OK..i have replyed to other posts about saving and storing water by bragging about the "land of 10,000 lakes" and how i had no need to keep any put away for some sort of survival situation..this is more home garden than survival but i thought i would post it anyway..

the city of Minneapolis gives a rebate on your water bill if you have a rain barrel or a rain garden..the garden is under the down spouts from the roof and the water go's into a grouping of plants that can sit in water untill the rain soaks in the soil..the city also helps pay for the plants..the barrel is in the back yard and during the dry spells is emptyed into out tomato patch..a couple goldfish in there keep the bugs and scum in check..



these three 15 gallon plastic barrels that i picked up for free--left by the roadside with a FREE sign--are used to store the rainwater for the houseplants during the winter..my wife has set aside about 20 one gallon milk and juice jugs and we keep those filled fron the big barrels.
i guess if for some odd reason we lost water i could use my camping filter to supply us drinking water in a pinch but i would expect that washing and cooking would be more like it..and having the water in the basement would save a trip to a local lake to fill them up..anyway..for what its worth,there you are..

Good stuff but do you know what the FREE barrels were previously used for? I would be concerned if they had been used to store some nasty chemicals and I don't think most water filters remove chemicals.

Steve

If it's not drinking water a good proper cleaning should make it useful.

i've had these for four years..they had soap in them and got a good rinse and sat with vinegar water in them for several days untill all traces of clorine smell were gone..the plants that get water from them do just fine..

I've got a couple of those, one outside under the downspout, and another in the basement for reserve and winter use. I have them for watering my bonsai and houseplants, which don't do well with our hard water.

If I'm not careful about making sure the water is settled before filling the one in the basement, it gets skanky. I found that I can fix that by putting a submersible aquarium pump in it. Now the one in my basement is sparkly clean.

What's sad is that in Brisbane last year, not only did you have to report to the government that you had that water, you had to pay a fee to keep it.

Think about that one...

ALL STOP!!!!--ya old pooh-bah..is this Brisbane as in OZ?Down Under..or someplace in Florida????--fee for keeping water?? do they have water cops??..bust down the door at 3AM looking for H2O??..

Well, just remember that it's illegal in places like Colorado.

What? to have extra water on hand?

Yep, rain barrels are illegal in Colorado. No, really.. Really pisses me off every time I get a $100 water bill.