Regarding water storage, you need to decide what are your constraints and your priorities. Where you live and the ease of gathering water is something to consider as mentioned by another post. What kind of space do you have to work with in storing? Those are the two big things that played into my decisions on water storage. Storing pallets of bottled water might be the "nicest" way to go because of how useful bottled water is in normal life and would be for needing to be mobile. But its not very practical for most due to how much space would be required to store enough for an extended supply for a family. Having many 5-6 gal jugs is another great way to go if you have the space. Its easy to rotate these, use them on vehicle camping trips, and they are mobile if bugging out in a vehicle. Again, for me to have 30-60 day supply for my family required a lot of them and I don't have the space/shelving necessary to accomplish it. The next option like a previous poster said would be to just have a few containers and a very high volume and high quality filtration system. This is an option if you have a nearby reliable water source to fill from. I live in a high altitude desert so this isn't a great option for me, a river is about a mile away but it is a river that runs through large metro city/valley so the traffic around it given a utility limiting scenario would be unreal. So that left me with wanting mass storage options. 55 gal blue/white food grade barrels are abundant and cheap in my area. At $15-25 a piece they are a very economical way to put a few hundred gallons away in a hurry. I was about to do this but space again became an issue, they take up a lot of floor space. Having cold harsh winters I couldn't put them in my uninsulated and detached garage because if "it" happened in the winter we would have ice blocks not water and I don't want the added security risk/exposure of my wife needing to go out to the garage regularly for just water. My basement room could not accomodate 4-6 of these on the floor. Alas, I felt forced to get a large vertical tank that took up minimal floor space AND could fit through doors and in my basement with low ceilings:
This tank is 250 gallons. As you can see it has 2 spouts, one for draining and one at 5 gal bucket level. The brass fittings use a ball valve with a removable key so the kids can't decide to flood the basement. The neatest spec on this unit is that it is an oval or ellyptical shape with the narrow diameter being 29" which allows it to fit through standard inside door frames. So I was able to get a 250 gal vertical tank in my small old home. With a family of 4 that is 60+ days of water. That's a nice buffer of time before I have to go out and scrounge for the most important substance for healthy survival. I have some 5 gallon jugs and a filter too for later on.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." Thomas Paine
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