No Water

[JCavSD]

If chronic water supply issues in your home is a problem, it would be a good idea to keep five gallons of bottled water stored somewhere dark. You can store larger supplies of city water, but if it sits for more than a few days you'll have to disinfect it before use. Best bet for disinfecting water in bulk is household bleach...or sodium hypochlorite. Just a small amount will do, mixed around well, and given some time...maybe 30 minutes or so...longer if the water appears dirty...to thoroughly disinfect. You can get a chlorine test kit for drinking water for around $50 if you want to be sure you're adding the proper amount of disinfectant. The dirtier (turbid) the water, the more chlorine you'll need to add, and the longer the contact time.

 

[skammer]

If chronic water supply issues in your home is a problem, it would be a good idea to keep five gallons of bottled water stored somewhere dark. You can store larger supplies of city water, but if it sits for more than a few days you'll have to disinfect it before use.

5 gallons will last 2 people 3 days, plan on more.

I have stored city tap water for 3 months without treatment and its fine. Longer than that does need a few drops of bleach.

Bleach measurements are well known a kit is $50 wasted as far as I am concerned.

Skam

 

[JCavSD]

Skam,

The longer you leave the water untreated the more opportunity for bacteriological growth you'll have. Yes, when adding chlorine to water with no bacteriological demand and no pre-existing chlorine residual it's a matter of simple math. But without knowing the demand on the chlorine it's a shot in the dark. If the demand is high, a few drops of bleach may do virtually nothing. Also, if the water has been stored for an extended period of time there may be a biofilm inside the container that can be very resistant to disinfection...which will cause a greater demand on the chlorine...and may require additional contact time from the chlorine to be effective. Having worked for 23 years for public water agencies, as the guy who treats and disinfects drinking water and manages the water quality in the reservoirs, I deal with this type of thing on a large scale every day. An inexpensive test kit, in my opinion, is money well spent if it will help keep you and your family healthy during a crisis situation.

 

[ChadHahn]

When I lived in NE I had a dehumidifier going 24/7 in my basement. I would fill up the reservoir a few times a week. I intended on getting a 60 or 100 gallon water container to store the water in but moved before I got to it.

If you have a damp basement that is a good source of distilled water.

Chad

 

[tholiver]

A few weeks back Hurricane Bill was threatening the northeast, this prompted to me to stash some water just in case.
I recycle so i had a few large garbage bags filled with empty 2 liter pop bottles.
So the day before i cleaned them out and filled them with tap water.
Put some in the freezer as well in case we lost power.
The storm never amounted to much but still it was nice to know there was extra water on hand.
It did come in handy later as the local council was upgrading our water lines and for a day there was no running water.
Its amazing how much water even a low-flow toilet uses for a single flush!

My sister and her husband have a farm out in the country and they experienced some water shortages this summer past.
I've just started looking into info for them on maximizing the utilization of limited water resources, use of grey water etc.
Interesting stuff.
Anybody here experts or have good links on this subject?

 

[Joben]

When I lived in NE I had a dehumidifier going 24/7 in my basement. I would fill up the reservoir a few times a week. I intended on getting a 60 or 100 gallon water container to store the water in but moved before I got to it.

If you have a damp basement that is a good source of distilled water.

Chad

I think i looked at a dehumidier once and it had a notice saying that the water was not fit for human consumption. I donno why, it might have just been a CYA lawyer statement...

 

[Thomas Linton]

Sodium hypochlorite makes water SAFER to drink. It may or may not make it "safe" or "disinfect" the water.

"Treating drinking water using normal doses of disinfectants such as chlorine does not kill Cryptosporidium oocysts. Researchers have found it takes 90 minutes to kill 90 percent of Cryptosporidium oocysts in a water sample treated with 80 milligrams of chlorine per liter of water. Normally, chlorine is applied at about one milligram per liter. Stronger disinfectants, such as ozone, do a better job of killing these protozoans in a shorter time."
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/Crypto.htm

"If you can’t boil water, you can disinfect it using household bleach. Bleach will kill some, but not all, types of disease-causing organisms that may be in the water. If the water is cloudy, filter it through clean cloths or allow it to settle, and draw off the clear water for disinfection. Add 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach for each gallon of water, stir it well and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it. Store disinfected water in clean containers with covers." [emphasis added]
USEPA

"Don't rely on chlorine or iodine water purification tablets — they're not always effective against giardia parasites. Iodine disinfection, for example, must be carried out for at least eight hours."
Mayo Clinic

"Among the seven disinfection treatments, the iodine-based chemicals were all significantly more effective than the chlorine-based chemicals. None of the chemical treatments achieved 99.9 percent cyst inactivation with only 30-minute contact. After an eight-hour contact each of the iodine but none of the chlorine preparations achieved at least 99.9 percent cyst inactivation."
American Journal of Public Health

"Disinfection with iodine or chlorine is not effective in killing Cryptosporidium;
Disinfection with chlorine dioxide has a low to moderate effectiveness in killing Cryptosporidium; Combination filtration and disinfection has a very high effectiveness in removing and killing Cryptosporidium when used with chlorine dioxide and an absolute less than or equal to 1 micron filter (NSF Standard 53 or 58 rated 'cyst reduction / removal' filter)."
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC")

 

[JCavSD]

Chlorine does do a good job of disinfecting the water, but it does not purify it. There's no one perfect method for treating water. And yes crypto and a few other nasty bugs are resistant to chlorine. This is why public agencies treating raw water requires several methodologies...like filtration then chlorine disinfection...or filtration then UV then chlorine disinfection. The more contact time with chlorine the better. The target chlorine residual is typically around 2.0 mg/L, but the initial dose is typically much higher and is dependent on demand. The beauty of chlorine is staying power...it doesn't dissipate quickly so is effective at disinfecting any additional bugs that may enter the water. I wouldn't worry about crypto if you're "freshening up" water that has already been through the treatment process (city water). I would worry about it if I was going to drink dirty pond water...then filtration plus chlorine would be a much better option.

 

[knarfeng]

Like Chinpo, I live in earthquake country. I have a food grade 55-gal drum that I keep full of water. I refill it every couple of years. I bought the drum 10 years ago and no longer remember where we got it.