Best Emergency Water Storage Tanks For Self Reliance

By Just In Case Jack |
Last Updated: March 26, 2023

Finding The Perfect Emergency Water Storage Tank

Water is the source of all life on Earth.

Without it, anything living dies.

Without it, there would be no civilizations.

No people, no plants, no animals. No chance of survival.

Nothing but inorganic stone and wind.

Water is the-most-essential resource known to man.

In fact, we’re so dependent on water it can be described as a burdensome necessity. Right?

• Water is heavy
• It’s easily contaminated
• It evaporates over time
• Dehydration kills

My point is water is life. Our daily lives depend on it.

That’s why everyone, whether you’re a prepper or not, should keep a supply of survival water in their house.

When disaster strikes, it often takes out municipal water systems and electricity grids first. Both of which are needed to keep municipal water running. And if that goes down, your access to clean drinkable water goes out the window.

Unless, of course, you have stored water at home.

Buying cases of plastic water bottles or using old milk jugs works, but it’s not the most efficient method.

Soft plastic bottles will leach chemicals over time (especially if exposed to sunlight).

It’s far better to use water storage tanks. These handy aquifers come in all shapes and sizes, so you can pick the right ones to fit your survival needs.

The better ones are designed to hold water without chemical contamination.

Not just that, but they’re easy to refill. And you can rig water storage tanks to collect and filter rainwater to replenish your supply.

So today, we’ll be deep-diving into the following water storage tank topics:

**Note: If you want our top recommendations, feel free to SKIP AHEAD HERE.

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The Coming Water Crisis

There are no two ways about it; the world is facing a water crisis.

The Water Crisis | National Geographic

It may not happen tomorrow or next year, but there’ll be conflicts over freshwater in the future.

In fact, war is simmering on the Indian-Pakistani border over access to fresh water. And water wars will be ugly conflicts.

Humans will fight for any resource; they can’t live more than a week without it.

The same goes for neighborhoods, towns, and cities worldwide. When freshwater becomes scarce, people will fight with their lives for it.

Neighbors turning on neighbors and friends turning on friends to get their hands on some.

But you won’t have to because you’ll have your own supply safe at home, stored safely in your emergency water storage tanks.

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How Much Water Should You Store

The answer to “how much water should I store?” is different for every person.

It’s something that involves many factors:

Are you storing water for just yourself? Or will you be providing water for lots of friends and family members? Do you have any pets?

The more people and animals that need water in your household, the more water you should store.

How long do you want your independent water supply to last?

The average person should drink about 1/2 gallon per day (minimum). That means if you ration it out perfectly, 1 gallon will last you 2 days.

Keep this in mind when shopping for emergency water storage tanks. It will help determine what size/kind of tank you should buy.

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Best Emergency Water Storage Tanks

There are so many different kinds of water tanks out there that it can be overwhelming to find the right one.

Big tanks, small tanks, stackable tanks, underground tanks, packable tanks, pillow tanks, etc.

The list is almost endless, but here are the most popular options on the market.

So here’s a list of the best prepper water storage tanks – from smallest to largest.

Hard-Sided Plastic Stackables

These are another common water storage option and are particularly useful because they store so well.

Designed to stack neatly on top of open another, you can build a “wall of water” in your basement.

If you add enough of these up, you get the equivalent of a large water storage tank with added portability and space-saving flexibility.

But, if stored properly, there’s less risk of these problems (so long as you occasionally replace your water) – we’ll hit details on this later.

5-Gallon Waer Container – Stackable

Water Brick Stackable Water Storage Container Review

Drinking Water Barrels

Sure, these are technically called “barrels” and not “tanks,” but they serve a similar purpose – storing lots of emergency drinking water.

These are the standard-issue blue plastic barrels that are popular for water storage. They are simple and effective; that’s why they’re so popular.

55 Gallon Water Barrel | Long Term Emergency Water Storage

Water Bladder Storage Tanks

Much like the bladder inside of you, these are stretchable bag containers. They fill up like balloons when filled with water.

One important feature of a water bladder is when they’re empty; you can easily pack them in for travel.

Water Storage Tank Bladder Aquatank 2 Video

Hard-Sided Enclosed Plastic Water Storage Tanks and Cisterns

You need to have space outside for one of these, but it’s a huge advantage to use a cistern system for two main reasons.

1. They store A LOT of water (often hundreds of gallons worth).
2. They can be rigged with rainwater collection systems for ongoing replenishment.

Emergency Water Storage: WaterPrepared Water Tanks

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Connecting A Rain Water Collection System

Refilling your water storage tanks can be a pain, especially if you’re in a position where freshwater isn’t readily available.

How can you re-up your water supply when there’s no running water to use?

Well, the most obvious (and most natural) way to do that is via a rain collection system!

In most places, drinkable water falls straight out of the sky. Don’t waste that resource!

Collecting rainwater is an incredible survival practice. And it’s straightforward too.

There are a few core principles to keep in mind when you start planning how to set up your collection system:

1. The more surface area your system has, the more water it will collect.
2. Water that’s collected must be transported efficiently.
3. Water that is transported gets filtered.

When it comes down to it, a roof is probably the best rain collection you have. Every house has one, covering a large surface area to catch the falling rain.

You can turn your roof into a water collection tool with a simple gutter system. Collecting the water that falls on it is funneled into one place: your water storage tank.

Now, this works a lot better if you have a large outdoor water storage tank or a series of water storage tanks.

Then you can direct your gutter system to move water directly into your tank.

Make Rainwater Collection Tank System

Note: Transporting water to an inside storage location is not only complicated, but it’s also risky. If something malfunctions, you could find yourself facing some serious flooding.

Tarp Rainwater Collection

If you don’t have access to a roof, you can still rig a rain collection system using other materials.

Survival tarps are particularly useful for this. They are waterproof, light, packable, and offer lots of surface area.

Tie up three of the four corners of the tarp, and use the third corner to funnel water into your water storage tank.

You can also tie up all four corners and cut a small hole in the center. Place your storage tank under the hole, and water will spout out of the hole directly into the tank.

Rain Collection – Quick Deploying Rain Catchment System

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Maintaining Your Water Storage Tanks

Fortunately, maintaining your drinking water storage tanks is straightforward.

Once you’ve filled them up and stashed them somewhere safe, you’ve already done most of the hard work. However, this is one major issue you might need to overcome.

Preventing Freezing

The best place to store water to prevent freezing is in a garage or basement area. Water stored outside is prone to freezing.

That’s bad news for two reasons.

1. You can’t drink frozen water.
2. It will expand when it freezes, damaging your emergency water storage tanks.

Storing water inside can be tricky, too, though. You should elevate the storage tank(s) on a palette so they are up off the ground.

And regularly check for leakage as that could cause flood water damage inside your home.

Preventing Emergency Water Storage Tanks From Freezing

You have a big issue if you store water outside and live in colder regions.

There are a few options to keep your liquid water from freezing.

You can bury the cistern, keeping the water at underground temperatures above freezing if you go down far enough.

Or you can wrap your tank in insulation and then use some thick plastic (used for greenhouses) to trap solar rays helping to keep your water above freezing temps.

But this still won’t work on long cold stretches on cloudy days.

So you may also need to add a tank heater as well.

The bottom line is:

You need to have a plan to prevent your water storage tank from turning into a massive ice cube. 

How to keep your water tank from freezing

BONUS: Keep Water Purification Around

Even if you’re using water straight out of the tap, you still need water purification.

Too many people trust their water supplies – it’s a dangerous mistake.

Water purification allows you to collect water from external, natural sources safely.

That means you can collect water from streams, lakes, or rainfall all for general use. That is particularly useful when water lines go out.

Without tap water, you’ll have to fill your emergency water storage tanks with water from somewhere else. This is dangerous if you don’t have the means to purify it.

Some of the best purification methods are simple. Water purification tablets are my personal favorite because they are cheap and easy to use.

Some fancy new ultraviolet filters use light waves to kill all biotic life. But these are only used for smaller amounts of water.

Here’s our post on all your water purification options.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t matter what kind of disaster you are in; clean, safe water is a survival necessity. Any prepper checklist that doesn’t include water storage is lacking.

So make sure you have some kind of emergency water storage tank or water storage containers on hand, full and ready to use.

Without proper water storage, you can consider yourself part of the unprepared masses, or you can protect your family’s future with a water storage tank system.

Will Brendza

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