That was my thought as well when I bought mine. I'll be buying new or carefully chosen used ones (like soft drink mix) for drinking water. I'll be buying regular used ones for storing rain water in for washing and stuff.

Agreed.

I see those totes (caged tanks) all the time at work. Nasty, nasty chems come in them.

The caged tanks bring all sorts of stuff to "market", as stated select carefully, usually if they were food grade the packaging may/should be left on them before you purchase, so you will know what was likely in them.


Ironwood

Using MILK jugs for storing water to water houseplants is safe but the stored water is NOT potable. My understanding is that milk proteins get adsorbed into the plastic and make a great place to store microbes. Once plastic sees milk, the jug can't be used for long term storage of water.

Thanks.
Conway Yee

I hadn't thought of that, Conway. I have read that regarding the translucent 1-gallon jugs, but wasn't sure if that also applies to the larger food grade HDPE containers we're talking about in this thread. I suppose the thickness of the plastic doesn't matter when we're talking about residues on the surface of the plastic.

By the way, if anyone hasn't heard about not re-using milk or fruit juice jugs as Conway is mentioning, you can read about it in this FEMA manual. Just search for "milk" and it'll be the third reference.

the milk thing is new to me,because we just reuse milk jugs for house plant water i never looked into that.

I am liking the idea of getting a big water storage tank. Used ones make me nervous, though, even if the seller states they were only used for food or other harmless liquid. What if they're lying? I am too nervous about something that stored some terrible chemical, or toxic waste, or was someone's porta-potti...

I found an outfit in my town that carries all kinds of barrels, and those giant palletized totes, new and used. I may go pay them a visit.

David