Hi everybody! I want to prepare a bottle of water in order to keep it in my car's emergencdy kit. My idea was to take a normal PVC bottle, boil it and wash it with soap and then fill it completely with water that has been boiled for 10 minutes. Does anyone know for how long this water can be considered drinkable?

Why don't you just buy a bottle of water and keep it? It will be safe to drink for a very long while.

Burak

We have so much chlorine in our city water that it lasts a longggg time.

The day before Hurricane Isabel (Sept. 18, 2003) I rotated out 65 gallons of water that I put up in August 2002 - 13 months earlier. The water looked, smelled and tasted just fine.

How about a sealed bottle of distilled water? You should be able to pick one up at the grocery store for a few bucks, bottle included! :-)

That said, I have to admit I have some Nalgene bottles in my car. I just use tap water and every once and a while stick them in the dishwasher.

I like the Nalgene bottles for the car and hiking since they are very heavy duty and take a fair amount of abuse.

I'm certainly not an expert, but I feel pretty safe only re-cleaning and re-filling each year.

-john

I have a purchased gallon of bottled water in the car. I save plenty of $$ just drinking from it in my travel mug vs buying dunkin donuts coffee all the time. Also I treat it just like my gas tank, when it is 1/2 empty I get a full one from the basement, drain the 1/2 empty making juice from concentrate for my breakfast and wash and refill the gallon from the tap and put it in the basement for the next time. In the basement I have some 20 or so of these gallon jugs mostly unopened. unopened ones are presumed good for 5 years. Opened ones are cycled through the car and camping activities as described above. I don't worry about the storage life of the opened ones since they are cycled in months if not days depending upon usage.

I forgot to add what I do in winter - I bring it in the house just like I do my lunch box. In the morning it goes to the car and in the evening it comes in. I have never had it freeze up solid during single day 8 - 10 hours in the car even in winter in NH with -20 F occasionally. It is never less than 1/2 gallon of water so it freezes somewhat slowly and the car is usually warm when I park after the hour commute to work.

Get a couple of Military Plastic Jerry Cans from BrigadeQuartermaster. Their gurateed for life I think.

Fill them up with distilled water and add the proper amount of Aqua Pur. Then rotate it every few years.

Keep a few nalgene, canteen, or similar heavy duty containers filled for hiking purposes.