Sterilizing water with Clorox?

Question

How can you make water safe to drink with Clorox.

Answer 1

The easiest way to purify water is by keeping it at a rolling boil for 10 minutes to kill any disease-causing bacteria. To improve the taste, try adding a pinch of salt to each quart. Water that has been stored for any length of time is best aerated by pouring it from one bucket to another several times to improve its taste.


However, though "It is common knowledge that boiling water for 15 - 20 min is sufficient for destruction of the pertinent microorganisms. This treatment is limited to emergency situations and is frequently recommended by utilities in such cases." ----Chemistry of Water Treatment, 2nd. Edition; 1999. And it may not get all cysts and spores.


Note the key words, pertinent microorganisms and emergency situations. What this means to the reader of this page is, if you did not prepare for The Total Collapse of the Financial System, etc.; boiling should get you through, but you want to have more for water purification (what this page is about) than just heat for boiling. You want clean, pure, potable (drinking) water. But, many of the microorganisms in water are not all bad. It is the harmful ones you want out and boiling seems to do the job in most cases.


Boiling does kill pertinent bacteria. The boiling process "kills vegetative bacterial and fungal pathogens and many viruses within 10 minutes; less effective on endospores." (See: Physical Methods Used to Control Microbial Growth, table later). And, as the water is boiled, some is evaporated off in the process thereby concentrating any heavy metals, salts, nitrites/nitrates and other contaminants left in the raw water or even the tap water if a problem presents a temporary to permanent malfunction in the water treatment process. You don't want these contaminants either. This document will show you how to get ride of these too.


You can also use the metal ions, (Ag+), Silver, for the purification of water. This has been known since antiquity. There are reports, and more will occur in the not-too-distant future, of European and Russian uses of this precious metal in the water supplies of villages. The advantages of silver are long residual bactericidal activity with low concentrations of the metal.


The disadvantages are that you must pretreat the raw water to remove turbidity, organic color, dissolved volatile organic chemicals, and so forth. Also, spores and cysts are resistant. Cold temperatures reduce the efficiency of the silver ions. You need long contact times of the silver with the microbials.


To improve taste by pouring stored water from one bucket to another prior to use, does not improve taste by putting oxygen in the water; but does so by helping--in a very small manner (possibly)--remove some volatile organic chemicals, and help in removing hydrogen sulfide that causes bad taste and odors.


Most people assume, often erroneously, that if the water is smelly and taste bad, it is bad. This is seldom the case, but, nevertheless, people won't drink smelly, off-colored, tasting water. More often than not, after aeration, bucket to bucket type, a small, depending on the supply of water, sludge is formed trapping the odorous components that must be removed by coagulation (flocculation) and sedimentation; then filtration. Also, you want to get rid of naturally occuring organic matter, such as Amino acids, algae, breakdown products of humic and fulvic acids that can lead to off-tasting water, and other things. We show you how, as best possible, on this page for the harsh things coming. Water will be one of the dire things in short shrift when this all goes down.


In the J. Am. Water Works Assoc., Pangborn, R. M. and L.L. Bertolero; 64:511 (1972) points out that the insipid, flat tasting of water is not caused, as commonly believed, by low levels of dissolved oxygen or the salts of minerals. Test were performed for dissolved oxygen on distilled water vs non-distilled water (clean and pure of course) with 1000 mg/L NaCl, and it was found that no significant distinctions could be made as to the oxygen content or mineral salts affecting taste. "These data led to the conclusion that DO (dissolved oxygen) content had little, if any, effect on the taste of drinking water." ----The Chemistry of Water Treatment, 2nd. edition; 1999.

Two chemicals usually found in the home will be effective for water disinfection.
Chlorine bleach (Clorox, Purex, etc...) is an excellent disinfectant for water. (Note: Chlorine kills bacteria, but only some to many viruses, depending on the chlorination (simple to Superchlorination). Iodine kills bacteria and viruses.) Check the label for the percentage of sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) present. Then follow this chart:
1% 40 drops per gallon
4 to 6 % 8 drops per gallon
7 to 10 % 4 drops per gallon

Mix thoroughly and let stand for 30 minutes. The water should have a slight chlorine odor. If not, repeat the dose and let the water stand 15 minutes more. Chlorine tends to break down after 6 months in your stored water.


People just can not store enough liquid chlorine bleach for what is coming. Also, it weakens over time. I have investigated this matter and have found that swimming pool water purifications have the bleach in dry form. But, beware, you don't want something that has all sorts of other chemicals listed. It may not list them, but will say it has clarifiers, anti-foamers, etc. in the dry bleach---stay away from this type.

One brand we recommend is Granular Dry Chlorinator by PoolTime. You can get it at Home Depot for $44.00. It comes in 25 pound plastic buckets and consists primarily of Calcium Hypochlorite. We like this brand because Calcium Hypochlorite [Ca(OCl)2] is not hygroscopic (does not attract water); practically clear in water solution; and, which is very important, a stable chlorine carrier. A strong oxidizing material (read our book, Chemical/Biological WarFare ... How You Can Survive for more information on oxidizing material for chemical and biological agents.

Note :
Sodium hypochlorite is the liquid form of chlorine, known as Laundry Bleach (Purex and Clorox, for example) to most persons.

Calcium hypochlorite is the dry or solid form of chlorine and comes in tablet or powder form.

Iodine from your medicine cabinet or first aid kit will also purify water. It will usually be found at the strength of 2% United States Pharmacopoeia (U.S.P).
For clear water, add 20 drops per gallon
For cloudy water, add 40 drops per gallon


Let stand in a sealed container for 30 minutes before drinking.


Other iodine water purification methods use Iodine Crystals. Two that we highly recommend, and have tested ourselves, are:

Iodine Crystals; USP For Water Purification Use Only: 4-ounce bottle treats 1,000 gal. water. Millennium Outfitters, LLC [phone].

Polar Pure Water Disinfectant. Treats up to 2000 quarts of water (500 gal). Call NITRO-PAK; Voice: 1-800-866-4876; Fax: 1-888-NITRO-PAK. Also, ask them to send you their complete catalog. Tell them we sent you.

Another alternative is water purification tablets, available at drug stores or the camping supply areas of other stores. Follow the manufacturer's directions. One researcher writes that the water purification tablets tend to last only 6 months or so... And, if they are turning gray and/or powdery, they have lost most of their potency!

Answer 2

The place to buy THIS kind of hydrogen peroxide is the health food store and they will keep it in their freezer. It is not the watered down variety you can buy in the dept.stores. It is a powerful kind, and you keep it in your freezer, and away from children, and you handle it very carefully, with plastic gloves on etc. Then when you are saving water in glass gallon jugs, you will prepare it with this safe water. As to exactly how many drops you use per gallon, look for directions on the label. Once prepared this water lasts a long time (as long as it is not opened.)

Answer 3

I have often see the older generation, pour bleach (Clorax) down a well to make the water safe to drink. I don't know the exact ratio, but I bet you could contact the AMERICAN RED CROSS and they would have that info.

Answer 4

you want to flush out your well.. ?

what you need to do is pour some bleach down your well.. and then let it sit for a bit.. and then pump the well out.. keep your taps running... untill you can no longer smell bleach in your water


http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/health/environmental/drinking_water/well_disinfect.jsp

Answer 5

bleach is produced from chlorine, and chlorine kills bacteria and other germs