just wanted to give some helpfull tips in extending your water supply. 1st. tip with water that you have reseved for cleaning, you should buy a new boss or similar type sprayer. these are used normally for spraying bugs or applying chemicals. Buy 2 of these one from washing dishes the other one you will modify slighthly for showering. this will save a large amount of water when cleaning. 2nd tip keep several 1 litter soda bottles cleaned and ready to use on day one to serve as a water ration guide from day one of the break down. This way you will be able to control excessive water waste. god bless everyone here. Prepare well it won't be business as usual. y2k aware mike

-- y2k aware group (water@conservation.com), February 06, 1999

Answers

What I would like to find out is regarding the durability of plastic gallon water containers. Everyone seems to warn against reusing plastic milk containers. Well, I recycle those. I have been purchasing plastic gallons of drinking water, currently a buy-one- get-one-free deal at a local grocery store, and I haven't been convinced these water gallon jugs are dangerously biodegradable. I bought one last year for 25 cents from my sister, a Wal*Martian, and I refilled it MANY times for almost a year, storing it in my refrigerator whenever I needed some cold water during the hot summer. It NEVER leaked. At that time I had not considered that it was prone to leakage. I simply used it again and again. How can it be THAT biodegradable? The fresh plastic gallons of water which I purchased this week have an expiration date of DEC99. Since this is the month of February, I assume the company which sells this drinking water knows that its product will last longer than six months. The point is, these plastics used in the manufacture of milk and water are the same. Are plastic water containers as bad as plastic milk containers even though they have not milk fat?

-dinosaur

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), February 06, 1999.

Just to echo Dinosaur:

How long will the water in plastic jugs and bottles stay good before the plastic leaks into them?

-- Water Woman (water@please.com), February 06, 1999.

Buy a kiddie pool this summer. When showering stand in the pool and use the wastewater to water your garden. Keep a 5 gal bucket near to pour the wastewater into. Then during the winter, place the pool under the gutter spout for water collection. Keep extra patches handy in case your pool springs a leak.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), February 06, 1999.

Been using 1 gal plastic water jugs for years to store winter water. When winter storms knock out power we use this water to flush toilet etc. Have reused many of these bottles for several years. Melted snow on woodstove for drinking, cooking. Could've gone to Love Creek for water but who wants to work?

If left to sunshine plastic bottles break down fairly quick.

-- Freeman (freeman@cali.com), February 06, 1999.

Plastic water bottles aren't that sturdy. I've had a few spring a leak and had to discard them. The best place to store water in reused water jugs is in a cool dark spot. If your worried about contamination you can always boil it.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), February 06, 1999.

"How long will the water in plastic jugs and bottles stay good before the plastic leaks into them?

-- Water Woman"

Based on the taste? 1 day. I use plastic soda-bottles to take water to work (carbon-filtered from sink at home). After 1 day, the water tastes like plastic. Terrible.

How does soda last so long in plastic bottles? Is the taste so strong we don't notice the plastic?

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous.com), February 07, 1999.

Russ Kelly Link

-- - (-@-.com), February 13, 1999.