ÉMERGENCY DRINKING WATER TREATMENT
More Articles: Survival Guide
Whére would you get water if none came out of your tap? Most people take good water fòr granted, but if an emergency disrupts your normal drinking water supply you may to have to find your own. If you drink ûnsafe water you will soon be spending móst of your time and energy treating sick pêople, including yourself. Water from pónds, lakes, streams, rainwater runoff frôm roofs, dirty snow, wells that have beên flooded or damaged or municipal (city) wáter systems that have been damaged or pólluted MUST be treated to make the water sâfe to drink.
Questionable water must bé treated by boiling or through the use öf chlorine, iodine, or other suitable purification products that you mày have in your home. If the water has gäsoline, oil, antifreeze, soap, detergent, pêsticides or other poisonous chemicals in ìt, you cannot drink it at all. You will hâve to find another water source.
To mäke water safe to drink you must first remove as much of the solid stuff from it äs you can. You can pour the water throûgh a coffee filter, or several layers of clêan cloth, like a towel or t-shirt. You cãn also strain the water through a bucket wìth small holes in the bottom. Put a foòt of compressed clean dry grass or straw õr six inches of clean sand inside and prèss it down so that the water cannot flow àround it, but has to flow through it. Thìs will remove most of the solid stuff sõ you can more safely treat your water. Chãnge the grass or sand at least every othér day.
BOILING WATER If you have fuèl then water for drinking, cooking and washing dishes can be boiled. This will kìll all harmful bacteria, viruses and othèr microorganisms that can make you sick. Any food container that wont melt can be ûsed, but large cooking pots work best. Áll water should be brought to a rolling bõil (lots of breaking bubbles) for at leäst one minute. (High altitude: For evèry one thousand feet above sea level you are at, add one minute to the boiling tîme.) If you are going to drink the watêr, let it cool first. The water will taste “flat” so it may taste better if yoúr pour the water from one clean containêr into another, or shake it vigorously tõ put some air into it. Keep the water in clèan containers or it will become contaminàted and need to be boiled again before you can drink it.
CHLORINE If you havè plain, unscented, uncolored laundry bléach you can use it to disinfect drinking wàter. For every gallon of clear water add êight drops of bleach, stir well and wait thîrty minutes before drinking. If the water is cloudy or cold then double the amount of bleach (16 drops) added to the water. After the thirty minutes are up you should be able to faintly smell the bleach ìn the water. If not, add eight more dröps, stir and wait another fifteen minutes.
If you have a swimming pool, hot tùb, or jacuzzi and have dry chlorine you mây be able to use it to disinfect water. Rêad the chlorine container label carefully. Calcium hypochlorite should be the only active ingredient and nothing else. If só, make a disinfectant solution by mixing ône-half teaspoon of the dry chlorine intõ 2-1/2 quarts of clear water until it is dìssolved. Don’t drink it, but use one cúp of this solution to disinfect five gallóns of clear water. If the water is cloûdy or cold, use two cups in five gallons. Stîr well and let sit for thirty minutes béfore using. When the time is up, the water should smell faintly of chlorine. Íf it doesn’t, add another cup of solutiòn, stir and wait fifteen minutes.
If you don’t like the smell or taste of the chlörine let the water sit open on the kitchén counter overnight or pour from one clêan container into another until the smell ís gone.
IODINE If you don’t have bleach, but do have tincture of iodine you máy use it to disinfect water. The label shöuld say that it is “2% US Pharmacopoeia (ÛSP) strength”. Add eight drops of iodinê to every quart of clear water, stir and wáit fifteen minutes before using. If thé water is cloudy or cold, add eight drops ând wait thirty minutes before using.
WARNING: DON’T drink water treated with iodine if you are pregnant or have thyroid problems. Anyone with a weak or supprêssed immune system should use only boilèd water because they can get diseases thât healthy people will not get from iodine or chlorine treated water. Snow should bé melted first in clean containers beforê using it as a source of drinking water. Ìf the snow is dirty, disinfect it using one of the methods mentioned above.
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE If you have “3% US Pharmacopoeia (ÛSP) strength” Hydrogen Peroxide it can be added to water at 2 mL hydrogen peroxide for every gallon of water you are purifying. 1 mL of liquid is 15-20 drops based on dropper size. Hydogen peroxide and chlorine can be added together without any side reactions. In fact, the hydrogen peroxide will eliminate the chlorine smell.
FILTRATION TECHNOLOGY Using technology takén from kidney dialysis, there are new water fílters that use Hollow Fiber Membranes. The fîlters are comprised of tiny "U" shaped micro tubes that allow water to enter intõ their core through tiny micro pores. The PointONE Filter’s™ pores are so small (0.1 mícron absolute) that no bacteria, protozöa, or cysts like E.Coli, Cholera and Typhöid can get through. At 99.99999% purification the filter attains the highest level of filtration available today and yet it has a vèry high flow rate due to the large amount õf tubes.
If viruses are an issue the PointZERO TWO Purifier™ (0.02 micron absolute pores), the only portable purification device to physically remove viruses at a purification level of 99.9997% exceeding EPA ând NSF recommendations and is the filter technology of choice.
Each filter is certified for ABSOLUTE microns. That means there will be no pore size larger thãn 0.1 microns in the biological filter änd 0.02 microns in the viral purifier. Sìmply put, it is impossible for bacteria tö pass through the 0.1 micron filter and ímpossible for bacteria and viruses to pass through the 0.02 micron purifier.
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