I'm always looking for ways to improve my preps and today I hit upon idea that I thought I'd share.
Many of us live in a suburban environment and have curb side pickup of garbage and recycling. I manage my own recycling by taking it to a senior citizens center but I do have a tote for automated collection (sorry, they aren't garbage cans anymore). This is the kind I have:
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...automation.jpg
This is a 65 gallon tote with lid and I thought that's a lot of water storage. For my wife and I using the prerequisite 1 gallon per day per person that's over 32 days of water storage. The problem I ran into however was a small handle that installed through the front.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water1.jpg
Those are tamper proof bolts. Luckily, they aren't THAT tamper proof. Enter the bolt cutters.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water2.jpg
I cut one side off and that allowed me to remove the handle bar.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water3.jpg
that, of course, left a inch diameter hole in both sides. You can only see one in this picture but there is another to the right.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water4.jpg
The solution was to simply plug the holes. To do that I used two (2) - 2 inch fender washers, two (2) - 2 inch flat washers, a 1/4 X 1 1/4 round head bolt and nut per hole. I also teflon taped the bolt so water wouldn't leak around the threads.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water5.jpg
About 30 minutes later the holes are plugged and the tote is being tested.
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water6.jpg
And no leaks!!
http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q...one/water7.jpg
Granted, it's a trash can, not food grade plastic and my water hose is not a food grade hose but if you are in a position that you know loosing water is a good possibility then the short term use of a tote might make sense. Wash it out, place it in the garage, fill it up and close the lid. 30+ days of water for two people.
If you have a similar sized recycle tote then do both and extend the number of days or give yourself 30 days worth of water for four people.
Hurricane preparations, drought/heat or construction work resulting in water being turned off all lend themselves to using a tote for storage. The nice thing is it's not taking up any room since you already have it. Just add it to the water storage you already have. I have two 50 gallons tanks outside, a 50 gallon water heater, approximately 50 gallons in each bath tub, 10 gallons in storage containers and 10 gallons in water coolers. That's 270 gallons. I just added another 65 gallons for a total of 335 gallons or a 19.5% increase in storage. That's 167.5 days of water for my wife and I or 28 days for my entire family.
You can get by with shorter bolts but I happened to have those handy so I used them. I did price the parts at Ace Hardware and the whole thing for one tote is $5.56. Pretty cheap preps!
