I have about 15 gallons in clear 1 gallon plastic jugs stored in the basement (raised off the cement floor) that I never cycle. These came straight from the store and are not treated. I don't feel any need to cycle these because I've never found any evidence that water, once stored properly, will go "bad." While water might taste flat if stored for a long time, it will still hydrate you and can be made to taste normal simply by aerating it (simply shaking the container will work). I also have two 7 gallon buckets that store water unless I'm brewing beer. Clearly the water in these buckets is cycled when I brew. The water in the buckets is treated with bleach and stored elevated off the cement floor in the basement. I recently brewed a batch of beer after a 20 month lapse (birth of DD), and found some mold/algae growing on top of the water in one of the buckets (two or three colonies, none larger than a dime). Left-over nutrients from the prior beer batch might be responsible (clearly I did not store this water properly). A case of bottled water also is stored in the back of each car in my family. This water is cycled probably 3 times each year as the water is consumed. I have a tankless water heater, so no dice there.

I use the ratio of 8 Drops of Regular Bleach (non-scented and non-additive) to 1 Gallon of water, or 2 Drops of Bleach per Quart or per Liter on my stored water. Other than tasting flat, I had a couple gallons of water that I failed to change out for about 4 years that were fine. I also have a Katadyn Pocket filter with a Carbon Cartridge and a Sawyer SP 135 I could use as backup to filter the water if I feel it was stored too long.

The only problem I've had with stored water thus far is with some rats that got into my storage area a couple of years ago. I lost about a half a case of store bought bottled water (and some dried pasta). They would chew through the top of the PET bottles, drink as much as they could reach and then would chew through another bottle. All of the water was stored off the ground on wire shelving, but I failed to notice that a cooler I had lent to a friend was put back next to the shelf in such a way that the rats could run up the cooler's handles and get to the water.

I've thought about using some of the colloidal silver solutions on some of the stored water after reading a paper on hospital sterilization plans, but never followed through due to potential risks with long term intake.

[/quote]
A natural disaster is not the only thing that could cause a disruption of your water service, and/or your parents' supply becoming damaged or unavailable. [/quote]

Just today a hardhat rang my doorbell, nicely informing me that they had to turn off our water while they dealt with an unanticipated problem on our street. That was about 11 AM; we are still without running water. We have lots stored, and this is just a dress rehearsal for something more severe. Also prods me to use and refresh some of my containers.

"Is it naive of me to consider my water heater as a 40 gallon reserve water supply?"

Nope! But...

Do you ever flush the mineral deposits out of the tank? When I first moved here, I attached a hose and opened the spigot. The water could hardly come out because of the buildup of debris. I had to change to a 5/8" hose, still had trouble, and finally just disconnected the hose and poked in the opening with a screwdriver to break up the chunks.

Check it before you need it.

Sue

Maybe. If the mains water supply gets contaminated (but is still flowing), the contamination may make it into your hot water tank if you don't disconnect it quick enough.

You also need to make sure you have the where-withal to get the water out of the tank. In my system, the hot water tap taps the tank at the top, where the water is hottest, which works because it's under pressure from the cold water tank in the roof. When the cold water tank is empty, the hot water taps won't have pressure. There must be a means to drain the hot water tank from the bottom, but it probably involves tools and extra piping. I'm rubbish at DIY, so it'd be naive for me to assume I could manage it.

Most modern water heaters have a fitting to drain water using a standard garden hose - if you don't have one on yours, wait for it, your water heater will tend to give out every 10-15 years and you'll need a new one. Draining the water from the water heater is one of those annual maintenance things I mostly do almost every year (not as important as batteries in smoke detectors, so really ever 2 years as long as I remember to do it). Its important that you turn off the burner coils, turn off the inflow of water, open the water line to allow the tank to drain, then drain the water, then reverse the whole process. I'm told draining the sediment can extend the life of the water heater, who knows. My owner's manual has the directions, and in the era of youtube I wager you could find a How To video there too.

Its all kind of academic if you don't have your water heater reliably strapped to prevent tipping over - with a gas water heater this can be problematic, and the heater beomes another source of gas leaks after an earthquake. I upgraded the strapping around my water heater last month while replacing the furnace next to it, which suddently gave me access to a couple wall studs I couldn't before.

We use scepter water cans, 1g water bottles (in rotation), and our pressure tank.

For long-term non-used it's the scepter water cans. I think I have around 200 gallons worth full, locked away. Use city water, and tighten them good. When ready to use shake w/cap open a few times, let set and shake again.. this will make sure the water is not 'flat' tasting. You should not have to do anything to store your water to make it good to drink in a years time.

If we need to use the stored water that is not rotated or used regularly we will filter it through a AquaRain filter system we have stored away too. I believe the Big Burkey? (Spelling) is similar and can be used for the same thing.

Our goal is to still add a second pressure tank (save $ heating cold well water + more water storage), and also a 2600g tank for the garden which could provide drinking water too. Coupled with the generator we can pull water until we run out of fuel.

I'm about 1/2 way through Cody Lundin's 'When All Hell Breaks Loose' and also reading about that exact scenario happening right now in Haiti...
...need to add some stored water capacity to the household.
Haven't found much for readily available containers, so thinking about just buying a dozen or so of the water-cooler type 5-gallon (?) bottles.
What do y'all think of this idea?
I would split them between basement & garage.

I've heard about people using water cooler bottles for storage, and I would assume that they're just as good as individual water bottles. Since they're clear, I'd keep them out of the light just to make sure nothing grows inside of the bottles.

I worry about the tear band lids, but if the system works to keep them from breaking open in shipping it must be pretty solid.

Stacking them might be a problem unless you put them on their side and stack them in a pyramid with chocks in between the lowest bottles to keep them from rolling. You might also be able to put a piece of plywood over a level of bottles with more bottles on top of that.

If you're going to buy the water bottles empty, I'd buy the kind with screw on lids and handles just to make them easier to move. Before that, I'd go to Amazon and get their 5 Gallon stackable carriers. Depending on how much you plan to store, you may even want to buy a 55 gallon water barrel. I've seen kits for as little as $60 that include a 55 gallon drum and siphon pump. Others have obtained used barrels for a lot less.

It costs my neighbor about $8.50 per 5 gallon bottle for Deer Park IIRC, but they have to get 3 at a time and the delivery man collects the empty bottles.

In any case it's better than nothing.

I would want to include at least some containers of smaller capacity than five gallons. Five gallons can be handled, but it is noticeably heavy.