My uncle the prepper told me to store water in glass jugs, not plastic

He said plastic would leach chemicals after 5 years in my 80 degree garage. I thought he was being paranoid so I went with the cheap 5 gallon blue jugs from the grocery store. Last month I popped one open to refill my go bag and the water tasted like a pool toy mixed with gasoline. Drained all 12 of them and switched to the big glass carboys from a local winery supply place, cost me about $60 total. Has anyone else had plastic containers go bad on them after a few years?

2 comments

2 Comments

haydenbutler27d ago

Man that's rough but honestly I'm not surprised. I've seen the same thing happen with those blue jugs after a couple years in hot storage. The plastic gets brittle and starts leeching all kinds of weird stuff into the water. What temp would you say your garage actually hits in the summer? I've heard even 90 degrees can speed up the breakdown way faster than people realize.

the_rose27d ago

man idk i feel like people overhype this kind of stuff. i've had the same blue jugs sitting in my garage for like 5 years and they're fine. no weird taste or anything. plus half the water we drink comes out of plastic bottles anyway if you think about it. 90 degrees ain't that serious either, garages hit like 100+ some days in the south and i'm still alive lol. maybe there's some science behind it but it's not like your water turns into poison overnight.