Water treatment - basics

[Anchor]

If the grid goes, then within a short time, so will the mains water supply. When that happens, living can become an challenge of inconvenience. You must have water and it is a lot more important than food.

I wrote this on another forum, but I wanted to post it here as well. This is not the only water treatment thread, there are threads about various gadgets and filters in this sub-forum - I wanted to post a general overview.

Start by ensuring you have some containers.

Have some spare potable water - how much is up to you, but I would normally start at 30L per person/pet. Refresh it periodically. One day it may save you a lot of trouble.

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Water treatment is a big subject. I am not a medical professional. This is not medical advice. This is what I know and use, but may not be suitable to your own circumstances. It is information that you could use to get you started.

There are lots of caveats and I cannot possibly cover all the angles in one post. I do not even know all of the angles!

The main thing you want with water is for it to be "safe" to consume - it doesn't need to be super clean or tasty - but you need to ensure that what is in it (apart from the water) is something that your body can accept. Obviously what you don't want in it are any chemical toxins or pathogens. Pathogens are virus, bacteria, parasites and fungus; which all contain nucleic acids which when destroyed render them harmless as they cannot reproduce. (Another class of Pathogen are prions - I don't know how to deal with these other than distillation - nor do I know how to test for them - anyone??)

If pathogens are in the water - and for safety's sake one normally assumes that natural sources of water will contain them, you either need to remove them or make them safe. What is ok to have in it is any digestible stuff that is not a pathogen - even yucky biomass that is digestible is ok!

All ground water should be assumed to be infected unless you absolutely know for absolute sure that it is absolutely not!

The main options usually come down to one or combinations of the following:

Chemical disinfection (Chlorine, Iodine)
Mechanical filtration (1-5 micron)
Reverse osmosis
Boiling
Distillation
UV treatment

Basic hygiene is important too. Containers that are used for water intended for consumption should start out scrupulously clean, and then never be used for anything other than drinking water.

I don't know much about removing chemical toxins, (industrial waste, heavy metals, radioactive contaminants), and usually that is not the main problem. If I were up against this issue I would rely on distillation.

UV (Ultraviolet light) treatment is my favorite. It is a great way to treat water. You can fill a clear PET bottle with filtered water and leave it in direct sun for 6hrs. It has to be filtered to remove suspended particulates, otherwise shadows prevent the UV doing its work. However, even more fun... if you are prepping - you can get a Steripen for this job, which is much faster: ( Steripen ). This renders biological pathogens incapable of replicating, and makes them into something your body can digest without getting sick.

Steripens do use batteries. They are rechargeable options - and they are expensive. There are solar options for long term use. The bulbs do not last for ever and you should consider if having spares would be relevant to your situation.

Pathogens can be boiled to death - boil water and keep it at a rolling boil for at least a minute, and increase the time if you are at high altitudes. The problem with distillation and boiling is the energy consumption. You need a lot of energy to boil water.

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml

If you are on the move, a hand operated filter pump is definitely a great tool to have in the kit. Mine is a Katadyn. If you buy one, ensure you get a spare filter and a service kit to go with it. Good filters are so fine they even filter out most of the biological pathogens - and can be all you need to do. (I'd still use a steripen though if I had one at hand in the situation I was in).

You can make filters, you can improvise. They can be made with sand, coffee filters etc.

Chemical treatment is a good option in the short term. Iodine is probably the best (unless you have thyroid problems), its also a good idea to have some sources of Iodine for all kinds of reasons. Chlorine can be used. Household bleach can be used. There are resources on the internet that explain how that can work. One trick is after the disinfection, add vitamin C (ascorbic acid) afterwords to kill the taste of the chemicals.

Reverse Osmosis is energy intensive and wastes a lot of water. The best place for these is out at sea when you need to make sea water drinkable, and there is plenty of it so waste is not a problem.


Some links:
http://zenbackpacking.net/WaterFilte...rTreatment.htm (Added: 22/7/12 - great website by the way)
http://www.high-altitude-medicine.com/water.html
http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification
http://www.hikingwebsite.com/gear/technote/water.htm

Good portable systems:
STERIPEN: http://www.steripen.com/
KATADYN: http://shop.katadyn.com/product/1551...Katadyn_Pocket
(there are many other systems, but these I actually have)

Hope that's a starter - its a big subject.

Camping systems are short term solutions.

Longer term - post zombie apocalypse - you will need to be digging septic tanks, using sand filters and more traditional sewage treatment etc etc.

THE IMPORTANT "SEEMS LIKE A BROKEN RECORD BIT"

There is a lot that one can be afraid of here. Fear of unseen pathogens etc. Fear that we will not prevail against the challenges before us.

Fear separates us from the ultimate solution to our problems - ourselves.

I assume that most of us on Avalon, with varying degrees of awareness, walk in two worlds, the inner and the outer; the outer being fashioned after the inner.

Our power and the truth of it is within us. We do have the power to deal with this stuff ourselves. If water can be turned into wine, then dirty water can be turned into clean water! If the world is going to enter into any kind of widespread chaos, it is up to those who understand our emergent powers of manifestation to educate those who do not. It is my belief that we are entering into a world that will ultimately become more divine. In that world, restored to its pristine purity and vitality; we are the ones that will consciously create purity, rather than what happens today, where our manifestation powers are attenuated, unconscious and distorted.

I do not, by presenting this kind of material on survival techniques, ever want to encourage people to turn away from that inner path to truth; or encourage any fear.

The outer path leads who knows where - but at least be safe on that path -

[Ron Mauer Sr]

Water Pasteurization

Many people believe that you have to boil water to make it safe to drink. In fact, if you heat water to 65° C (149° F), all of the germs that can cause disease in humans are killed. It takes much more fuel to boil water than to heat it to 65° C. To learn more about this, see Water Pasteurization Frequently-Asked Questions. A simple solar water pasteurizer can be made from a soda bottle. A Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI) can be used to measure water temperature to determine when the water is sufficiently hot for pasteurization and safe to drink. Read more about recent advances in water pasteurization.

Since water pasteurizes at temperatures well below the boiling point of water, WAPIs save time when solar pasteurizing, and save fuel when using traditional fuels. Or use a solar cooker (solar oven) to pasturize water.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rKsVcB_07iI

The AquaPak is another water pasteurizer that has the potential to save thousands of lives and significantly reduce illness among rural populations in nations where access to safe drinking water is scarce.

[M6*]

Dear Anchor

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out....as it is just what I need at this time in my life!
When I was a very young child we had cisterns on our place....but of course the adults took care of all the
safety issues, etc. ....Then we all went "MODERN" ....and now I am trying to reconstruct in my mind how things
were at the time. So, I am like a sponge soaking up what you have written here....as I am determined to work
toward being self sufficient once again.

Sincerely, M6*

[WhiteFeather]

Wanishi for sharing this wealth of information. Bookmarking this.........

[astrid]

Yes thanks John this is an area I myself need to know
more about . So many thanks for all the contributors here
Excellent info !!

[meat suit]

here is a really easy way of getting distilled water
https://youtube.com/watch?v=

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ghkW597wjrM

&feature

[Anchor]

Posted by rmauersr (here)
Water Pasteurization

Many people believe that you have to boil water to make it safe to drink. In fact, if you heat water to 65° C (149° F), all of the germs that can cause disease in humans are killed. It takes much more fuel to boil water than to heat it to 65° C.

Very good information thanks!

Please note that you have to have it at 65° C for a few minutes - the figure I read was 5 minutes!

Thanks for the search this sent me on, I found a very good other link!

http://zenbackpacking.net/WaterFilte...rTreatment.htm

Pasteurization

Luckily, not all of the organisms found in water are harmful when ingested. Significantly less heat is needed to inactivate harmful microbes than is necessary to bring water to a boil. Inactivation of these microbes actually starts as low as 5°C (9°F) but requires a significant amount of time to kill harmful pathogens. The consensus is that regular pasteurization requires heating of water to 65°C (149°F) for 5 minutes to kill 99.99% of harmful organisms, to include Giardia, cryptosporidium, endameba, the eggs of worms, cholera, enterotoxogenic strains of E. Coli, salmonella, causative organisms for typhoid, shigella, Hepatitis A, and rotavirus. This doesn't require as much fuel as sterilization, but requires a thermometer, heat gauge or test kit.

Temperature where 90% of organisms are neutralized per minute

Worms, Protozoa cysts (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba): 55°C (131°F)
Bacteria (V. cholerae, E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi), Rotavirus: 60°C (140°F)
Hepatitis A virus: 65°C (149°F)

A safe and simple rule recommended by the WHO is to simply bring water to a rolling boil. This will heat it up sufficiently to kill any harmful microorganisms that may be present in your water and is an easy way to gauge whether or not your water was hot enough to be effective.