Hubby and I are disagreeing on major point of water storage...I have read that you do NOT store water in garage around gas fumes...He says it's ok! I need site for official/professional opinion of this...thanks in advance!

-- (nitramd@msn.com), December 28, 1999

Answers

If by gas fumes, you mean that you are storing containers of gasoline in your garage (other than your car) then you are very wrong about one thing - you should not be storing extra gas, coleman fuel, etc. in your house or anything adjoined to your house or where naturally occuring fumes from those containers can be accidentally ignited by things like car ignition, water heater pilots/burners, etc.

As far as keeping your water separate from containers of fuel, I would recommend common sense - if the room is well ventilated and the containers of each are separated by several feet, you are probably ok - I am no expert buy have done so for years without experiencing any obvious problems.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), December 28, 1999.

Check the archives. I'm no pro but I remember reading that if your water is in plastic, petroleum fumes can possibly penetrate the plastic. One question...why do you have gas fumes in your garage? Sounds dangerous to me.

-- (rcarver@inacom.com), December 28, 1999.

You are right. It's not a good idea to store water you're going to drink in the same area as petroleum products, pesticides and other toxic, volatile or strongly odorous products. Most water containers are made of some form of plastic and virtually all plastic is porous to these kinds of odors and fumes to one degree or another. Maybe there won't be enough perfusing through the container into the water to make you sick, it just might only make the water taste bad but why take the chance?

There's a Water Treatment FAQ on the Providence Cooperative web site you might like to take a look at.

.........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), December 28, 1999.