Concerns about plastics for water containers

[MarkC]

I seem to remember, maybe 20 years ago, not to use a certain plastic water bottle.  Maybe made with nitrile?  Not sure.  Anyway,  does one have to be careful about the chemical makeup of a water container.  I would like to carry 20 gals of extra drinking water.  Could I safely just pickup some 5 gal plastic gas cans to carry drinking water?  Thinking maybe it would taste bad or cause cancer.  Should I be concerned or over reacting?

[Katjo]

1 minute ago, MarkC said:

I seem to remember, maybe 20 years ago, not to use a certain plastic water bottle.  Maybe made with nitrile?  Not sure.  Anyway,  does one have to be careful about the chemical makeup of a water container.  I would like to carry 20 gals of extra drinking water.  Could I safely just pickup some 5 gal plastic gas cans to carry drinking water?  Thinking maybe it would taste bad or cause cancer.  Should I be concerned or over reacting?

I think it’s pretty controversial on whether water in plastic containers is safe or not. You could always invest in a Berkey. We mostly use filter water from home we put in empty milk containers and also have a few larger containers. 

[Frank C]

We carry one of these 7 gallon AquaTainer containers for extra drinking water.  You can get them from Amazon or at Walmart in the camping section.  As far what type of plastic, just make sure it’s a container specifically labeled for use with potable (drinking) water.  Do not use plastic gas cans for drinking water!  As far as your mention of plastic to avoid, you may be thinking of the concern over the chemical BPA (bisphenol A) that is present in some plastics used for drinking water, usually in polycarbonate bottles.  I had to deal with this issue with regard to plastics in medical applications in my career before retirement.  The AquaTainer is labeled for potable water and also labeled as BPA free.

Reliance Products Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Rigid Water Container https://a.co/d/ezSC0A6

Here’s an article on BPA.  

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bpa/faq-20058331
 

[SeaDawg]

5 gallon gas cans are not only inappropriate,  but probably more expensive than bpa  free 5 gallon water containers.(containers are color coded so people don't make a mistake.)

If you can find them locally, less shipping.

We bought containers like these, locally.

https://www.legacyfoodstorage.com/products/5-gallon-blue-water-tank-stackable-container?variant=19404273418307?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=base&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=1781302546&utm_term=&utm_content=343723866691&gclid=CjwKCAjwlqOXBhBqEiwA-hhitJS9I8x-oVcYtLJw8tSD5NdLh895qJVnQsvASzJTkLizXBe7SFRwdxoCVOUQAvD_BwE

[SeaDawg]

We've had many threads on water storage. 

I'd be careful about reuse of milk and water containers,  unless labeled bpa free. Most are not so labeled. 

There are some really good pitcher filters out there. Not brita, imo. Read the testing results, and decide what you can live with. Change proprietary filters on required basis.

I bought pur plus/ultra for my mom, and us. One of the few that removes lead, and many other contaminants. There are other reasonable and decent choices.

At home, we have an engineered 7 step filtration, plus uv system. 

[John and Debbie]

17 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

5 gallon gas cans are not only inappropriate,  but probably more expensive than bpa  free 5 gallon water containers.(containers are color coded so people don't make a mistake.)

If you can find them locally, less shipping.

We bought containers like these, locally.

https://www.legacyfoodstorage.com/products/5-gallon-blue-water-tank-stackable-container?variant=19404273418307?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=base&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=1781302546&utm_term=&utm_content=343723866691&gclid=CjwKCAjwlqOXBhBqEiwA-hhitJS9I8x-oVcYtLJw8tSD5NdLh895qJVnQsvASzJTkLizXBe7SFRwdxoCVOUQAvD_BwE

How do you clean those?  Seems an odd question since they carry clean water, but I found on bike trips that when I refill my water bottles on a long trip, that eventually they grow stuff on the inside.  With those, I can easily clean them, but with those blue containers, how do you keep stuff from growing inside or how do you clean the inside?

[Frank C]

13 minutes ago, John Welte said:

How do you clean those?  Seems an odd question since they carry clean water, but I found on bike trips that when I refill my water bottles on a long trip, that eventually they grow stuff on the inside.  With those, I can easily clean them, but with those blue containers, how do you keep stuff from growing inside or how do you clean the inside?

I use a bleach & water solution as described in the Ollie manual.  I use this for sanitizing all of the Ollie fresh water system, my fresh water hoses, and my portable containers.  I use the large AquaTainer portable container as the reservoir of the bleach & water solution for drawing it into the boondocking port during the sanitizing process. It’s worked well so far to prevent any problems.  

 

[John E Davies]

I have never sterilized my blue water container, but after use, I dump out the contents, flush it well with chlorinated city water, and store it with the cap off so it dries. It always stays nice inside. If your water comes straight out of the ground, add bleach or treatment tablets. I don’t need these for my Ollie can, but I keep them in my bug out backpack.

http://www.expedition-research.com/shop/tac-h2o-refill-100-aquatab-water-purification-tablets

John Davies

Spokane WA