Water is the basic essential of life. These types of phrases bombard us all the time when making preparedness plans.
Stored water takes up a lot of space.
An optimal place to store portable water is in a cool, dark basement. Just make sure you have a long garden hose that will reach to fill it, or keep 5 gallon jugs on hand so you can siphon the water into them when the time comes to rotate or use it. Water barrels are made to be stored outside. You need to take careful considerations of the temperature in your area when deciding on the placement and how much to fill your water barrels. This means the north side of your house stays generally shaded.