I have been working on improving my 14 day home SHTF survival supplies for a few years now. I have decided to keep 30 gallons of water ready. I was going to buy a water barrel of that size, but decided instead to split it into four 7 gallon (close enough) containers which look like jerry cans, are portable, and safer as my water supply could not all be contaminated as it could in a single barrel, and no pump is needed. These containers are very strong, and were designed for water and are PBA free. The water comes from a municipal well. What if anything should I put in to keep it fresh for 2-3 years? Is it a problem to set these on bare concrete? I plan to supplement this with three 40 gal rain barrels outside when I can assemble enough dollar bills at same time and place.

I don't know about 2-3 years. I store my water in reused 1-gallon plastic water bottles. After thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the bottles with dish soap and bleach, I rinse them well then fill with water. Then I add 8 drops of unscented bleach in just before tightly sealing. I store 28 gallons total (22 on the shelf in my downstairs pantry, 6 on the bottom shelf of the freezer), which is enough for 3 people to drink 1/2 gallon a day for two weeks, with an extra 1/2 gallon per day for cooking. I replace this once a year.

There's another 50 gallons in the water heater and whatever is in the pipes themselves. Just have to remember to shut-off the main supply to avoid contamination.

In some cases people have been known to add a tank preceding their water heater. This is sometimes termed a 'tempering tank'. In effect your adding storage capacity that is maintained in good condition by way of throughput of the water used in the house.

This additional tank can be either a water heater, sometimes these are available cheap from local lumbers as people upgrade to larger or more efficient units, or a simple uninsulated galvanized steel model commonly available through supply outlets catering to farmers and cattlemen. Simple galvanized water tanks are pretty cheap so a 150 to 400 gallon capacity might not be out of the question.

This additional tank capacity can feed the entire house or just a single tap. The more you feed with it the faster the contents are turned over. If it makes more sense to you you can feed a single tap and install a manual valve to isolate the tank. The contents of the tank could be either piped into or fed manually into whatever you wish. Every three months you could use the water to wash the cars or water the garden. Isolating the tank means more work but it also eliminates any chance of the water being contaminated even if the municipal water supply was polluted.

Byrd..as your up in Northern Minnesota and using water from a municipal well you have some of the best in the country,i would not put anything in it..i assume your not around iron country and the well is down into rock where you getting ground water that's been there since the glacier moved back 11,000 years ago.
the town of Buhl,which is up north,has been selling it's city water for years as "pure not purified".i would just watch out for your storage from freezing unless you have good containers with room for the ice to expand.i don't see any problem with a cement floor.also your at the top of the watershed and your not getting "used" water.

Contact the outfit that takes care of that well and ask if they could provide you with a copy of the last test results. (Municipalities usually have to go with the Big Test for lots of stuff -- bacterial and chemical contaminants -- quite expensive.)

If you think it might be contaminated with something you could treat for (usually coliform bacteria), pour a cup into a clean jar (with a clean lid) and take it in for testing yourself. A simple test like that shouldn't run much more than $10.

But if it's clean, kept cool and dark, I can't see a problem, as long as the containers are intended for water. If the containers are clean and the water is clean, bacteria isn't going to suddenly show up. With heat and light, you might get some problems.

Sue

I buy 5 gallon "boxes" of water at Sam's Club. These have 2 2.5 gallon dispensers in them. The best before date is roughly 2 years after the time of purchase. right now, my water says "best before 7/7/2011" and I bought them about 9 months ago.

And as a perk, the boxes can be stored 4 or 5 cubes high. The "spout" style bottle is not overly durable, but the master cartons are double corrugated. One reason I chose the "spout" style is that it easy to operate without wasting water. With children in the house this is desirable.

For people who have the ability to purchase water in this way, its hardly worth doing any testing, research, or paying "extra" for water containers at the prices you can water that will last for 2 years "off the shelf" for pennies a gallon.

Granted, if you are in the country this is not a viable choice for you.

As another irritating thing to think about:
I was reading in a consumer reports magazine that the shelf life is actually much longer than this. If I remember the article correctly, the state of new jersey put a maximum on the "best before" date, to ensure product freshness/safety for its consumers. The major manufacturers, apparently eager to have a reason to cycle water faster, adjusted their production process to "comply". Later, the state of new jersey repealed the requirement, but bottled water companies still put a conservative 2 year expiration because 'their machines were set up this way'.

To verify this I did a quick search on CR (of which i subscribe online and on paper) but many of the printed articles do not appear online.

However, a googling of new jersey bottled water law turned up instant verification of some of what I have said, as seen here, for example.