Not that I own ten, Just askin for a friend.

Well, it depends.

If it is EDC to and from your work, it is overkill. But if you are traveling 100 miles on seldom travel roads in July/August, they are not enough.

Or maybe you would be better off with 3-4 larger ones, or a camelbak.

Ten water bottles, of what capacity? There is a big difference between those wimpy 27 oz bottles and a decent sized liter container.

In desert conditions, in the summer, ten could be insufficient. Most of the time, ten decent sized bottles would be more than enough, given reasonable water sources (such as you would find in the Land of Canoe Dogs and Byrd Hunter).

I mean owning ten

I don't even buy them intentionally and I have 6, some are bought some received free at events, even an old evil BPA bottle.

Ten is just a good start (says the old desert rat)).

DW says I should try to cut my water bottle collection DOWN to ten. It's going to be mighty tough to do. I needs 'em all!

Hahaha! I can probably reach 10 bottles from where I'm sitting at the PC right now!

I like them, and almost have a problem with them. I like keeping them filled and in the fridge, it makes me feel secure, lol. I also refill any plastic bottles I use with the #1 plastic. Those go in my emergency supply. Also, if I take a plastic bottle in my truck and forget it there, if it's mostly full, I leave it in there instead of taking it in (so it's sort of an Extra extra water supply). I get a little paranoid about water. I feel like my supply is way too low this far into hurricane season.

Yeah, what size? You talking the 1 liter Nalgenes? 5 gallon jerry cans?

For what context? Crossing the Sahara, or just to have on hand in the house?

I think you're right! We could lash nine of them together to make a raft and keep one for drinking water.

Some of us are still waiting for Teacher to tell us how big the bottles are.

FWIW, I have 10 bottles. One 27 oz Klean Kanteen, a couple 40 oz Klean Kanteens, two 1 liter polycarbonate bottles, four 1 gallon jugs and a 3 gallon jug in my truck. Over 8 gallons. All to say that size does matter

BTW a liter contains 33.8 fluid ounces, not a huge difference from that wimpy 27 oz bottle.

Can you ever have too much water, or the means to make it, really?

Like so much discussed here, it depends upon circumstances and the environment. In an arid environment, that 6.8 oz could be the difference between life and death, while in a more fluid endowed situation, 27 oz would be perfectly adequate. I cycle all the time with one or two - in coastal California that is more than sufficient.

But in desert conditions, you need far more capacity - a mere 27 oz of H2O is well nigh worthless in extreme heat. Years ago at the head of the South Rim trails at Grand Canyon, the NPS had a sign (I don't know if it is still there or not) that proclaimed "a canteen with less than a gallon of water is just a toy" or something similar. And that is a situation where you have dependable water sources available!

My time in the desert has taught me to pay attention to hydration. You must either carry it with you or find it along the way, but you can't live without it. I have retrieved the bodies of those who thought otherwise.....

I do not dispute the need for a sufficient total amount. I consider smaller containers more comfortable though. They are easier to keep in reach, the water doesn´t slosh around as much as in a half empty big container and if foraged water needs treatment it can be done in an empty container instead of having to put it in a half full container with clean water brought along.
Along that line of thinking owning 10 bottles is not excessive. I own a similar amount. Most of them are kept in their place just in case (e. g. the car, my EDC backpack, in my motorcycle´s trunks). There were many occasions when they made the difference between staying thirsty and keeping hydrated. I might own more if our climate was more arid or the distances were longer.
Carrying them may be overkill in some situations and not enough in others.

True, 27 oz isn't much in desert conditions, but then neither is a liter. The 3 gallon jug in my truck is for desert conditions.

I totally agree with your statement.. Who claimed that a liter was adequate? In the desert, the more water, the better (at least until you are dealing with flash floods - that is another story. You would be surprised at how many people drown in the desert).

One of my classic survival texts, [/i]The Survival Book[i] gives the following estimates in a chart on page 14. This is for one person doing no walking and maximum temperatures of 110F. With no water - 3 days survival; with one quart - 3 days survival; with 2 quarts 3.5 days; with 4 quarts - 4 days. You can last 7 days if you have 20 quarts (5 gallons). The text points out that having just a little water doesn't do much good.

My desert experiences tend to confirm their conclusions; some years ago, in Tucson I and a companion set off on an uphill hike at noon on a sunny day with temperatures in the mid 90's. Time was of the essence (SAR). We carried 2.5 gallons of water between us. We had a good source of water 7 miles up the trail and we were both familiar with the trail and the surrounding country.

We arrived at our stream completely out of water and quite thirsty. We drank our fill. We refilled containers and continued our assignment. We shortly happened upon our victim, who was also quite dehydrated, along with several traumatic injuries... It is quite difficult to stave off dehydration when it is hot and you are working hard. An unlimited supply of water is the best thing. Even three gallons can be cutting it close, but how much can you reasonably carry?

Yup -- Sitting here in SOCAL with over 100°F showing on the temp gauge out back I just might pick up a second 3 gal jug.

BTW, no one said a liter was adequate. I was just stating that a liter of water is just as inadequate as 27 oz when it's hot. Those are just convenient sizes to EDC when it's not. In the desert southwest you simply can't have too much water.

Good idea! Tomorrow will be a scorcher. I will be working outdoors in predicted temps over 100F and I am freezing some jugs right now and making some fairly careful preps for a really hot day. This is a situation where there is plenty of potable water from spigots and drinking fountains available and at least some shade. I have learned to be careful around heat.

In most situations you cant have too much potable water.
10 normall size water bottles is probably more than is sensible to carry at one time though.
In hot or arid conditions it would be prudent to carry some gallons of drinking water in a vehicle, but this might be better in several larger containers rather than numerous regular size water bottles.

As regards owning 10 or more water bottles rather than carrying that many at once, 10 is rather a lot to keep in a row on the shelf.
10 is not that many if you have 2 at work, 2 in each of 2 vehicles, 2 in a bug out kit, and 2 in daily use.

In hurricane country ten 5-gallon bottles is just getting started.

The bottles need to be cleaned and washed periodically. We used to keep the empty bottles in the attic and wash them out at the start of each hurricane season. It's a pain but we used them often enough to stay motivated (hearing that the city sewer plant was five feet underwater discourages tap water use for a while).

I don't remember how many bottles we had.

Agreed. Our "bottles" consist of 30-gallon food quality plastic drums.

I've been edc'ing one in my car...nice to have