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Before heading to New York City yesterday night I stopped at the Target store in Somerville, Mass to get a few gallons of water, just in case Hurricane Irene will impede on the NYC water supply and we are left "high and dry". Unfortunately, there was no water in Target because even Bean Town folks decided to stock up. Upon arriving to NY I decided to come up with a simple way to keep filled up and to keep tap water at home.
This is what I came up with. It is a very easy device to build and I am sure that all of you woodworkers could even improve my initial design, adding a nicer wooden handscrew clamp to serve as a gate on the bag.


1. Find an empty cardboard box


2. Draw an upside down triangle that arches downwards (like the Eiffel tower standing on its head).

3. Cut the triangle with a knife.



4. Insert the bag.

Insert one or two empty trash bags into the box and carefully pull one of the bag's bottom corners out of the triangle. Inserting one bag into another will increase the overall resiliency of the plastic bladder.

5. Twist the corner and tuck it into the triangle's crack

Twist the corner and tuck it into the triangle's crack. Later
on you will see that once the bag's ear is squeezed in between the
triangle long seam (crack) the cardboard will provide ample amount of
pressure to keep water from gushing out of the ear/spout.

6. Fill the bag with water

Fold the plastic bag opening over the box's flaps and fill the box with water.

7. Cut the very tip of the bag's corner.

Carefully cut the end of the corner and let some water pour
out. Then twist the ear and tuck it back into the crack to stop the
water from flowing.

8. Tie the bag

Tie the bag opening and tuck it into the box.

9. The water tank is now ready.

10. Extra measure for securing the ear/spout

Un-tuck the bag/spout to let water pour out. Once you are done using the
water, carefully twist the corner and tuck it back into the crack. You might
also like to secure the spout with a twine.

11. Another way to secure the spout is with a clothespin

That's it and I hope we will not need to use this device….


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