Water in a tote, done safely

Two kinds of water, two kinds of tote

Water in a tote is either for people or for everything else. The first needs a bottle with no chemical history, a closed system and a plan to change the water on schedule. The second can live in a rinsed or reconditioned tote, as long as it is screened against mosquitoes and kept out of the sun. Most of the confusion about tote water comes from treating the two as one.

CDC advises keeping at least a gallon of water per person per day for several days, and says to avoid containers that held toxic chemicals, preferring food-grade ones. UF/IFAS Extension says stored rainwater is not for drinking. Those two sentences set most of what follows.

The weight of what you are asking the ground to carry

Water weighs about 8.3 pounds a gallon. A full 275 gallon tote holds about 2,300 pounds of water, and a 330 gallon tote about 2,750, before you add the weight of the bottle, cage and pallet. Set it on a level, compacted base or a slab, never on soft sod, a wooden deck or a raised platform not built for the load. A tote that settles on one side can crack a fitting or tip.

South Florida in the calendar

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and the same months are the wet season, when rain catchment fills fastest and mosquitoes breed hardest. A tote that is full of drinking water in June should be changed by December. A rain tote should be screened before the first heavy rain, not after.

Choosing between a tote, jugs and a cistern

Households ask which store to build. Jugs are the cheapest and the most portable, hold a few gallons each, and are easy to replace; they suit drinking water for a small household. A tote holds a few hundred gallons in one place; it suits utility water, rain and gardens. A cistern is a permanent tank, expensive and often buried; it suits a property with a large roof and a long-term plan. Most households do best with jugs for drinking and a tote for the rest. A condo owner without a yard is limited to jugs. A grower with an acre may want three totes and a pump. A boat owner wants a tote on the dock and jugs aboard.

A simple household water plan on one page

Write down who lives in the home, what each person needs per day, how many days you want to cover and where the water will sit. Multiply, then add a quarter for waste. Choose containers for drinking and containers for everything else. Pick the spots. Mark the dates for rotation on a calendar, beginning with the fill date. Share the plan with a neighbor, since the neighbor may hold a spare tote or a pump. Keep this page with your hurricane papers and update it each May, when the season is about to open.

Common mistakes in the first month

People fill a tote in a sunny corner and meet algae by July. They leave the cap loose and meet mosquitoes. They forget the overflow and meet a wet wall. They set the tote on grass and meet a tilted cage. They buy a tote before measuring the gate. Each of these is easy to avoid, and the pages linked above show how, one problem at a time.

Where to read more

Each guide below covers one decision in more detail: collecting rain, riding out a storm, keeping water fresh, mosquitoes, sunlight and local rules. Read the one that matches the question in front of you and ignore the rest for now.