When storing water for more than a few days (up to a year), what should be added in order to keep things from growing in the water? I am specifically concerned with storage in a vehicle or a home.<br><br>Will a teaspoon of bleach per galon suffice? Would it be a good idea to drop an iodine tablet or two in the water for storage? Any other advice?

go to www.MajorSurplusNSurvival.com They explain what is needed, and you have an indication of products and prices.I am not affiliated with MSS! They are the nearest dealer and I am most familiar with their offerings. Aside from antibacterial agents ( clorine, iodine etc.), you will need an oxygenator to inhibit algae. If this is an urban setting, what is your potential disaster,flooding, earthquakes,fire? After the Northridge quake, bottled water ,while rationed was readilly resupplied. It might be different if the transportation network ( flooding) is down.

While we're at it..<br><br>It's fall here, and the temperature is supposed to drop rapidly this weekend, with the possibility of the first snows in the mountains. I know those of you in AZ and SoCAL don't care, but- does anyone know any tricks for keeping emergency water stored in your vehicle from freezing? So far, the best suggestion I've heard is to mix it with grain alcohol in one form or another. This probably has a downside.. admittedly, I might not care much about the downside as the experiment progresses, but a downside, nonetheless. ;-)<br><br>As for the other storage question.. this is just speculation.. it's often stated that the natural anti-bacterial properties of honey are what keep it from spoiling indefinitely. I wonder how dilute it can be and still hold true? It's gotta be healthier than chlorine...

to get any benefit from honey, you would have to boil it with the water. the boiling would be more beneficial than the honey's allready maximised antibacterial properties. Honey is also subject to herbacide and insecticide contamination ( remember it comes from flowers) and some individuals can experience severe allergic reactions. It is used as both a wound dressing and internal remedy in many medical traditions. Iodine will lose the taste test, but I've yet to have a bear ransack my rucksack for it!

I live in Florida. The primary disaster here is Hurricane. For these you usually get a couple of days notice. This would give plenty of time to fill the containers.<br><br>However, I feel that it would be wise to store several gallons just in case of a prolonged power outage from other reasons.<br><br>Speaking of hurricanes: this site lists some suggested items to keep at home in case of an earthquake. It recommends keeping the items outside of the home. In case of a hurricane, outside of the home is probably the least safe place to keep items. I suspect that I would keep the stuff in my garage, but if the garage collapses due to the storm, this might be problematic.<br><br>Burying is probably out because of the extra expense in purchasing items that I use for camping anyways. Also, the list is quite large, and this would require digging up the whole yard Also, if you dig too far in Florida, you hit water. For those folks who do bury items, how do you deal with the items that have to be replaced periodicaly?<br><br>It might be possible to keep the items in a shed, but this is likely to be less safe than the garage. I have seen first-hand the damage that hurricane Andrew did. It is not pretty.<br>

>>Iodine will lose the taste test, but I've yet to have a bear ransack my rucksack for it! <<<br><br>Maybe the bear's smarter than we are. :-)<br><br>That's how a friend defined the technology of food preservation. You poison the food just enough so that bacteria are too smart to eat it- and we're not.<br>

It might be a bit expensive, but how about something like this?<br><br>http://www.greenlee.textron.com/download/archive/287-291.pdf<br><br>Here in the northwest, they sell these at the Home Depot chain. Prices start at $150 for the little guys.<br><br>The good thing is they very sturdy and come built in with provisions to keep them closed and have things you could chain them up.<br><br>For example, put in garage, use chain to bolt it to the foundation and use a combo lock to keep it closed. Should still be there if the whole garage is gone. Make sure you have a pry bar around in case something heavy smashes it and you have to convince the lid to open.<br><br>-john