Thanks to Tom (who helped me cart the tank from Tractor Supply in Hemet to my place) and Carl (who helped me grade the raised platform for the tank), PCT 145 now has a new 550 gallon tank just below the picnic tables, available for hiker water.
The two signs on the tank read: “Tank is filled by hand from neighbor’s [read: MY] well. Please take only what you need” and “WARNING: Water in tank should be filtered before drinking.” It’s a little late for this thru hiker season, but it is in place now for the southbounders this year and all hikers and equestrians in subsequent years.
I filled it with ~170 gallons over three trips, just to see how the tank handles having some water in it. The spigot is working great, but one of the set of threads looks like it might be leaking every so slightly (a drip per minute), so I may need to readjust that. Once I think everything is good to go, I’ll fill it all the way.
As a security to keep people from accidentally contaminating the water, I screwed the plug for the upper opening in from the inside of the tank and put a locking mechanism on the top:
PCT 145 Trail Angel Mary 
Is this a secure lock mechanism? Can people break this with a small rock? I have been trying to securely lock my tank but keep getting broken into by kids/ teens.
Can you please point to a link to this lock?
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I rigged this up myself from hardware I picked up at Home Depot and a bicycle lock. A determined person could break in pretty easily, but that isn’t really an issue with me. — It’s more to make it clear to hikers that they are limited to getting water via the spigot at the bottom.
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