Kit · Water

Water storage barrel

For the household case, where the question is days rather than litres carried.

The jerry can is for carrying. This is for keeping.

For a household, the useful planning figure is not what you can lift but how many days you can go. Drinking water is a small part of it: cooking from dried goods needs water, and washing needs more than either. A single 20 litre container covers drinking for a few days and runs out immediately once you are also rehydrating pulses and washing up.

Stackable and rigid. Barrels that stack are the only ones that make sense at this size, because floor space is the constraint in a garage or under stairs. Check the footprint stacks squarely rather than balancing.

A tap or a pump matters more than you think. Twenty-five litres is heavy enough that tipping it accurately over a pan is a two-person job and a spill waiting to happen. Buy the tap at the same time and check the thread matches.

Rotate it. Stored water is not sterile and does not keep indefinitely. Mark the fill date, empty and refill on a schedule, and keep it dark and cool, since light is what lets algae grow. If it has been standing a long time, treat it as a source to be treated rather than as tap water.

Food grade, and never a container that previously held anything else.

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Last reviewed 18 September 2026. Specifications and availability change and we do not track them, so check the listing against what is described here.