Large water storage, but easily accessible?

[Bettacreek]

Our water here sucks. It always tastes stale, no matter how fresh and cold it is. I assume it is because of all of the missing minerals from being "recycled" city water. So, I've been thinking, we've got enough untainted mountain streams around that we could collect mountain water for our drinking purposes. How would I go about storing this without making it taste like plastic, having a million bottles around the house or spending a fortune on storage containers? Should I worry about sterilizing the water? I've never worried about it before, we had a well in the spring growing up, and I've always drank "crick water". Probably have some mind-sucking parasites from it now, lol. Anyways, should I boil it before storing?

 

[MorelCabin]

Our water here sucks. It always tastes stale, no matter how fresh and cold it is. I assume it is because of all of the missing minerals from being "recycled" city water. So, I've been thinking, we've got enough untainted mountain streams around that we could collect mountain water for our drinking purposes. How would I go about storing this without making it taste like plastic, having a million bottles around the house or spending a fortune on storage containers? Should I worry about sterilizing the water? I've never worried about it before, we had a well in the spring growing up, and I've always drank "crick water". Probably have some mind-sucking parasites from it now, lol. Anyways, should I boil it before storing?

Ever thought of getting the mountain water tested to see what it's like? Even untainted streams carry ecoli from deer and other wild animals spreading feces around them...so you should be careful. At the same time...I always drank our lake water...and got mild diahrea here and there, not realizing that it usually came in spring and fall when ecoli is at it's worst from runoff.
I hate storing water in plastic...and if those stream are closeby and prove to be a good source, then why store it...when it is always available?

 

[Bettacreek]

I wonder what that would cost. I really hadn't thought about getting it tested. I've never had issues with drinking mountain water as a kid, but it came straight from the spring, there was no "up stream" for deer to get into it. I'm sure that something's gotta live in underground springs, but apparantly nothing that's immediately "dangerous".

 

[MorelCabin]

A spring, or underground source is usually much more safe than open ground water. Dug wells have a whole lot more contaminant than drilled wells. I would drink from a spring no problem...and open stream is something I wouldn't try anymore...although I did as a kid all the time:>)

 

[freemotion]

How about using glass wine bottles, that can be stored in wine boxes with dividers? Easy to transport, and you can store them in the cellar and put them right into your fridge. And raise a lot of eyebrows when you drink straight from the bottle. Got MIL?