Emergency Water Purification

[Kathy]

Please add your methods to this list.


How to use Clorox Bleach for:
Emergency Water Purification

The following is the text from a full page ad by Clorox .

Boiling Is Best
Short of using a very high-quality water filter, this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and keep it simmering for at least several minutes.
Add one minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level.
Cover the pot to shorten boiling time and conserve fuel.

Liquid Clorox Bleach

In an emergency, think of this (one gallon of Regular Clorox Bleach) as 3,800 gallons of drinking water.

When the tap water stops flowing, Regular Clorox Bleach isn't just a laundry-aid, it's a lifesaver.
Use it to purify water, and you'll have something to drink.

It's the same in any natural disaster.
As the shock wears off and the days wear on, the biggest demand is for drinking water.
Time after time, relief crews hand out free Clorox Bleach with simple instructions: use it to kill bacteria in your water and you'll have purified water to drink.

Here's how: (Store these directions with your emergency bottle of Clorox Bleach.)

First let water stand until particles settle.
Pour the clear water into an uncontaminated container and add Regular Clorox Bleach per the chart.*
Mix well.
Wait 30 min.
Water should have a slight bleach odor.
If not, repeat dose.
Wait 15 min.
Sniff again.
Keep an eyedropper taped to your emergency bottle of Clorox Bleach, since purifying small amounts of water requires only a few drops.
See chart* suggestions for storage bottle replacement.

Don't pour purified water into contaminated containers. To sanitize water jugs first, see instructions** at right.

Without water and electricity, even everyday tasks are tough.
In lieu of steaming hot water, sanitize dishes with a little Clorox Bleach.
Just follow the directions below to keep dishes clean.

Whether you use Clorox Bleach in an emergency or for everyday chores, it's always an environmentally sound choice.
After its work is done, Clorox Bleach breaks down to little more than salt and water, which is good news anytime.

*Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification

2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water

8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water

1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water
If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.

(Only use Regular Clorox Bleach (not Fresh Scent or Lemon Fresh).
To insure that Clorox Bleach is at its full strength, replace your storage bottle every three months.)

**(Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution)

Mix 1 tablespoon Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water.
Always wash and rinse items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for 2 minutes. Drain and air dry.

[Deleted]

I bought a filter when I backpacked. I have bought iodine pills, but I have never used those.

tnborn

[antiquestuff]

Keep in mind bleach must be only Chlorine and no scents or other added stuff.

Neither boiling nor bleach will remove many chemical contaminants.

[momo]

Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to find regular bleach anymore? It's either scented or super strength.

[Kathy]

momo said:

Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to find regular bleach anymore? It's either scented or super strength.

Yes!! and when you do find it, it loses it's strength much quicker than it used to!! I had some that I'd stored for 3 mos in a cool, dark closet. When I opened up a gallon you couldn't even smell that 'bleach smell'.

[Kathy]

I just ran a search for survival water purification.

This came up so I read some more about aqua tabs. I think I'm going to order a few boxes but first I'll see if the wilderness stores here may carry them. I do have my Big Berkey but these would be nice in the vehicles and also in with the evacuation supplies. I'm too close to the New Madrid fault to get complacent about preparedness.

www.quakekare.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

[Deleted]

bump important

[Deleted]

In an emergency back country situation where there is no other alternative (filters, iodine, etc.), you can "filter" water by digging a hole in a dry area on a sandbar that is adjacent to a water source. The hole will fill as water leeches in from the nearby source. The sand acts as a filter for some contaminants.

[dirty]

yes they definitely make a bunch of those weird scented bleaches.i too have noticed a change in bleach over the years. thought maybe it was just me .

i wonder if the new super strength bleach is just the old/original strength bleach.

don't they make powdered bleach?

what are those aqua tabs made of?

[Kathy]

dirty said:

what are those aqua tabs made of?

This is what I found out from a search of the manufacturer site. What I don't know is what are the inert ingredients.

Aquatabs have 3.5mg od Sodium Dichloroiscyanurate as the active ingredient
and Puritabs have 17mg/tablet yet they have exactly the some
directions..........one tablet per litre

The 3.5mg Aquatab is used by Nato,World Health,Red Cross,French and UK armies,Indian ,Singapore and Indonesian military.

Dry bleach in the grocery stores doesn't have the strength to disinfect contaminated water.
You can go to the pool supply places and get a purer chlorine product such as shock and I'd read pre Y2K that those shock products would disinfect nasty water.

I'll see what I can find of my old notes on water purification.

[bbird]

You know, reading through this made me realize that putting stuff in my water wouldn't be my first thought. Yeah, I have the tablets in my pack...its just that I have grown up drinking out of streams, creeks. Even drink out of natural springs out of the mountain side. I was taught as a kid to look at the vegatation surrounding the water, make sure its running water, and if you are in doubt ask yourself if a animal would drink from the water source and if they would its good water.

I've never gotten sick, and even now when we are out in the country on car rides or hunting/trapping and the kids need a drink we pull over at a creek and they cup their hands and drink the water, lol.

There are also numerous places around here that have a pipe coming out of the mountain sides with the coldest spring water pouring out of them. People who have iron and sulfer in there wells will take milk jugs and go to these natural springs and get there drinking water.

Maybe other parts of the U.S. have these too, and if that is the case it would be an advantage to find where they are at in case of emergencies.

[Kathy]

Deb, my family always did that too-drink from clear streams and such.

But that all changed in 2001 when Cody drank from the clear stream at the back of the farm and got deathly sick. He was diagnosed with Cryptosporidia (sp?)

He had such severe diarrhea that in the course of 4 days he lost about 10# and was in a lot of distress with abdominal pain.
Even though he had no medical insurance he finally went to the doctor and was put on a course of antibiotics.
His one drink from the creek ended up causing him 8 days out of work & an almost $1000 medical bill including the meds.

Now I'm very aware of water borne illnesses and try to be as safe as possible.

[bbird]

That had to be scary for you and Cody. I was thinking last night after I posted that, I should have added that if there is farm land anywhere around that we don't drink from the water supplies. Then I started thinking about how some areas we make sure we really cook the fish good, because of toxins found in the fish.

I sounded "not picky" when I wrote the post, but in reality we are very picky about where we drink the water.

The water supplies aren't what they were when I was a kid...and I don't think we will ever be able to undo the damage already done. That is sad, to know that times have changed so much and so much damage has been done. Last year I learned that too many fallen leaves in a creek can cause a toxin buildup in the water...who knew?!