More little containers definitely helps.

When cycling around Australia my starting guideline was 1L for every 20km and 2L for an overnight. The longest gap I had between known water stops was 286km from Roebuck Roadhouse to Sandfire Roadhouse in the Great Sandy Desert near Broome. So I ended up with 16L of water: (a) 2 x 3L bladders on my Camelbak (b) 2L for 3 bottles on the bike (c) a 4L Sea to Summit bag (d) two water bottles of 1L each and then (e) some extra bottles for another 2L. As it turned out I had an occasion or two of a passing motorist stopping to offer water - and also where I camped with some caravans beside the road. So I could have done with a lot less but I wasn't sure and better safe than sorry. Normally in the outback I had 8-9L of water with me but then got more for the larger gaps.