Quote Originally Posted by MarkCO View Post
I don't totally agree with the notion that your water heater water is drinkable. First, you should NOT routinely drink water from the water heater. The steel tank is glass-lined and the glass is a fine powder. If ingested, it can damage your bowels. Second, the anode rod gets consumed over the period of 5-10 years and forms oxides of aluminum and or magnesium, which are harmful. When you take water from the top, in a pressurized system, the solids will have fallen to the bottom. But taking water out of the bottom will get you in trouble with these solids.

If you need to use the water from a water heater, remove the cold water inlet supply riser and suck the water out. This will leave the bottom 6-10 inches of water at the bottom, but give you drinkable water without the solids at the bottom.

I am planning on building a solar still this summer. In a pinch, surface water in 2 liter pop bottles laid on black plastic will get the job done in Colorado. At lower altitudes, it is a bit un-reliable.

Bottled water, while expensive, is okay for short duration. Drinking too much water with all the minerals removed is not a good idea.

Having some sports drink powder is also a good idea, but skip the soda.
You bring up some good points and I was not advocating relying on your hot water heater as your primary source of water rations. It's a valid survival alternative should you find yourself without, or with very limited, drinkable water but shouldn't be one's primary SHTF water source. It may not be the finest spring water, but it's far from undrinkable and any toxic dangers are mitigated by the limited amount you can ultimately drink from it.

I know if something catastrophic happened and public water supplies where disrupted for an indefinite period, I'd immediately drain the water from it and drink that before consuming my other stock piles of clean water. It lets you extend your water reserves in an apocalypse type situation so IMHO it's worthwhile.

I do like your suggestion of taking from the top to avoid the solid materials that settle to the bottom. I had just planned to drain out the first few gallons of water to flush the solids but taking from the top may be a better alternative.

Now if we're just talking some localized, short-term emergency, hell no I'm not drinking from the hot water heater. I have cases of bottled water for that! =)