A Water Storage Idea

A Water Storage Idea


This is one of those things that will work for some folks and others will think it is a dumb idea. All I can say is that it works for me.

Long story so bear with me. Several years ago between my son and I we found three deposit tickets for Primo water jugs. In this area the stores have a rack of three and five gallon water jugs that they sell for $6 for the three and $7 for the five gallon jugs. I had several empty jugs from a bottle water company in the area that was cheaper than the Primo so I bought three five gallon jugs and stored them away for emergency water.

I got home from work one afternoon several years ago when we still lived in town and found that the city had post a boil water advisory on our neighborhood doors. I broke out one of the jugs and we used it for everything except showers for the next few days. It worked great and the one drawback was it took two people to draw water, one to tip the heavy jug and one to hold the receptacle.

A few weeks ago I finished building a storage rack/ bunk bed in the basement and decided that I wanted to add more water jugs to the supplies. My son was home on leave and needed to run some errands in the old town so I drove and we got to chat for a while. Before we left I dug out the old tickets for deposit and decided to pick up the three jugs they would allow me to get.

We loaded them in the cart and took them to the counter to pay. I handed the lady the three tickets and $21. She tried and tried to ring it up but the computer scanner would not take the tickets. She took off for the office and my son went out to check the machine that accepts empty jugs to see what it said about the tickets.

The lady returned with a new ticket and explained that the ones I had were very old. I just said we don’t go through a lot of water fast and let it go at that. My son returned and flashed several tickets at me from behind his palm. We had one of those family conversations with just our eyes and he put the tickets in his pocket.

The lady finally got the tickets read into the scanner and handed me my change. We put the jugs in the truck and headed home. My son pulled out the tickets and counted ten of them. They had been sticking out of the machine when he walked up to it and no one was anywhere around the machine.

I gave several of the tickets to Tonto for his use and have some here for Toolman next time I see him. Each of us will have some nice clear clean water stored away for a time of need.

Seven dollars a jug is not unreasonable for a jug of water and a lot better than the $14 it would have cost with deposit. Yes you can store rinsed out bottles and use camping jugs, and buy small bottles and yada, yada, yada. I know all that. What I did works for me. The jugs store well, can be divided up so each family member has one to take with them if needed. I can make sure the animals have water without having to run it through my filters and extend their life.

You may check a machine for months before you find a deposit ticket, or you may find a bunch the first time like we did. If you do you can buy some water and store it away. It is just an option open to you to try.

Yes, I wish we could have traded in those tickets for the cash value. We could have bought a lot of food with $70, but the store only uses the tickets for deposit, no cash value. Having good drinking water is a high priority and this is one way you might accomplish that. Check it out and see if it works for you.

Wolverine


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