Oh...sorry, caught somelthing in yer post--silicone. Don't use the regular variety. Emits acetic acid as it cures, rusts all kindsa crazy. Use "electronic grade" silicone to ensure an acid-free seal.

> What makes long term stored water go "stale" or unuseable?

From 72 Hour Kit, I gather the main problem is things living in the water. Here's a quote:

Since you're essentially starting with virtually sterile water, what you're mostly concerned with is any bacteria that might be introduced during the filling process, as well as any odd bugs that got through the disinfection treatment and may just not be there in large enough quantities to normally cause a healthy person any problems. You want to make sure they don't multiply and create a problem given the time.

Peak germicidal effect occurs at 254nm (UV-C). A 55-gallon drum seems like a lot of water to purify this way. I mean, the distance from the drum wall to the center of the drum may be too far to penetrate effectively. Even with my Steripen, with its relatively big lamp, you're still instructed to stir it around inside the 16 or 32 oz container to make sure all the water gets sterilized.

A modification to this DIY project would be to create a smaller UV sterilizing tank, maybe even just gallon-sized, which you fill when you actually need to use some water.

Sounds good to me.

At home, even though we are on a public water system, we routinely use a Berkley Water Filter System for all of our drinking water. The water tastes better and we no longer spend money on bottled water, which is the only water, my family would only drink. I figure once I have my backup treated water supply in the drums, if and when needed, we would just pass the water through the Berkley System prior to use.

Pete

Not a bad idea, although it is out of my technical knowledge range. I am sure someone on CPF would know. I do not believe UV in general has much penetrating abilities. I believe most water UV systems pass a narrow stream of water pass the UV light and are sealed to prevent any dust from collecting on the UV tube.

I also know, based upon my lab experience here at Ft. Detrick, that most UV systems in biological hoods, must have the bulb cleaned almost cleaned daily (to be truly effective) with alcohol, since even a thin layer of dust can effective the efficacies of the UV rays in killing organisms. Left over from Ft. Detrick’s biological warfare days, many of the buildings that were converted to cancer research labs, had pass-through areas with UV lights completely surrounding the room, in addition the rooms were painted with an aluminized paint in an attempt to bounce back some of the rays. Most of these have been found to be relatively ineffective and in most areas they have been removed or decommissioned.

Pete

Didn't I read somewhere that to re-oxygenate water, one could simply pour it back and forth several times between two containers? Not practical for large amounts of course, but for drinking a quart at a time or so. Anyone have ideas on that?

Dissolved oxygen in water is a taste issue, not for microbial static/cidal effect. To use nascent oxygen for biocidal effect, one would need an expensive ozone generator. When retrieving drinking water from a large drum, simply sloshing the water from one container to another should suffice.

Pete

you must be right : could be iode instead of oxygen ...

I was (incorrectly ...) remembering the words of a medical professor, explaining why people living in the Vosges area (medium montains range in the north-east of France) were more subject to cretinism : it was due to a lack of something (iode ?) ... in the water...
Other population known (end of 19th century) for a higher percentage of cretinism are people in the Alps area.

These old sayings seem no longer true with modern nutrition.

Well, if the drum isn't more than, say, 90% full, a bouncy move might do the trick.

Although a 55 gallon drum of water on a dolly is a lot like a St Bernard on a leash- who's walking whom?

This is likely due to a lack of dietary intake of iodine, which is richly found in seafood. Once the problem was found to be an iodine deficiency, an effort was made to prevent this disease by iodizing salt. It could be that certain geographic areas of the world, lack sufficient sources of iodine from local diets and the salt is not iodize. It is a very preventable condition with supplementation of one’s diet with iodized salt.

Pete