This might be a silly question but I need to know. My sister and I both have cats and a lot of accumulated 2 gallon (or thereabouts) white plastic jugs from scoopable kitty litter. They have a number 2 in a triangle on the bottom. They don't appear rigid or safe enough for kerosene but would they be good for storing water? We don't have big tanks & we don't know how to tell if a jug is food-grade. The litter they held is just clay. Thanks for any insight.

-- Scat (sgcatique@webtv.net), May 31, 1999

Answers

Hi Scat,

Keep them.. Even if they are not good for drinking water use them for

all the other water needed around the place. I have containers for

200 gal of what I call waste water. Any container is good for this.

Use it to wash up, cleaning and others. You don't want to use you

trinking water for this.

-- Rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), May 31, 1999.

Good evening Scat:

It seems water is a very important issue to you, as it should be. If you could tell us your general area of the country, perhaps we can be of some relevant help to you and your sister.

I would be very cautious about storage of and item you will be consuming later. If there is indeed a need to use the stored item, then things will probably be bad in many areas, including medical attention.

These scoop able cat liter containers must have some other ingredients in it besides clay, but since I no longer have a cat, I can't say for sure. It would follow though, that if you can afford the more expensive liter, then you should be able to make adjustments that will provide you with the extra money to buy bottled water or water treatment items.

PS I hope you weren't offended by my answer to your antifreeze question, You must realize that there are many people that listen here. Bad guesses could be harmful or fatal to someone else, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that. So please stick to those things you either are very confident about or need help on OK? {;>) (smile)

Peace be with you

-- unspun@lright (mikeymac@uswest.net), May 31, 1999.

Thanks, Rickjohn.

unspun, asking a question does not mean one is an unprepared dummy. Of course I have stored bottled water & treated tap water. My sister in another state and I just wondered what we could use our jugs for if they're non-food grade & presumably they are. We have to be creative.

PS - Having cats myself, of course I was aware of the dangers of antifreeze to animals - my cats don't get in the sink - but not of its inappropriateness for drains. Frozen burst pipes are no picnic & I saw that idea on another site. I'm not confident of very much these days - who is? - but I'm cured of posting answers. You forgot the Hmmmm? after the OK?

-- Scat (sgcatique@webtv.net), May 31, 1999.

Scat, on the antifreeze problem, There are special antifreezes made for RV water systems. They are safe to use in your house. I don't know if the kitty litter jugs are safe for drinking, but I am saving everything I can. We will need a lot of water for washing and toilet flushing. I intend to fill everything I can find.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), June 01, 1999.

I bought a little wading pool for my grandson. It is about 10 feet in diameter. So using 3.141596 x R squared x 1 foot high wall, I figure I should have about 75 cubic feet of water storage for the toilets. Since a cubic foot holds approximately 7 gallons, this simple solution should provide my family at least 500 gallons of water storage. Toilet flushing will be minimized.

I am glad I am on my own septic system instead of a public sewage system that might back up into my house if the electrical power goes out for a long time.

If you are on public sewage, buy a metallic pipe screw on cap or ball valve or anti-backup valve now to cap off the exit pipet from your home and dig a latrine. You do not want your neighbor's sewage backing up into your home. Especially if you are at a lower elevation than them.

I'll set the pool up in my garage in mid December, fill it then from the hose and keep the garage door closed.. I'll divert rainfall from my roof's gutter downspot into the wading pool to keep the pool filled if necessary. I'll support and keep the sides of the pool from collapsing outwards with my cases of canned food. Freezing should not be a serious problem where I live. I will use my multiple 50 gallon plastic blue barrels for storing drinking water with bleach additives.

I am also buying a new set of 45 gallon $20 RubberMaid gargage cans (my current ones are pretty gross like yours.) I bought a 100 bag case of 56 gallon FDA-approved clear plastic pages from United States Plastic Corporation (800-537-9724 and www.usplastic.com). They are item #6724 and cost about $60 for the 100 bags. I will line my new and current garbage cans with bags and store 40 gallons of water in each.

I also intend to give the bags to my DGI neighbors so they can also store water in their gross garbage cans and not beg me for water.

Ron

-- Ron Sander (judy_sander@hotmail.com), June 02, 1999.