Long term water storage

[Timblade]

I have been stocking up on food for a survival or power outage-type situation, but I know water is more important than food in many situations. It suddently occurred to me that I should probably be utilizing the copious amount of plastic, 2 liter, soda bottles that abound from the caffeine habit that my wife and I support to store water when we can. I read somewhere that, when stored out ouf sunlight, these plastic bottles are great for storing water. So my question is, what is the best thing to treat them with when I fill them, or should I just store them as is, and treat them upon opening if necessary? I'm guessing that bleach would be fine to treat it with if there is any doubt. I have also read that aerating the water, by pouring back and forth between two containers, can also improve the taste and quality. Does anyone have any suggestions for what else to do when storing water in this way, or how long the shelf life usually is for ordinary tap water?
Thanks.

 

[knarfeng]

Here, rather than trusting my memory, I looked up a good reference for you on water storage. (I keep a 55-gal poly drum in the garage in case of earthquake, but I forgot what the bleach ratio was.)

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/fn_food_safety_2006-01pr.pdf

 

[kage]

The standards of most city's water treatment is much higher than what you find from the bottled water companies. If your water is properly treated you should need to treat it further.

If you are using questionable clean water, it's recommended that you treat each gallon with 8 drops of bleach, wait 30 minutes and smell it. If there is no bleach smell then treat it again. If you are using dirty water then double the bleach amount (16 drops), wait 30 minutes and smell it. No bleach smell, then repeat.

Hope this helps.