In most areas of the world, particularly in the summer months, water is one of the most important things that you can store, whether you are bringing it with you on your adventures or keeping a stash of it in your house in case of an emergency. Even areas that have plentiful water rarely have an abundance of water that is safe to drink without treatment. One of the main problems with storing a large amount of water is that the containers you put it in take up a lot of space, even after they are empty. Coghlan’s Collapsible Water Container, however, allows you to reclaim some of that extra space by squishing it down to a fraction of its full size after your water is depleted.
Although a basic idea, this product does have some features that are pretty nice. The weight of this unit is much less than similarly sized water containers, making it even easier to transport. Also, the carrying handle is shaped to fit most hands very nicely, so carrying 5 gallons of water is less painful (there’s not really a way to make hauling that much water completely painless, at least not for most of us). The seams and grooves that often bite into your flesh when carrying other water containers are not a problem with this one. Unlike many water jugs, the spigot is designed to only have two options – on or off. While this gives you less choices (and takes longer than usual to fill up a cup of water), it does keep your precious water from being dripped away by a slow leak.
This simple item opens up a huge amount of different possibilities in your normal outdoor activities or in the case of an emergency (granted, since I’m the emergency preparedness guy, you may think that some of these are not applicable to you or are far-fetched, but please humor me). During the course of a normal trip, responsible campers should always leave their campsite cleaner than when they arrived. If you haul your water in this collapsible water container, there should be room for at least one grocery bag full of garbage on your way home. For emergencies, these containers make water rotation very simple because they are easy to haul and having extras takes up very little room. It is always surprising how many people end up at the grocery store fighting for cases of bottled water right before hurricanes or severe storms, but keeping an empty supply of Coghlan’s Collapsible Water Containers on hand is a great way to not be a part of that mess. When warning goes out that a hurricane or severe storm is going to hit your area, simply break out your containers and start filling them up. Until that happens (and after the threat is over), they will take up only a small amount of space. (It is suggested that you have 1 gallon of water per day for each person in your family, which will allow for drinking and cooking with a small amount of sanitation.)
For about $15, the Coghlan’s Collapsible Water Container is something that is easy to keep on hand in case of an emergency. You’ll find it and hundreds of other products Coghlan’s has on their website.
– David