Reuse ledger, year to date: 41,200 totes diverted from Texas landfills this year. 2,060k lb of HDPE kept in service. 1,772k lb of steel cage recovered. 3,140 tons of CO₂e avoided. 92% of our wash water recycled on site. 68 Texas counties served from one Austin yard. Full methodology at /sustainability/reuse-ledger.

Product · water storage

Water storage
that survives
a Texas August.

Name: Water Storage IBC Tote (Opaque, UV-Stable)
Brand: IBC Tote Texas
Availability: InStock

A standard translucent tote in open sun is an algae farm with a valve. These are configured differently: light blocked, lids vented, inlets screened, overflow planned, and the prior contents documented.

Rows of used 275 gallon composite IBC totes stacked two high in an outdoor yard under a blue sky

The short answer

For Texas water storage, specify an opaque or wrapped IBC with a vented lid, a screened inlet and a planned overflow. Use a documented food-grade or rebottled unit for livestock and any potential potable path; a Grade B unit is fine for irrigation and jobsite water. A 275 gallon tote holds 2,293 lb of water — plan the stand accordingly.

From the yard

Wide view of a warehouse hall filled with reconditioned IBC totes on polished concrete — Covered inventory. What you see on the rack is what goes on your truck.

Close-up of a single 275 gallon IBC tote showing its capacity label, UN placard and blue ball valve — A 275 with the plate, the capacity label and a standard 2-inch ball valve.

620 gal

per inch, per 1,000 sq ft

Roof catchment after losses.

2,293 lb

water in a full 275

Plus 130 lb of tote.

~1.7 psi

gravity head from a 4 ft stand

Enough for short drip runs.

2–3 wks

to algae in a clear tote

In open Texas sun. Block the light.

Configurations

Four ways we set water totes up

All four start from a sound bottle and a straight cage. What changes is the light protection, the fittings and the documentation.

Water storage configurations
Configuration	Grade	Light protection	Fittings	Best for
Pasture / irrigation	B	Painted or shade-wrapped	2" ball valve, GHT adapter, float valve option	Livestock troughs, drip irrigation, nursery water
Rain capture	B or A	Opaque wrap, vented lid	Screened 4" inlet, first-flush port, 2" overflow	Roof catchment, greenhouse runoff, garden systems
Documented livestock water	F	Opaque wrap	New valve, sealed lid, float valve option	Herd water where prior contents must be known
Emergency / potable path	R (rebottled)	Opaque wrap, sealed	New valve, solid lid, sanitary fitting option	Freeze and storm reserves, municipal response

Build it right

A rain capture setup, in four steps

This is the arrangement we recommend for a Central Texas roof. It is not complicated, but skipping any of the four causes a problem within a season.

STEP 01
Screen the inlet
A stainless or fine plastic mesh over the fill opening keeps leaves, grit and — critically — mosquitoes out. In Texas an unscreened tote becomes a breeding site in under a week.
STEP 02
Add a first-flush diverter
The first 10 gallons off a roof carries most of the dust, pollen and bird waste. Divert and dump it before the tote fills, and your water quality improves dramatically for very little money.
STEP 03
Plan the overflow
Totes fill faster than people expect. Plumb a 2-inch overflow away from foundations and toward something that wants water. An unplanned overflow finds your slab.
STEP 04
Build the stand properly
A full 275 is 2,423 lb over four small feet. Concrete blocks on bare soil settle unevenly and fold cages. Use a poured pad or a proper timber frame on compacted base, and keep it level.

The full rainwater harvesting guide — sizing, filtration, freeze protection and Texas rules →

Sizing your storage for Central Texas

The mistake people make is sizing storage against annual rainfall. Austin's roughly 34 inches a year is not the constraint — the constraint is the dry gap between storms, which in a bad summer runs six to ten weeks.

Work backwards instead. Estimate weekly demand, multiply by the longest dry spell you want to cover, and that is your storage target. A garden needing 60 gallons a week through an eight-week dry spell needs about 480 gallons — two 275s, not ten.

Freeze protection

Central Texas freezes are short, hard and increasingly consequential. Water expands as it freezes and an over-full tote will split at the shoulder. Leave headspace through winter, insulate or drain exposed plumbing, and keep valves closed rather than trusting a hose bib. After February 2021, no Texas installation should treat this as theoretical.

Livestock water specifics

Cattle drink 12 to 20 gallons a head per day in summer heat. A single 275-gallon tote covers a small herd for about two days, which is why ranch installations almost always run multiple totes on a skid with a float valve feeding a trough. See the agriculture page for the full pasture-water arrangement.

What we will not sell you for water

Any tote that held herbicide, pesticide or an aggressive solvent, regardless of how well it washed. Glyphosate and 2,4-D residues persist in HDPE, and the downside — a poisoned trough or a dead vegetable bed — is not worth the saving. If we cannot document a tote's history, it does not go into water service.

Questions people actually ask

+How do I stop algae growing in a water tote?

Block the light. Algae needs sunlight far more than it needs nutrients, and a translucent white bottle in open Texas sun will green up within two to three weeks. Buy a pre-wrapped opaque unit, paint the bottle with exterior latex, or build a shade box. Chemical treatment is a distant fourth choice.

+How much rain will I actually collect?

About 620 gallons per inch of rainfall for every 1,000 square feet of roof, after losses. Austin averages roughly 34 inches a year, so a 2,000 sq ft roof theoretically yields around 42,000 gallons annually — the limit is storage, not supply.

+Is IBC tote rainwater safe to drink?

Not without treatment, and not from a general-grade tote. Roof runoff carries debris, bird waste and whatever the roofing material sheds. For non-potable irrigation and livestock use it is fine from a documented tote; for anything potable you need a rebottled unit plus filtration and disinfection.

+Can I connect two totes together?

Yes, and you should. Link them at the outlets with 2-inch pipe and a shared overflow, and they level themselves. Keep the run short and the pipe full-bore or the second tote fills at a crawl.

+Do I need permission to harvest rainwater in Texas?

No state permit is required for residential rainwater harvesting, and Texas Property Code limits how far a homeowners association can restrict it. Rainwater harvesting equipment is also exempt from Texas state sales tax — ask us to code the invoice correctly.

Keep reading

Quick reference

Numbers worth having open in another tab

The figures that come up in almost every conversation, whichever page you arrived on.

275 gallon · 1040 L

48×40×46

Tare: 130 lb
Gross, water: 2,425 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Always in stock

330 gallon · 1250 L

48×40×53

Tare: 160 lb
Gross, water: 2,915 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Always in stock

264 gallon · 1000 L

48×40×46

Tare: 125 lb
Gross, water: 2,325 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Usually in stock

350 gallon · 1325 L

48×40×56

Tare: 175 lb
Gross, water: 3,095 lb
Stack full: 2 high
Stock: Order in

Outlet thread

S60x6 — 60 mm coarse buttress. Not 2" NPT.

Grades published

N, R, F, A, B, C, X — applied at the wash bay.

Wash standards

W1 rinse through W4 caustic CIP at 160°F.

UN retest

Leakproofness 2.5 yrs, requalification 5 yrs.

From the yard notes

Longer reading on this

32 articles written by the people who wash, grade, weld and dispatch. No marketing copy in any of them.

All 32 articles

On the yard this week

While you're here

Pulled from the full FAQ, which runs to forty-plus answers across buying, grades, food safety, sizes, selling, compliance, delivery and care.

Read the full FAQ

Where we are: 3505 Montopolis Dr, Austin, TX 78744
Yard hours: Mon–Thu 7:30a–5p · Fri 7:30a–4p · Sat 8a–12p · Sun closed (Central Time)
Email: sales@ibctotestexas.com
Coverage: 68 Texas counties on scheduled routes, from one Austin yard.

+Will you take totes that held chemicals?

Most of them, with the prior contents in writing. Some chemistries permanently permeate HDPE; those units go to material recovery rather than back into service, but we'll still take them off your yard.

+How many totes fit on a truck?

Twenty on the floor of a 48-foot flatbed or dry van, regardless of whether they're 275s or 330s. Forty if they're empty and double-stacked.

+What if the totes arrive worse than described?

Tell us within 48 hours with photos and we make it right: replacement, credit or collection. It happens rarely, because the person who grades a tote is the person who washed it.

+Do you buy used totes?

Yes — it's half the business. Anywhere in Texas, from a handful behind a brewery to several hundred on a chemical yard. Send photos and prior contents and we'll price them the same day.

+How should I store totes through a Texas freeze?

Leave headspace — water expands about 9% freezing and an over-full tote splits at the shoulder. Drain exposed plumbing and keep valves closed rather than trusting a hose bib.

Tell us your roof area or your herd size.

Either one tells us how much storage you actually need. We'd rather sell you two totes that work than six that sit empty.

Get a quote Read the guide first