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.