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Jerricans are commonly used to store household drinking water. However, biofilms can grow on jerrican surfaces and contaminate water. To investigate mechanisms to inhibit biofilm growth, 72 5 L jerricans containing E. coli-spiked water were incubated for 10 weeks in the laboratory. Jerricans were stratified by: water treatment with chlorine; turbidity; and, regular cleaning with NaOCl, rocks, sand, NaOCl/rocks, and NaOCl/sand. At study end, surface E. coli was enumerated and biofilms imaged using epifluorescence microscopy; free chlorine residual was tested regularly. We found biofilms grew rapidly in jerricans (presence confirmed in 3 weeks), and chlorine demand within jerricans increased over time as FCR decreased from 1.16 to 0.59 mg L−1 over the course of the study in 5 NTU treated waters. Biofilm growth was significantly inhibited by water treatment with chlorine (p = 0.03), and was inhibited by cleaning …