Where I live, lots of people haul water. I see them at the community spigot in town filling large 55 gallon drums full of water.1-3 gallons of water a day fulfills all my water needs, so, I just use 7 gallons water jugs with spigots that I got at Walmart in the camping aisle. They cost about 10 dollars a piece. They are very durable, I have been using mine for 2-3 years now. I believe they are called, Reliance Aqua-Tainers.
One sits on my counter all the time. When I melt snow I refill it by scooping out water from the snow melting pot.
In the summer, when one is empty I put in the back of my truck and when I go to town I fill it with water from the community spigot. It’s easy, it only takes a few minutes.
Water carriers that aren’t so good:
- One gallon plastic jugs are made to decompose in landfills quickly, making them not very durable. Try the 3 liter Arrowhead bottles instead.
- I tried the reusable 1 gallon jugs sold at the water filling stations in grocery stores—less durable than the disposable 1 gallon jugs.
- The collapsible water jugs are not durable enough either.
Related post: living without running water
Another excellent option for you Crow would be a Zodi shower system. Basically its a stainless steel bug sprayer with a shower head on it. Heat water in it on your propane or wood stove and 5 or 10 pumps with your right arm and you have a perfect shower. I put a kitchen spray faucet on it instead of the included camping shower head so I had more control over how much water I use. Also works really well for rinsing dishes after washing, combine that with a simple water crock at your sink and maybe you wouldn’t need to haul water up to the 55 gallon drum in your sleeping loft. Just ideas. As always love your blog. You are an original!
That sounds like a useful thing.
The 55 gallon drum system came with the cabin and its real use is just extra water storage. I like having the extra water around.
Thanks for you comment.