Drinking Water: how much do you have

A local emergency shuts off your water supply.
How much potable water do you have on hand?

[Hypnotize]

theres plenty of rivers and lakes here so i think i will just boil that water if things get bad.

[Ammit]

In house about 103 gallons

[Myplanet2]

270 gallons, plus berkfield imperial with 4 ceramic/sterasyl filters, and an extra set of filters. Good to go for a while.

[sebring1963]

Carl's Jr. has its own generator I'll be fine.

[Ammit]

Well, if most of us are honest about it, we dont drink as much as we should. And in a non exhausting situation the average person needs about 3 ltr a day.
My 103 gallons is only about 463 ltrs.

My household of 5 means we can survive in house for 5 weeks or so, that does not however account for washing or cooking.

Most say they have pasta or rice and such, but most I have ever spoken to believe they can cook these part way to save on water, comes as a shock when i tell them that if dehydrated foods are not rehydrated properly, thay dehydrate the body when consumed.

[davefla73]

I have a well with great flow its a bit on the hard side but drinkable so i dont need to store water.

Originally Posted by davefla73

I have a well with great flow its a bit on the hard side but drinkable so i dont need to store water.

Hi Dave,

Stump the star with me for a moment.

I grew up in Brevard and know those artesian wells with their lovely sulphur content. My brother is buried at memorial gardens on US1

What will you do when you get saltwater incursion into the aquafor. With the water depletion in Florida it is a likely scenario.

Cheers

-d-

[Connecting with Sauce]

I have two 210 Litre water butts and a distiller. I also have 2 survival books showing you how to distill water or extract it fom other sources. I have iodine drops also.

ps and a generator. likewise my Mum and brother have these same items further into the country.

[Swanny]

I have two 210 Litre water butts and a couple of spares, 2000 purifing tablets, a gravity feed water filter like the berkley and a katadyn water filter
http://emergencydisastersupplies.com...B000KUVVY4.htm
Plus I was a rural water supply engineer in PNG
So I should be ok for water

We are blessed with a well that has the most fabulous water you have ever tasted in your life. It is electric. We are wired for a generator as backup, and we have a hand pump.

Last June we had a thunderstorm right over the house just a few hundred feet up. We had a lightening strike that fried the wiring to the pump.

Yeah, we had the hand pump, but the unfiltered water is so rusty that it stains the buckets we use to haul it. The electric pump pushes the water through a filter that screens the iron out.

We bought a cheap brita filter to make rust free drinking water. After the crisis ( three days of using the hand pump) I obtained a thirty gallon barrel and filled it from the electric pump.

Water is purified with bleach at 8 drops per gallon.
8x30 = 240 drops. There are 20 drops in one milliliter
So I added 12 milliliters or just over two teaspoonfuls of bleach to the barrel.

It will keep for a year.

This is our emergency drinking water until I can afford a Berkey.

[hueyii]

My neighbor has a pool and I have rainbarrels. Just bought water purification kits.

[Myra]

I have roughly 34 gallons of water in case of emergency.

[flynt144]

Installed a 210 Litre water butt yesterday and have 1000 purifing tablets

[Anchor]

8 * 20L containers of tapwater with Katadyn silver based purifiers added to keep it potable and save me from having to keep switching it. These ones are kept in a dark cool spot.

4 x 10L containers of spring water.

Katadyn water filter - I forgot the name, but its the bigger one that goes on for ever Can filter about 50,000L of water from a cleanish river.

I also have some chorine and iodine based purifiers for more challenging mobile and bug out scenarios.

[oldpaganfreak]

i am fortunate to live in the peace river valley, one of the largest rivers in north america. also there are several lovely springs on our land.
i do have a quest cabin on the land as well and would welcome visitors who happen to find themselves in northern alberta.

[pineal-pilot-in merkabah]

i live in an old national trust farmhouse with its own water spring. so its just amatter of avoiding chem trail pollution

[Sol Invictus]

You know an odd thing happend to me today.

I was out ands about in the mountains and stopped to fill up my water bottle from the lake. A women and a man came out and started going on about 'all the germs and viruses' in the water and I would die.

I pointed out to them I was using a super dooper filter bottle.

Their faces - the guy said 'dammit, a survival loony in such a nice place!'

Goes to show though - being prepared even in this day and age gets you laughed at.

Oh and as for water, I have in the house 200 litres for 'at home emergencies'.

In the field the family all have personal water filters good for a year. After a year, we won't be coming home ever again in a real situation and would be boiling water.

[JesterTerrestrial]

none. Its not good.

[Peace2all]

Hi All,

Does any one have any advice on granulated chlorine bleach (for pool) I heard that if you place a few drops per bottle it would last for 10 years! I wasn't sure of the quantity per 1 litre bottle. I am actually recycle hubby's empty vodka bottles with water. We often have power out and no water or toilet flushes with a household of kids is not fun. May as well put the old bottles to good use but don't want to poison anyone with too much chlorine!

I also researched Berkley and they were very expensive or impossible to find in Australia. Another Avalon sent tip about Stefani Stainless Steel gravity feed through colloidal silver filter, holds 8 liters. Pending on water quality filter replaced every 6 months or 700 liters a good wash helps life of filter. We got one and my soft drink kids are converted water drinkers! You can really taste the difference, like softer. We had tank water which was OK but this is the best...
Anyway I was so impressed I have become a distributor, placed first ad on ebay for $137 AUD $91.77 US. Anyone wants any more info you can send me a message via Avalon or email pept@y7mail.com

Originally Posted by Peace2all

Hi All,

Does any one have any advice on granulated chlorine bleach (for pool) I heard that if you place a few drops per bottle it would last for 10 years! I wasn't sure of the quantity per 1 litre bottle. I am actually recycle hubby's empty vodka bottles with water. We often have power out and no water or toilet flushes with a household of kids is not fun. May as well put the old bottles to good use but don't want to poison anyone with too much chlorine!

From survivalblog.com

Two Letters Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

Jim:
I had to write you and correct something that could lead to health damage or even death from the use of chlorine [for water treatment]. People have to know that this use [of chlorine] is for treating water [shortly before use], not long term storage. If you have a water supply that you intend to drink/use within a month, then chlorine (as long as it's pure - as you so instructed) is fine. But it is not for long term storage!
When water is treated with chlorine, and then sealed in a container, the chlorine degrades over a short time period. Depending on variables (mixture, amount of water, heat, et cetera) this could be as soon as 2-3 months. As it breaks down, it releases chlorine gas, which does nothing to protect your water, but it can cause health problems (obviously) and it will also degrade and weaken your container.
There are products out there that can be used for long term water storage. (Stabilized Oxygen is but one of them.) These products can keep water stored safely for up to five years, with no bacteria or algae growth. - Kurt



James Wesley:
I can't remember where I got this, but thought it might help with the question of "how much" in chlorinating water.....

Chlorination
Two common forms of chlorine compounds can be used, those disinfectants that contain Sodium Hypochlorate (household bleach) or Calcium Hypochlorate (swimming pool chlorine powder). It is very important that Chlorine is added to water at the correct dosage. Firstly, calculate the amount of water in the tank by using the following formula:
3.14 x radius2 x height of water in the tank (meters) x 1000 (The radius is half of the width of the tank)
Once you have calculated the volume of the water in the tank then place 40 milliliters of Sodium hypochlorite or 7 grams of Calcium Hypochlorite for each 1000 liters of water in the tank.
For example, if the tank's dimensions are 5 meters wide, 3 meters high and there is 2.5 ml of water in the tank, the calculations would be as follows:
Volume of Water in the tank is:
3.14 x (5 x?)? x 2.5 x 1000 (liters)
Volume = 49,062.5 (liters)
40 x ( 49000/1000) = 1960 mils of Sodium Hypochlorite
Or 7x ( 49000/1000) = 343 grams of Calcium Hypochlorite

Regards, Terry M.

Dear Jim:

As you know, ordinary chlorine bleach is an item with a multitude of potential uses in survival situations. In addition to its common use in the laundry to brighten our whites, it can also purify drinking water and serve as a general disinfectant to sanitize food preparation areas and control the spread of disease causing bacteria.

Liquid chlorine bleach, however, is inconvenient to store. Only about 5.25% - 7.5% of each eight pound gallon is active sodium (or calcium) hypochlorite; the rest is just water. Yet because of the potency of its active ingredient, and the flimsiness of typical plastic bleach bottles, it poses a constant risk to everything stored near it.

One potential solution is to store concentrated dry chlorine granules; commonly available as swimming pool shock treatment. Available in a wide variety of sizes, swimming pool shock treatment typically contains from 50% - 60% active calcium hypochlorite, making it much lighter in weight and 10 times as concentrated as liquid bleach, but not susceptible to spilling and leaking risks. Theoretically, it should be possible to make your own chlorine bleach by simply combining the proper amount of water and dry granules.

I quickly discovered, however, that storing dry chlorine poses hazards of its own. Initially, I purchased two 1 pound plastic bags of swimming pool shock treatment and stored them in a small closet along with a variety of other preparedness items. The granules generated a strong chlorine smell in the closet, but when access was needed, opening the door for a minute or two would reduce the small to a tolerable level.

About a year later, however, I went to reorganize the closet, and was startled to find many things badly corroded by fumes from the granules. Several storage tins were badly rusted, some 200-hour emergency candles in tins were nearly rusted clear through, and the steel ends of some batteries were also corroded.

Surprisingly, even some lightweight cardboard boxes were so badly degraded that they virtually disintegrated when handled, and a 10-page document (about emergency water) which had been printed on our computer's inkjet printer was virtually erased!

To combat these problems, I bought a fresh supply of (HTH brand $3.35/lb. at Wal-Mart) chlorine granules and stored them in an all-glass canister with a glass top, rubber ring, and spring wire snap latch ($4.44 at Wal-Mart) . That has solved my storage problem.

In an article on emergency water purification, in addition to the old 10 drops of bleach per gallon of clear water or 20 drops per gallon of cloudy formula; I found this recipe for using granular pool chlorine:
For use in purifying drinking water, first prepare a stock solution of one heaping teaspoon of granules dissolved in two gallons of water. This may then be mixed at the rate of 1 part
stock solution to 100 parts water for disinfection purposes. That would equal: 1 quart for 25 gallons, 6 1/2 ounces for five gallons, or 2 Tbsp. per gallon.

Jim, I wish you could help me find out: How much dry chlorine would be needed to make a one gallon batch of standard 5.25% chlorine bleach? I haven't been able to find that information anywhere! These HTH granules are 54% calcium hypochlorite. Perhaps you or one of your chemistry-savvy readers could figure-out the correct formula. Sincerely, - Steve W
JWR Replies:

It is best to keep your sodium hypochlorate in powdered form until just before it is used. Once it is put in solution, it weakens over time. This can create confusion about its remaining concentration when it is eventually used to treat water. Back in June of 2007, SurvivalBlog reader Terry M. kindly provided some useful details on treating water with both commonly available forms of hypochlorate powder. Perhaps some readers would care to chime in about the dry measure required for making each gallon of liquid bleach. (I'm not a chemist!)

Two Letters Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

James,
Your advice is excellent; however, one of the best tools to have for checking [water] sanitation levels is a DPD [Diethyl-paraphenylene diamine reagent] test kit available from Taylor or Hach, to name a few.
I do not recommend OTO [orthotolidine reagent] kits as they are not as accurate as DPD. A 5mg/L initial shock should take care of most contaminants.
After you have treated any water with bleach, it should be tested for free chlorine residual after 30 minutes of contact time. Water with a free chlorine residual of 4 mg/L should not be ingested for long durations as it can cause mild digestive tract issues.
NOTE: The suggested residual is between 0.5 and 1.0 mg/L (parts per million or ppm). The EPA requires all discharge to have less than a 1.0mg/L free chlorine residual before
leaving the process flow.
The great thing about chlorine is that it will kill 95+% of all the biological contaminants; however, chlorine cannot kill giardia cysts as their outer covering is very difficult to break down. One other potential problem with the use of chlorine to treat surface water is the formation of bromide compounds which are cancerous; however, unless the precursors, carbon compounds, are present the formation rate is very low. If you are treating a contaminated well, the chance of bromide formation is even lower.
If you can pre-filter and add bleach to your water then allow the free chlorine level to drop to 0.5mg/L, placing the treated water in an opaque, sanitized vessel for long periods of time should be fairly safe as long as the initial feed stock was fairly free of organic matter to begin with. Thank you for all your hard work keeping us prepared for what ever may come. Sincerely, - Drew

Jim:
Using calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water is a good idea. However, rather than trying to dump some amount of pool shock chlorine into a tank and hoping that it dissolves and mixes with the water, a better idea is to mix a slurry of it in a plastic bucket (it will corrode a metal one) and pour and mix the slurry.
Also, the halide (halogen, chlorine or iodine ions) need to be in contact with the water for some amount of time before they can kill all the bacteria - and that time is dependent on the temperature of the water. Colder water takes longer.
To test the degree of halogenation in water, I suggest that people get a pool water test kit and use it. They are very inexpensive, and easy to use: Simply get a (clean) bucket of water that's been treated, and use the pool water test kit (for halogenation), ideal 'pool water' is about 2 parts per million (ppm) chlorine, drinking water should be between 2 and 5 ppm when treated - the chlorine will gas off over time, as long as the water isn't likely to be re-contaminated (in an open top tank, for example) it doesn't really need to be retreated. Dump the 'test' water out, [orthotolidine] OTO isn't too good to drink.
The test kit will have directions but basically you put the test water into a clear chamber, add a reagent--usually orthotolidine (OTO)--to the chamber, and compare the color to the provided chart. If the water tests too low, add more slurry, if too high, next time don't add so much. People will be able to figure out the approximate 'right' amount pretty quickly.
The military chlorination kits (for Lister bags and water buffalos) suggest as much as 10 ppm. This is to allow for high levels of organic material in the water (which adsorbs the chlorine, keeping it from disinfecting the water, and allowing the water to not be retreated too quickly); you probably recall drinking beverages so treated with as much fondness as I do. - Flighter [His article follows]
How to Disinfect Water, by Flighter

How to sterilize water? Simple: You don't need to ‘sterilize’ water. Sterilization is the destruction of all microorganisms in, on and around an object. What is needed, is disinfection (killing of pathogenic (disease causing) organisms).
Disinfection can be done many ways, including filtration, heat, ozonation, and chemical disinfection.
Despite many stories to the contrary, simply boiling water will disinfect it. At any elevation you're likely be at the boiling point of water is high enough to kill (or denature) anything in the water. You don't need to boil it for any particular length of time, just get it boiling at a good rolling boil.
Filtration is a good method, you should use a filter that has an absolute rating of 0.2 micron diameter or less (0.1 micron). Personally, I use iodine crystals (Polar Pure™ first, then filter the water.
Chemical disinfection is the use of various chemicals (usually a halide like chlorine or iodine) in the water. It's usually a quick, economical and effective method.
Here is a summary of water disinfection chemical usage based on the Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines 2nd Edition, edited by William Forgey, MD (page 63):
For chemical disinfection, the key is the concentration of halogen, in parts per million (halogen to water):

Concentration of Halogen
Desired Concentration Contact time
@ 5oC / 41o F Contact time
@ 15o C / 5o F
Contact time
@ 30o C / 86o F
2 ppm 240 minutes 180 minutes 60 minutes
4 ppm 180 minutes 60 minutes 45 minutes
8 ppm 60 minutes 30 minutes 15 minutes


How to get the desired concentration of halogens, for various products:
Iodine tablets, also known as: tetraglycine hydroperiodide; EDWGT (Emergency drinking water germicidal tablets); USGI water purification tablets; Potable Aqua (trade name); Globaline (trade name):
4 ppm – 1/2 tablet per liter of water 8 ppm – 1 tablet per liter of water.

NOTE: These tablets should be gunmetal gray in color when used – if rust colored, they are useless:
The free iodine has combined with atmospheric moisture. The bottles should be kept well sealed and replaced often. Checking the tablets in the bottle just exposes them to moisture in the air.For 2% iodine (tincture of Iodine) (gtts=drops)
4 ppm – 0.2 ml (5 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.4 ml (10 gtts)
NOTE: Tincture of Iodine should not be used as a wound treatment, so this is not a good option for a 'dual use' item.

10% povidone-iodine solution (Betadine™)
NOTE: Solution only, not the "Scrub"variety - Since Scrub has soap in it
4 ppm - 0.35 ml (8 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.7ml (16 gtts)

Saturated (in water) Iodine crystals (Polar Pure ™)
4 ppm – 13 ml 8 ppm – 26 ml

Iodine crystals in alcohol
0.1 ml / 5 ppm 0.2 ml / 10 ppm

Halazone tablets (Monodichloroaminobenzoic acid)
4 ppm – 2 tabs 8 ppm – 4 tabs
NOTE: The old Vietnam era chlorine tabs are decades out of date. Chlorine tabs decay even more rapidly than iodine tabs. Not recommended.

Household bleach (Clorox™)
4 ppm – 0.1 ml (2 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.2 ml (4 gtts)
Note: Bleach offers a relatively economical method of treating large (gallons) of water at a time. 4 liters is approximately 1 gallon.
For very cold water contact time should be increased.

If drinking this water after disinfection, flavoring agents (drink mixes, etc) can be added: This must be done after the period allocated for disinfection ([otherwise] the disinfecting agent will bind to the organic material and not work).

Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

Mr. Rawles,
I want to buy some pool chlorine crystals for long term storage. Holly Deyo's book had a formula for purifying large amounts of water with this product, but how would I make a chlorine bleach substitute that could be used to purify smaller quantities of water or as laundry bleach? Is there an amount in grains or grams that could be used to make up, say, five gallons at a time? I know store bought laundry bleach like Clorox has a limited shelf life, so I wanted to be able to make [my own hypochlorite solution.] Thank you for any information you could provide. - CG in North Carolina

JWR Replies: Calcium hypochlorite is available from any swimming pool supply company. A granular (dry powder) "pool shock" product that lists only Calcium Hypochlorite as the active ingredient should be safe to use for water purification. The problem with other varieties is that they include other algaecide or fungicide chemicals that are probably not safe for human consumption. Ditto for using liquid bleach for the same purpose. With those, you want to buy plain Calcium Hypochlorite bleach. Do not buy bleach with fabric softeners, scents, et cetera. Keep in mind that bleach solutions break down and weaken with time (anticipate a 24 month shelf life), but that dry granular bleach stores indefinitely. Here is a quote from an EPA web site: "Granular Calcium Hypochlorite. Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (approximately 1/4 ounce) for each two gallons of water [to create a chlorine disinfecting solution]. The mixture will produce a stock chlorine solution of approximately 500 mg/L, since the calcium hypochlorite has an available chlorine equal to 70 percent of its weight. To disinfect water, add the chlorine solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated. This is roughly equal to adding 1 pint (16 oz.) of stock chlorine [solution] to each 12.5 gallons of water to be disinfected. To remove any objectionable chlorine odor, aerate the water..."

SurvivalBlog reader Laurelei recently reported that she found the Poolife brand "TurboShock" available $14.85 for five pounds. For purifying drinking water, two of the five pound boxes would constitute a "lifetime supply" for most folks.

Letter Re: Clarification on Calcium Hypochlorite for Water Purification

Hello James,
In reading your post on Tuesday May 16th on Water Purification, I have done some looking into this important topic. The link you provided from the EPA web site states below verbatim:
"Granular Calcium Hypochlorite. Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (approximately 1/4 ounce) for each two gallons of water. The mixture will produce a stock chlorine solution of approximately 500 mg/L, since the calcium hypochlorite has an available chlorine equal to 70 percent of its weight. To disinfect water, add the chlorine solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated. This is roughly equal to adding 1 pint (16 oz.) of stock chlorine to each 12.5 gallons of water to be disinfected. To remove any objectionable chlorine odor, aerate the water as described above."
I stopped at the local pool supply store to inquire about what they would recommend for drinking water purification. I was brought to everything but Calcium Hypochlorite. I had to ask the employee if he could verify this because it is important that I not get the wrong item. He continued to say “…this is what you want…” I asked another employee that was not privy to my discussion, and she said,…. “…this here is what you want…” Again, not the product I was looking for. In fact out of four employees, I was shown four different products. The female clerk was very inquisitive and very insistent. I told her that I thought it had calcium in it and she became even more awkward. I felt as if I was to be added to some list just for wanting to purify my water. I left there with the wrong product and was asked for my name on the receipt, (I paid cash). I wanted to bring this up as my guess is that there are those who choose to do something “illegal” with this product and it makes it harder for normal law abiding folk like myself to purchase.
I stopped at the local Big Box lumber yard and they had Calcium Hypochlorite, (a.k.a. Pool Shock) it was concerning as it states 50% Calcium Hypochlorite and 50% Other Ingredients. Making it a 50% available Chlorine.
In common language, … is this adequate? It does not seem to be of the 70% goal you mentioned on your earlier post. I think there is an equation that we need that is missing. The EPA site states there is an available 70% chlorine based on weight. Is this to be constructed as true for ALL Calcium Hypochlorite being equal to this ratio? What about the 50% OTHER INGREDIENTS? To make things more confusing, they offered another brand of this that had 47% Calcium Hypochlorite.
Please help close the gap on this topic as it is such an important one. - The Wanderer

JWR Replies: The problem with most retail store employees these is that they are marginally qualified to run a cash register, but little else. To most of them pool water chemistry is an arcane art--not rational science. Don't ask them chemistry questions!

A granular (dry powder) "pool shock" product that lists only Calcium Hypochlorite as the active ingredient should be safe to use for water purification. The problem with other varieties is that they include other algaecide or fungicide chemicals that are probably not safe for human consumption. Ditto for using liquid bleach for the same purpose.ou want to buy Calcium Hypochlorite bleach. Do NOT buy bleach with fabric softeners, scents, et cetera. Keep in mind that bleach solutions break down and weaken with time (anticipate a 24 month shelf life), but that dry granular bleach stores indefinitely.

Re: > What about the 50% OTHER INGREDIENTS?

Those are most likely inert filler. But that may differ widely, depending on maker/brand. You'll have to look at the label carefully. Be certain that there are no other chemicals, dyes, scents, et cetera before using any chlorine product for water purification!