Myths about water storage

[Dennis Olson]

On another thread, a member mentioned that they didn't store water because they had a hot tub. That prompted me to post this thread. Here is some information that those of you who have swimming pools and hot tubs may not know....

You CANNOT drink the water from a properly treated hot tub or swimming pool. The chemicals used are quite toxic.

You cannot store water in a plastic trash can for any length of time - the material is not stressed for that load, and WILL rupture.

Some folks say they'll line a trash can with a trash bag for clean water storage - MANY of these trash bags are treated with insecticide and thus the water would be toxic.

Some folks say they'll collect rainwater off their roofs. Note that your roof is VERY dirty, and you'll get all kinds of contaminants in your water.

Just some "busted" water myths.... FYI

 

[barb43]

Best thing i've found -- and it's a limited solution (but probably anything is if the crisis lasts long enough) -- is to spend the money on some blue water barrels, wash them with baking soda/warm water, rinse thoroughly, fill with tap water, treat w/some chlorine bleach, and close the hole on top of the barrel. Use a handpump to get the water out. We've done this for a long time now and our "treated" water is much better than the stuff coming out of the tap to start with.

We figure we'll use the rain barrel water to water the plants with; the swimming pool water we can strain and flush the stools with.

 

[Rams82]

What about the bathtub?

 

[gillmanNSF]

I got 90 gallons of aquarium water, I wonder if I can filter it with a Katadyn. Same with water heater water. Got four of them for my 6 unit apt. building, I'm thinking in case of an emergency this could be rationed out. I've noticed those water heaters get rusty on the inside, though. Again a Katadyn water purifier might make this water more palatable. Don't know if it would work for hot tub or pool water.

 

[Dennis Olson]

And DO NOT use a container that allows light to penetrate. That will allow algae to grow. Bathtubs would be okay if you washed them out first, but they don't hold enough to last very long. Also, their drains are typically not the best.

 

[Dennis Olson]

None of the filters will remove the pool chemicals to a degree that would allow you to safely drink the water.

 

['plain o joe']

None of the filters will remove the pool chemicals to a degree that would allow you to safely drink the water.

But a distiller would...

 

[Dennis Olson]

Yup.

 

[Anne in TN]

One thing you can do with the pool, and hot tub water is for use in bathing or washing clothes.

 

[Nuthatch]

Dennis--this ought to make it clearer--this quote from my original post:

"I think Dennis has some good points, but then I don't store water- we have access. Well, wait, maybe we do....the hot tub holds over 500 gallons!"

-emphasis mine on this post.

We have access via a fresh water spring. And yeah, I know about filtering, etc.

But I often forget that I 'store' water in other ways such as the hottub and water heater. This water can be used for non-drinking purposes if it comes to that.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Nuthatch - I realized what you'd said. But what triggered my response on the other thread (as well as THIS thread) are all the posts I've seen in the past few months by others who DON'T KNOW that you can't drink it.

 

[notred]

I remember reading a while back that a Berkey Black filter would clear pool water. I will have to dig around and see if I can find that.

Most pool chemicals break down in sunlight (one reason you have to add so much, almost daily). 60 days of sunshine without adding any and you are going to have critters living in it.

 

[m.anderson]

Another thought about using trash bags for water storage is that many are treated to kill bugs,just something else to think about

 

[hitssquad]

Plastic trash bags for water storage

You cannot store water in a plastic trash can for any length of time - the material is not stressed for that load, and WILL rupture.

Some folks say they'll line a trash can with a trash bag for clean water storage - MANY of these trash bags are treated with insecticide and thus the water would be toxic.

oism.org/nwss/s73p919.htm

=-=
Polyethylene trash bags make practical expedient water containers when used as waterproof liners inside smaller fabric bags or pillowcases. (Plastic bags labeled a& being treated with insecticides or odor-controlling chemicals should not be used.) Figure 8.1 shows a teenage boy carrying over 10 gallons (more than 80 pounds) of water, well balanced front and back for efficient packing. Each of his two burlap bags is lined with two 20-gallon polyethylene trash bags, one inside the other. (To avoid possible pinhole leakage it is best to put one waterproof bag inside another.)
=-=

 

[Smoke]

I use gallon milk jugs, I know people say they leak and you can't get them clean, well I rinse mine out with real hot water, and if they leak I figure that 20 partially empty jugs are better than none. Actually when I had over 100 stored for a year or more I only had 2 leak. In case of an emergency this would be better than no water. I do have a 2 water filter/purifiers.

 

[Jumpy Frog]

We used to sell large water bladders (like the ones we used in GW I) when DW and I had our prep business. The small ones hold about 150 gallons, the large ones...450+ gallons. They have a fill spout and a spigot. I still have a couple dozen left in back stock........just in case. Aside from the domestic water supply (which was Y2K compliant as it was built in the 1800's ) we still have mountain streams and springs. As for purification we have a number of filters and a non-electric distiller.

When DW and I helped people with survival preps for Y2K we were amazed at how many people forgot about, or underestimated, water needs. One lady had for her and her two kids, a single case of four 1 gallon bottles of bottled spring water . Four gallons for three people...........maybe a day or two. Her answer "We just don't drink that much water" . Teenage daughter says "We still have soda, coffee, tea, and frozen juice". Early teen son says "We need more water..........for sure!"

 

[Brooks]

What about the bathtub?

Bathrubs can leak (happened to my parents during a storm), and it puts your bathtub out of commission while its full so you wouldn't want to fill it much ahead of time. Besides, that is where I plan on setting up the solar shower bag.

I'm on municipal water with gravity feed. Unless there is a main line break I will have some notice to be able to fill up any extra containers. I have quite a few 5 gallon water bags and two 200 bags, but I don't want to fill them ahead of time because of the taste. My neighbor has foolishly been giving me all of his empty one-gallon poland spring bottles, so I have been filling those as quickly as they show up.

 

[pkid]

I got 90 gallons of aquarium water, I wonder if I can filter it with a Katadyn.

Be aware there are many zoonotic diseases that can pass from fish to aquarist, including Mycobacteriosis (Fish TB). I know we're already sticking our hands into that water when doing tank maintenance but even going through a water filter I'm not sure I'd trust drinking tank water. If I had a way to put the water under pressure then MAYBE I would trust it after running through the RO/DI filter. Maybe the thing to do is tee off of the canister filter output and power it through the RO/DI... hmm.

If you've got a 90g, though, don't you probably also have water stored up, treated, and aerated for frequent partial water changes?

(About 135 gal fishy water here... but I keep at least an additional 25gal of RO/DI water + another 10-20gal of purchased spring and distilled. Hope it's at least a freshwater tank if you're going to drink it!)

 

[HoofTrimmer]

As I understand it chlorine will dissipate with exposure to air after 24 hours.

I use the thirty-five gallon heavy plastic drums I get off of dairy farmers for water storage. They used to contain a high concentrate of chlorine for washing their milking systems.

These containers can outlast anything. They are very heavy when filled though.

Hooftrimmer

 

[hitssquad]

I use gallon milk jugs, I know people say they leak and you can't get them clean, well I rinse mine out with real hot water

google.com/search?q=%22don%27t+use+milk+jugs%22

 

[Fleataxi]

Dennis: Katadyn makes the Voyager filter with an Activated Charcoal post-filter. it's designed to filter chemicals and heavy metals out of water. Highly contaminated water will greatly shorten the filter life.

Also a 10:1 Reverse Osmosis filter will deliver pure drinking water from Sea Water. A 6:1 RO fliter will do the same with brackish water, and you can use the discarded water to flush toilets and other grey water uses.

The main benefit of a pool is it gives you 3,000 gallons to fight a fire.

Fleataxi

 

[Dennis Olson]

DO NOT expect a Katadyn or Berkefeld filter to remove all chemicals. Period.

 

[Beach]

Just curious here: the chemicals that go into my pool are calcium hypochlorite, chlorine shock and calcium hardness increasers. What part of that is toxic? Is it the level of chlorine residual that's in the water?

 

[hitssquad]

What part of that is toxic?

Apparently no part of that is toxic, given that typical swimmers drink pool water by the gallon.

Drinking pool water did this to these olympic swimmers:
chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/24/content_368441.htm

It could happen to you, too, if you drink pool water.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Apparently no part of that is toxic, given that typical swimmers drink pool water by the gallon.

Wrong-o, bucko....

 

[Beach]

Apparently no part of that is toxic, given that typical swimmers drink pool water by the gallon.

Wrong-o, bucko....

Is there a thread somewhere that I missed that describes what makes pool water toxic?

 

[Dennis Olson]

There are MANY threads on TB describing the toxicity of pool chemicals. Use the SEARCH function.

 

[hitssquad]

How many gallons of pool water do swimmers ingest

apvma.gov.au/qa/poolspa_FAQ_May2005.shtml

"In their Guidelines for Safe Recreational-water Environments, Vol 2, WHO cites studies showing that children typically ingest 500 millilitres of water per swimming session and competitive swimmers ingest about half that amount."


statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/bartonsprings/0206barton.html

"In theory, if 29 million people swam every day at Barton Springs Pool for 70 years, one person would be expected to contract cancer as a result of exposure to the PAHs, they said. That assumes each swimmer swallows about six ounces of pool water daily."


If competitive swimmers typically each engage in ~400 swimming sessions per year, on average they each ingest 100 liters of pool water per year. 100 liters = 26.4 gallons.
nomoreodor.com/liters_to_gallons_conversion.htm

 

[Beach]

There are MANY threads on TB describing the toxicity of pool chemicals. Use the SEARCH function.

I did that before I posted Dennis and couldn't find any threads about swimming pool water being toxic. Perhaps my SEARCH techniques are not up to par, but I was kinda thinking that since this thread was partly about that....I might get some help. Thanks anyway.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Look, I've been a prepper since 1998, and have read literally hundreds of pages on the "do's and dont's" of pool water. I don't care if you believe me or not. Dig up some of the archives here, some of which detail not only what chemicals CANNOT be used if you want to drink the water, but also which ones CAN.

I don't have a pool. If I DID, I'd not use the water for drinking. Years of personal research back up that position....

JMHO - YMMV

EDIT: The SEARCH function can be pretty quirky. I hope to fix it one of these days with the "literal text" search method supported in this version of vB.

 

[Beach]

I don't care if you believe me or not.

It's not that I don't believe you, I'm trying to learn here....sorry if my question came off otherwise...I'm truly just wanting to understand. The archives here are enormous and searching them requires a certain talent and often a fair amount of time that I just don't always have.

Cheers.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I understand about the search issues, I really do. We have nearly TWO MILLION posts here, and that can take some serious time to look through. I too lack the time (at the moment) to dig the info up, but I'm sure that some of our members will be able to handle it. If not, I'll see what I can come up with in the next couple of days, time permitting...

 

[optimistic pessimist]

I think it is good that you clarify this, Dennis. We store both drinking water and water in the hot tub-- but the hot tub water would be used for bathing in an emergency-- not drinking. That way the drinking water is saved. I can recall a discussion pre-Y2K on this board about using the pool for prep-- again, not a healthy source of drinking water.

 

[Wise Owl]

Dennis, you are wrong about the Black Berkey filters....They will take out the chemicals.
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[notred]

This from some homeland security site....


http://www.nationalterroralert.com/readyguide/safewater.htm

Using Swimming Pool Water
You should always view your pool as "backup" water; keep the water treated; you never know when it will be needed! The maintenance of the free chlorine residual will prevent establishment of any microorganisms. The maintenance level should be kept about 3-5ppm free chlorine. (See Water Purification for detailed information on purifying pool water.) If other stored water stocks are not available, remove the necessary pool water and boil it or just treat with chlorine to the normal 5ppm. It is best to err on the side of caution.

Covering the pool at all times when not in use is a very good idea. Try to keep the cover clean and wash the area you put it on when removing it from the pool.

 

[Wise Owl]

Independant lab test results.
http://newmillconcepts.com/BerkeyLight/TestResults.html

I would drink water out of a mud puddle or an aquarium if it was filtered thru
the black berkey filter.......it is cleaner than most tap water for heavens sake.

 

[notred]

Independant lab test results.
http://newmillconcepts.com/BerkeyLight/TestResults.html

I would drink water out of a mud puddle or an aquarium if it was filtered thru
the black berkey filter.......it is cleaner than most tap water for heavens sake.

Pool water coming out of my Black Berkey is healthier then my tap water. So I have a 35,000 gallon water tank. And a 4 acre pond. All of which is quite drinkable after going through the Berkey.

 

[daisy]

You CANNOT drink the water from a properly treated hot tub or swimming pool.

Tell my dogs that and the one that lived 19 years. My dogs have always thought our pools were their own personal water bowl in the backyard. I was a competitive swimmer for 8 years in my youth and have had personal pools and an avid swimmer and have swallowed lots of pool water, haven't croked yet. But I don't count on that as my water supply, I have fresh water stored. But it will make one hell of a bathtub if need be.

 

[buttie]

If the chlorine used in your pool or hot tub is stabilized it has CYANIDE in it. Also some of the algaecides use high amounts of copper which is also toxic.

Don't drink your pool water if you are not sure. And I don't think the filter will remove these.

 

[daisy]

We don't use stablizer in our pool, it messes with keeping proper ph levels. We don't have to use algaecides, never had an algae problem because we run our pump 8 hours in winter and 10 in summer. Pool is kept clean and running year round and backwashed and shocked regularly and we have a DE filter.