When things were more simple, and news was news... 1960's era water storage containers...
This photo shows the standard 17.5 gallon shelter water drum from the Civil Defense/Red Cross book on Emergency Mass Feeding. The odd 17.5 gallon volume resulted from the plan of providing 1 quart of water per day per person for two weeks (14 days) for 5 people per drum. This size drum seems to be a reasonable/manageable size so I assume that's how the 5 person supply of water per drum was arrived at. The standard shelter water container was a steel drum (or very early issue fiberboard) that had 2 plastic liners inside and stood about 22 inches tall and was about 16 inches in diameter. The center plastic liner is the actual water container and the outer liner is a backup. The liners were either tied or heat sealed closed. This method of storing water does seem a bit complicated in today's plastic-container-filled world but keep in mind that this was back before large plastic containers were in common use. The plastic liner/metal water drum did hold up fairly well though. I saw a few shelters back in the 1980s with hundreds of these drums and didn't see any that were leaking. However, when the liners did leak, the steel barrels wouldn't last long before they would begin rusting.
The Federal CD Guide Fallout Shelter Water Requirements section is downloadable here...
Federal Civil Defense Guide, Part D, Chapter 2, Appendix 4, July 1965, Fallout Shelter Water Requirements. PDF File
This photo shows the standard 17.5 gallon shelter water drum from the Civil Defense/Red Cross book on Emergency Mass Feeding. The odd 17.5 gallon volume resulted from the plan of providing 1 quart of water per day per person for two weeks (14 days) for 5 people per drum. This size drum seems to be a reasonable/manageable size so I assume that's how the 5 person supply of water per drum was arrived at. The standard shelter water container was a steel drum (or very early issue fiberboard) that had 2 plastic liners inside and stood about 22 inches tall and was about 16 inches in diameter. The center plastic liner is the actual water container and the outer liner is a backup. The liners were either tied or heat sealed closed. This method of storing water does seem a bit complicated in today's plastic-container-filled world but keep in mind that this was back before large plastic containers were in common use. The plastic liner/metal water drum did hold up fairly well though. I saw a few shelters back in the 1980s with hundreds of these drums and didn't see any that were leaking. However, when the liners did leak, the steel barrels wouldn't last long before they would begin rusting.
The Federal CD Guide Fallout Shelter Water Requirements section is downloadable here...
Federal Civil Defense Guide, Part D, Chapter 2, Appendix 4, July 1965, Fallout Shelter Water Requirements. PDF File
