Before you pay $141 for a water barrel, consider the following:

Grizzly.com H3027 Drum Dolly w/Handle $42.95
US Plastic.com 74101 55 gal Blue Delcon (R) Closed-Head Drum $65.61
usplastic.com 180126 Aluminum drum wrench $13.55

These are the exact sources / part#s I used. I'm happy with them all.

Drum goes on the dolly, I made a little "pocket" for the wrench so it is attached, and also a little pocket from a Ziplock which contains slip of paper in marker with the date filled, how treated, etc. Then, I put a big plastic bag over the top of the whole thing to keep dust off.

Then, I have it lashed to the garage wall and foundation to keep it from moving around in case of an earthquake.

Improvements needed: Pump and hose should be also be attached to the barrel for easy access under the plastic cover.

As one of the previous posters suggested, more than one in different locations would be best.

Personally, I think the best bet would be two get full sets of gear (wrenches, hoses, dollys) and keep them together. No sense trying to figure out where that hose went or where that wrench went IMO. And getting these onto the dollys after they are filled would be quite the endeavor.

-john

EDIT: BTW, that Nitro-Pak Preparedness Center sounds a bit fishy to me. They claim it is so expensive due to shipping. Perhaps. But I paid $30.17 shipping for this drum on 7/17/06 (don't recall the method it came) from USPlastics. They also go on to whine about the cost of plastic. Well, USPlastics still charges the same $65.61 they did on 7/17/06. USPlastics online shipping estimator says shipping will be $31.27, about a dollar more than last order. Draw your own conclusions.