Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought a set of 8 and yes they did have a plastic odor, (they are plastic) I rinsed mine with hot water and a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, then rinsed again and let dry. Smell went way down. Filled with tap water and one teaspoon _regular_ bleach. I'll leave the water in for 1 year and then change it. When I refill these I will put some water in with a sanitizing level of bleach to sanitize the jug, empty it, cover the lid with paper towel and let dry for a day, then refill with tap water and add one teaspoon regular bleach and store again. Adding that teaspoon of bleach kills any pathogen in the water and the bleach quickly degrades, you won't even be able to smell it in a few days but as long as your bleach is in there, your water is clean and no bugs can grow, provided your lid is tight and you store properly. This process is much like canning, everything has to be clean and sterile going in. This is easier though because the bleach does most of the work for you. If you don't have good hand strength, get a wrench, these lids do require some effort to get then tight enough to seal but the do seal. I tested each one by tipping over on it side and pressing down on the container to build some pressure and I had no leaks. There is more to storing water then you think, read up on it, you have to do this correctly or you can set up a bateria farm in your water jug and then you don't want that. If you are not concerned about the tampering, take it off the tamper-evidence ring, the lids tighten down easier without it, it is not necessary to seal the jug, it is just a tamper-evidencing device that will only work once anyway. The rings break right off.