Long term water stroage in PVC?

S

Siggyhk

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Feb 8, 2006
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Not sure if I should have put this in the gear section, but figured I might get better advice here.

I recently bought 4 five gallon "water" jugs from Walmart. I thought the price was right, so I went with it. Got the home, washed them out, of course removed the stickers like a genius, and started filling them. Then I flipped one over and noticed it was made in Mexico. I should have expected that (or China), but thought, "that might not be good". I noticed they say they're for water only, and noticed the recycle symbol = "3". I realize this is a PVC made product.

Is this safe to use for long term water storage? If so, should I add small amounts of bleach to the water due to the potential long term nature I intend of this water (I've heard this is recomended). -Or did I just waste my money on 4 jugs that will poison me?

As a possible alternative I have some storage bins marked "5". Would this be a more or less safe alternative? Thanks for any help, -Joe
 
I would add the bleach and keep some buy it if and when you ever have to access it? But I am no expert
 
Those are fine. Do you not drink from bottles, cans, or canned at all? If you do, you're being exposed to chemicals. Your computer is exposing you to electromagnetic radiation as we speak. As for bleach, I don't believe there is any water storage solution that doesn't involve a little bleach. By law, most tap water contains at least some residual chlorine. The minimum may vary state to state. It will be fine in those containers though you may want to dump and refill the containers ever year or so for taste as the containers are slightly permeable. So don't store them in a tool shed that sits in the sun all day next to your lawnmower and gasoline cans.
 
Hello,

PVC is fine, I have 5 20litre pvc containers in my emergency closet filled with water. Pvc wont poison you. I add a little bit of bleach to all my containers when I fill them and I empty and refill them once a year. its that simple, my containers are about 4 years old now and still fine. I will say go easy on the bleach, 5 drops per litre or a teaspoon per 20 litres
 
I'm also interested in this question, will the bleach attack or break down the PVC?
 
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