500lbs is about the weight of three average people. I don't think storing that amount of water would be a huge problem.

There are some interesting sized containers out there. Water bed anyone? a few 55 gallon drum's with a board over the top and some framing and a few stools could make a descent bar if you have the space. Move off campus and have a nice party.

For a dorm room, you may want to consider cases of bottled water. The ones I keep on hand are 3 gallons of water for the whole case. Two cases per person would cover you for six days. And the cases are easier to spread out around a space so you don't have almost 500 lbs in one spot. Plus bottled water (abeit a large amount for one room) will draw less comment from visitors as opposed to a 55 gallon food grade barrel in the middle of your room! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Unless college food has changed a lot since I was there, I'd make sure to store some eats for the duration too <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Naa... You just put a giant beer label on the side and no one will think it odd. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

As returned student, I hear you- my dorm creaks when ever I walk down the hall. We got a big warning the first day- if you are a big man, don't cannon ball off the top bunk, or you might end up in the basement!!!!

For water, I'll ditto the mention of cased waterbottles. Invest in an inexpensive hand truck if you can, it will make moving things a lot easier. Pick up some tyvek sheeting- use that under your stashes under your bunks, and you'll be amazed at how well it glides on carpet. Tie some 550 line to the corners closest to the wall, and use those to pull it back under the bunk- just roll up the line and stash it by the wall.

REAL dorm food, not junk food, is for me dig in food. I dont worry about rotating it, not with the food service. :P

If you have the space/conditions/money, a trout pond on a country lot makes a great water solution. Trout are incredibly suceptible to toxins, so they have a canary effect, warning you if your supply is bad, they do well over winter, and the trout double as emergency food. Also, if you pellet feed them, they become 'trained' and a pellet like lure will work every time when the emergency hits. Get a MSR Miox purifier, and you're set.

A trout pond in a dorm room probably takes too much space <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. Try one of these: http://aquaflex.net

.25 or .5 gal/day is bare survival, i.e. avoid death by dehydration. If preparing, go for 1 gal/day or more. Aside from the Aquaflex tanks, 7 gallon aqua-tainers seem to be the favorite from the other forum. They are tough and stackable, so you could put a bunch of them next to a wall. Of course if you have the space for it, a trout pond or swimming pool solves the whole problem.

I'm in an urban area in a small apartment so no trout pond. But I'm a mile or so from the ocean and its infinite sea water. I sometimes take a look at ebay for marine desalinators. They do show up there but are a bit too expensive for me. If the technology gets cheaper or if I win the lotto, I'd think about getting one. $2K or so gets you a unit that can make 100's of gallons per day from 8 amps or so of 12 volt power (i.e. car with jumper cables), enough to take care of several households.

Paul,

Have you considered solar desalination? The old desert survival still does a great job of converting salt water to drinkable water. There are many easy, cheap designs on the internet, just do a search for "solar water distillation" and get some ideas.

-Mark

Um, have you ever TRIED one of those desert stills? They're really not so practical.

IIRC, solar stills in a desert environment/survival scenario are credited to be a waste of time/energy, because they give so little water vs what you spend building them.
Now I would expect such a still to be effective near a pool of water ! You have all the water you want without exhausting yourself.... the only job of the still is to separate salt from water.
+ in this "Bug In" scenario, you can prepare/experiment/test your still well in advance...
it could be more of a solar distillery than a solar still <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

So, in these conditions, a solar still might be a good thing to consider...

Actually, if you have a stock of iffy water, they can work.

Assuming that the contaminant doesn't evaporate as well.