$15.00 to take care of water for 100 people for one year

[lynnie]

( see second paragraph under powder chlorine)


Liquid Chlorine:

Normal household bleach can be used to kill germs in water, but will not kill tuberculosis germs. Regular household bleach is a solution of 5.25% Sodium Hypochlorite and 94.75% inert ingredients. The bleach I want you to use should be standard household bleach with no extra whiteners, brighteners, or scents of any kind like lemon. Many manufactures bleach labels state "not fit for human consumption", which is true (Does it need to be said? Ok, don't drink straight bleach!) Now if the only active ingredient in your bleach is Sodium Hypochlorite, it is suitable for water sterilization. Here's how you do it. Add 1/2 tsp. to 5 gallons of water if it is clear (or 8 drops of chlorine bleach to each gallon of clear water) or 1 tsp. to 5 gallons of water if the water is cloudy. Allow your water to sit at least 30 minutes. If water does not have a slight chlorine odor, repeat the dosage and let stand for 15 minutes. Now if you stock up on commercial sized coffee filters say from Sam's, you can pre-filter your water. Be sure to sterilize and clean your water container, its lid, spout, funnel after each use.



Powder Chlorine:

You may be tempted to purchase a large quantity of bleach for this purpose, but did you know that Chlorine gas would bleed through most plastic bottles? Storing bleach in a warm place will speed up the gas leakage. So over time your Chlorine concentration will diminish to a level you have no way of determining. When this happens you will have no idea how much to put in the water, making this a shaky situation. There is a way around this storage problem. You can make your own bleach by purchasing swimming pool "burn out" or "shock treatment". It must be only 65% Calcium Hypochlorite, no additional anti-fungal or clarifiers. In an extremely well ventilated area throughly mix 24.5 grams, approximately 10 Tablespoons, of powder to one gallon of water for a 5.25% bleach solution. Five pounds of dry pool bleach costs about $10-15, which will make about 92 gallons of bleach, that will sterilize 706,560 gallons of clear water, or 353,280 gallons of cloudy water. If you allocate 3 gallons per person per day for drinking, food preparation, and sanitation, $15 will take care of 100 people for one year! Not a bad deal.

http://www.stormsurvival.homestead.com/Disinfecting_Water.html

 

[dissimulo]

Thanks Lynnie - very helpful. I've had dry bleach on my list for a while, but hadn't figured out what to buy or where.

 

[LoupGarou]

Another option is to stock rock salt and use electricity to make MIOX (Sodium Hypochlorite, and other oxidants). You can make your own MIOX generator or buy them premade. I have one of the MSR "pens" and love it. I use it often, even in the water bowls outside (it keeps the water from algae or other funk growing in it for at least three weeks).

Loup Garou

 

[Chronicles]

Chlorine is poisonous !

Filter water, use colloiddal silver, as do Japan, Switzerland and many other countries that care about their populations.

I would not use that crap, unless there was NO OTHER WAY, to remove bacterium and other parasites. ( And then only one time as an emergency only ! )

ONE POINT of View Here: http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Pandoras-Poison-Chlorine-Thornton.htm

 

[lynnie]

Thanks C. I don't think anybody sees chlorine as optimal. But it is better than dying of e-coli diarrhea. This is also a cheap way to treat your water for washing dishes and yourself.

If you pour the treated water into wide mouth jars or pitchers and let it sit overnight, a lot of the chlorine will evaporate off. Or treat it, and then run it through one of those PUR pitchers.

I have a good aqua rain filter for us, but I am thinking of others who might be stuck. For 15 bucks it can't hurt to get this as charity.

 

[LoupGarou]

Chlorine is poisonous !

Yep, I agree wih you. But two things about it's use here. First, it is at a level (few hundred PPMs) that's even if the gas does not release from the liquid, at that low of a level it will not hurt you. Quite a few municipal water treatment plants use much heavier doses. Second, all you have to do is aerate the water from one container to another a few times and it is gone. Oxygen dissolving into the water from the aeration forces the chlorine out, just like it does with carbon dioxide (the reason that carbonated drinks fizz up and will go flat quickly if poured from container to container a few times).

Another thing about chlorine and MIOX, give it time to kill anything that is in the water, especially if the water is cold. Giardia and Cryptosporidium take time to kill. I would wait at least half an hour before taking the first swig. And if the water is dirty double the dose, and wait an hour before aerating.

For all of the people that do not want to go the chlorine route, they do make UV sterilizers for water, both whole house and personal sized (steripen, www.steripen.com). They work well, and kill within 1-2 minutes.

Also remember that neither the chlorine or the UV will REMOVE particles or chemicals, so if fallout or harmful chemicals have fallen into your well, creek, river, lake, or other open water source, these will not help you. Filtering will remove some particles and activated charcoal will remove most chemicals, but not all. The only foolproof method is distilling the water.

Loup Garou