If I fill milk jugs with tap water and cap them how long will the water stay drinkable?!
Answers: I'm stocking my storm shelter and was going to recycle milk jugs instead of buying jugs of water.
I did some digging and here is what I found....
Any food-grade plastic or glass containers can be used for storing water, provided that they have been completely cleaned. Some examples include two-liter soda bottles, water, juice, and punch or milk jugs.
Wash your container(s) with hot soapy water. Next, rinse the soapy container well with plain water. Then sanitize by rinsing with a solution of 1/2 teaspoon of chlorine bleach per pint of water. Finally, rinse with clean water. If water is to be stored in used plastic milk jugs, special care must be taken to clean, sanitize and rinse the inside handle area to remove any residue.
Empty bleach containers should never be used for two reasons. First, they are not food-grade containers and a young child may not be able to understand that some bleach bottles are safe to drink out of and others are not.
It is not necessary to treat water for storage, providing the water comes from a safe water supply. All public water supplies are already treated and should be free of harmful germs. If stored properly, this water should have an indefinite shelf life. But you may want to rotate and replace this water every 6-12 months with fresh safe water. Water that might be contaminated should be boiled for 10 minutes before storage. Water from untested and untreated water supplies, such as a farm pond or private well, should be purified and treated before storage.
Make sure you clearly mark all containers "drinking water", with the current date and store the tightly capped containers in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Containers should be stored in cabinets or on shelves that will not tip over or allow the containers to fall off and break as a result of any type of natural disaster. To improve the taste of "safe" water stored for a long time, pour from one clean container to another clean container, several times. Another method of storing water for an extended period of time is to freeze it. Freezing water will allow you to store it in a safe state, and use it, as you need it. If you should ever lose electricity, the frozen water will also help keep the foods in your freezer frozen until power is restored. Make sure you leave enough head space in containers before freezing (2-3 inches). This will help prevent the containers from spilling and breaking. One problem with freezing the family water supply is you will use up a lot of freezer space. Purify them before filling them by using a gallon or so solution of 50/50 pure bleach and water. Rinse the barrel once, but do not worry about the bleach remaining in the barrel. It will help purify your water.
unrefrigerated.....not real long.
Wash and rinse your recycle milk jugs properly , untill really clean..
Boil your tap water ( if you can ), wait until cold before you pour to the jugs ..
You can use your water anytime .. (more than 1 month)
~~ take care .. !!
If the milk jugs are clean and the water is free from organic impurities, the water would remain drinkable indefinately. Water doesn't spoil.
If the Milk jugs are washed properly maybe 2 or 3 weeks
Assuming that you sanitized the jugs ; a couple of years .If worse comes to worse just add 8 drops of household bleach per gallon to the water before you drink it.
The problem with plastic is that on a microscopic level it's porous so the little buggers can get in.
did you wash them and use boiling water to rinse?? (sterilized)
years..!!
OH check the there is a triangle and PETE embossed on the bottom...
Just remember to use warm water instead of hot to wash them because the plastic will melt and shrink.