jspoonsr

Another good idea. Didn't think I wanted to use those because they would have to be inside the panniers. But they make lots of sense. Thanks to all who endoresed them as cheap carriers. Much obliged.

midnightsimon

2 - 3 larger sized water bottles and a 2L camelback bladder should do the trick.

Also, virtually every small town in the world, regardless of the size, has a cemetary. Many of these cemetaries have a tap with potable water in them.

Sluggo

Have you considered a trailer? A big container of water could be packed low, and it wouldn't affect the handling of the bike much.

cyccommute 

Take a look at this. I have an acquaintance who toured from the Arctic Circle to Terra del Fuego carrying a Katadine filter the whole way (back when they were $1200 ) and never had a water borne illness. I've used one for hiking and fishing trips for ages without problems. Although I wouldn't use one on a stream where there is mine drainage (happens a lot in Colorado), I wouldn't hesitate to use one where there are live fish. Fishies need pretty clean water to live.

brucewiley

Have toured parts of the Mojave desert, no water available even for filtering. As someone mentioned, a couple of say two liter bottles of water in the panniers (I use apple juice bottles, just the right shape), a camelback and bottles in the racks.

One tip- don't carry food that needs rehydration.

vigur

Another useful tip is how to keep water colder then outside temperature. If you make the bag wet time to time spending just a few water drops then when you are cycling wet bag will keep water colder. It makes a sence since when you are drinking colder water you need it less. Another tip is much better do not drink
just pure water during cycling, try to care with you cold green tea with lemon. You can use one of the bottle for pure water and another one for the green tea. In the Gobi desert we also added small amount of solt..Water filters are nice if you can find any water source...

wmcmiii

I'm another big fan of the pop bottles. I remember one stretch where I really needed a ton of extra water: in addition to my 3 .75 liter water bottles and 2 1 liter nalgenes that I normally carry I added a 3L pop bottle on my rear rack, a 2 liter pop bottle on top of both of my front panniers under the flap, and another 3 liter bottle strapped on to the top of my front rack...that comes out to, what, over 14 liters? That's plenty for what you needed. Also, those spots under the flaps for the front panniers also hold wine bottles real well!

nun

That's 30lbs of water and that's 6 lbs more that my entire touring load of 24lbs (that includes 2lbs of food and 4lbs of water)