TIL storing tap water in soda bottles works better than my old method of buying cases of bottled water

Back in the spring I had a shelf full of those gallon jugs from the store for blackouts. Then a neighbor told me after a storm last June she just reuses 2-liter soda bottles with tap water. I cleaned out three old bottles with hot soapy water, filled them up, and put them in my basement last week. They take up way less space than those square jugs and I saved about 12 bucks. Has anyone else tried this and had the water go bad over time?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.xena11d agoTop Commenter

Doubt the tap water's gonna grow anything nasty in there.

xenagarcia11d ago

Have you actually tried leaving tap water in a sealed container for a few months? In my experience, that stuff definitely can grow things. I used to keep emergency water in old juice jugs and after about six months I noticed a weird smell and some cloudy stuff floating around. I switched to those clear 5-gallon camping jugs from the hardware store and rotate them out every 3 months now, and haven't had any issues. Adding a few drops of unscented bleach like that other person mentioned helped too when I had to store some for longer. Your mileage may vary but I learned the hard way that tap water isn't as sterile as you'd think once it sits around.

kai91411d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on that a little. Tap water does have chlorine and other stuff in it that keeps it safe, but once you put it in an old soda bottle and seal it up, those chemicals break down over time. Ngl, I've seen bottles get that greenish slime on the sides after a few months just sitting in a dark closet. Plus those soda bottles are thin plastic designed for carbonated drinks, not long term storage, so they can get brittle and leak. Tbh, if you're gonna do this, rotate them out every couple months or add a few drops of bleach to keep things stable.