Deliberate Water Storage, Part 2

Building an Elevated Water Tank
for hand washing (ca 2010)
source
The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance

A couple of weeks ago, I gave you some tips on Deliberate Water Storage. I would like to add some more information.

First, any #1 or #2 plastic beverage bottle will work; color doesn't matter. As you can see in the picture to the left, I have three soda bottles, two water bottles, and one Gatorade bottle.


Next, if you can, use only clear plastic beverage bottles. I know, I just said any color will work. That's true.

But

A clear beverage bottle will allow you to easily see the water in the bottle. When a bottle of water is exposed to light, any light, algae will start to grow. The algae will give the water a light green tint. In a green or blue bottle, you won't notice the water change color.

Next, I used a clean 48 quart cooler to disinfect my containers. First, I washed the cooler with soap and water, rinsed really well with tap water then filled with tap water. Next, I added 12 tablespoons of bleach, since 48 quarts equals 12 gallons.

If you are using your sink to disinfect bottles, you need to wash the sink with soap and water first, rinse, then fill with water and add bleach. Just like above, but watch your amount of chlorine.

Remember, 16 drops of bleach for each gallon of water.

After you make up the sterilizing solution, you need to submerge the bottles and caps (don't forget the caps) in the bleach water for 30-minutes. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the bottles. Air bubbles will allow microorganisms to survive. Yes, this includes the little itty bitty bubbles that seem to form after you have walked away because you have better things to do then look at bottles soaking in a bleach solution.

This

Not This

Next, a full five-gallon container will weigh 40 pounds (18 kg). You will need an adult or an older teen to carry it from place to place. A 2-liter bottle only weighs 4 pounds (2 kg), so a child could carry the bottle for you.

In the above photo, there are three 5-gallon containers, two jugs and one bucket. The blue jug has a neat feature. It has a spigot that is stored inside the cap, but there is a problem with the design. The cap has a recess that allows dirt and dust to collect in the cap.

To stop the possible contamination of the cap/spigot from dirt and dust, I placed some tape over the recess in the cap.

Lastly, you are going to need something to remove the water from your jugs and/or buckets because a full jug is hard to empty when it is full.

The pump on the left; I bought from Walton Feed for about $13. (You have to download the catalog then search for "pump") The pump on the right; I bought from our local farm and home store for about $3.00.