t really bother me, and certainly wouldn’t if I was in a bind for water.
It has been kept in a fairly shaded area, but at times it has been pretty warm as I don’t normally run the a/c unless we are having a bigtime heatwave.
Most of those 1+ gallon jugs of store-bought water are junk. They will leak and even collapse under good storage conditions. No rough-housing ect.
I’d never seen those Aqua-Tainers since I don’t get to Walmart much. I’ve thought for awhile that I need something like that. I could line those up along a wall in the house, garage, or both. I will check them out.
PhilaPD brought up a good point about durability. I’ve had to pack a bunch of water over the years, and as a rule water jugs take a beating just under normal use. So do fuel jugs, but that’s another story.
I was in a location this past year where some emergency supplies have been stored for over 40 years, and the water was still perfectly fine. Part of the reason that the water was still good is the fact that it was about 200 feet below ground, and a steady temperature of about 50 degrees.
Of course, the tins were soldered with lead solder
I would hesitate to store water in plastic over a long term period (anything over a few weeks) as the chemicals in the plastic will leach into the water (and it doesn’t matter if the container is food grade or not - it still has some really nasty chemicals in it) especially if the water is not kept cool.
Do like we do and drink 2 24 packs of bottled water a week. It will allow you to keep lots of it around yet rotate enough you won’t end up with stale water.
I don’t like the generic 1 gal jugs. They are as cheaply made as possible and do not stack well at all. You can get some brute trash can containers which are food grade and very well made. Not air tight but 3 of them at lowers will store ~105 gallons at 35 gallons each. I use them for my fish tanks to mix salt water in and store RODI water.
The AQUA Tainer containers are BPA free so no leaching occurs.
There are very few regulations regarding bottled water. I know there are times when I have to drink it, but I wouldn’t want to store it for long. The 7-gallon jugs can be disinfected and the water stored properly with a bit of chlorine additive. I have one for each individual in the house, but I doubt they would last one week each. If you plan on cooking with water, especially dehydrated foods, your water will be used up much more quickly. For a short period of time though I would doubt any here have to bust into their dehydrated food stuffs.
I’ve taken to always having a couple days’ supply of water in the car, esp. when I travel. I use two-liter pop bottles. In the summer the water will get a little dirty tasting after two weeks-- I can still drink it with no ill effect but I have found that putting about a tablespoon of vodka in it makes it last indefinitely. If the bottles freeze-- no prob. I freeze tw-liter bottles all the time to put in the cooler, never had one burst.
PlatoCATM what specific chlorine additive are you talking about?
And how much do you use per gallon?
I’ve been told that household chlorine bleach (laundry) has a relatively short shelf life, as far as using it for water purification anyway. I don’t know the particulars of that.
Ned thanks for the vodka tip. I’ve had a gallon of it sitting around for about 5 years, and now I have a use for it.
Double post due to very poor internet connection.
regular household bleach does have a relatively short shelf life. it degrades at 50%/year until its basically salt water in 5 years, iirc.
to add storage life, get powdered bleach. it is commonly availible as pool shock for about $7/lb. make sure you only get regular calcium hypochlorite. if you get some beware of any additives like algicides or fungicides etc… get plain calcium hypochlorite.
it also comes in different strengths. i think i have 73% but it ranges from 65-78% iirc. directions on how to mix it are easily found on the internet, i dont have them in front of me right at the moment. its something to the effect of 1 heaping Tsp per 2 gallons of water and then its the same as store-bought bleach with the same storage life as store-bought.
adding it is 2-4 drops/qt or liter depending on clarity of the water. as always, its best to prefilter sediments through a t-shirt or coffee filter. my chlorine tablets recommend 4 hours time for it to do its job. id go similar for liquid bleach.
basically, you want to add enough bleach to the water so that after an hour or so, you can still faintly smell the chlorine. too much chlorine can cause some diarrhea - found out the hard way with army sanitized water in iraq. to get rid of the bleach smell/taste, you can aerate the water by pouring it back and forth between cups to allow the bleach to evaporate out of the water.
I’ve read about using pool shock to treat drinking water, but never understood how it could be safely used to make relatively small batches of water.
broylz your explanation makes sense, basically using it to make a jug of bleach. Thank you for the good info!!