Subject: Re: You know you're in trouble when...

From: [email-masked] (Patton M Turner)
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 1994 17:21:52 GMT

[email-masked] (Bruce Schuchardt) writes:
>I usually boil my water, too, but a friend recently suggested adding
>a few drops of bleach (you know, Clorox) to water to kill germs and then
>letting it sit overnight.  I've been using bleach to disinfect beer-
>making equipment for years.  Anyone heard of doing this before?

Bleach works real well as long as the the bleach is 5.25 percent sodium 
hipochlorite.  Use 8 drops per gallon, shake for 15 min and if you don't 
get a chlorine smell retreat.  Main problem is chlorine can react with 
organic materials to form trihalomethanes (THM's) which are suspected 
carcinagens.  Municipal water systems use floculation ponds to help 
remove organic matter.  Letting the water sit for a long period of time 
will accomplish the same thing.  I have heard thatBleach deterates over 
time, but haven't been able to conform this.

Iodine solution can also be used, either tincture of iodine, or a 
saturated solution made from resublimated crystals.  The latter is real 
easy to make.  Take USP crystals.  Add Water.  Shake for 1 min.  If any 
crystals remain you have a saturated solution. Add 0.0125% (12.5 ml 
per liter/quart) saturated solution to water at room temp.  Iodine is 
used in many water purification tablets such as Potable Aqua, because it 
is not as senstitive to the pH, tekperature, or organic content of the 
water as chlorine.  It is not reccomended for people with 
hyperthyroidism. or for long term use.

I prefer a ceramic filter such as the Katadyn myself.  If I had to make 
it last for a long time I would run the water through a prefilter to 
remove as much of the sediment as possable.

Activated charcoal with chlorine pretreatment is another good method, and 
is the only non energy consuming way I know of to remove chemicals from 
the water.

Pat