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How To Disinfect Water In EmergencyRonald Porep, Republished from SafetyIssues Issue 14 |
Volume 4 Issue 42May 2005 |
A truck has had an accident near the
town reservoir dumping into the water storage facility thousands of
gallons of highly toxic aviation fuel. And if a terrorist group has dumped
a hazardous chemical in your community’s water supply. What do you
do?Finding Water SourceCheck any sources of water you have in your home. You should have three days supply of water stored in your home for emergencies – a gallon per person per day. More is better, of course, as water can be stored indefinitely with no bad side effects according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). |
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The IBWA adds that bottled water should
be stored in a cool (i.e. room temperature), dry environment away from
chemicals such as household cleaning products, solvents such as gasoline,
paint thinners and other toxic materials. If the emergency outlasts your emergency bottled water supply, you can, for limited amounts of water, melt the ice cubes in your freezer or even use the water in your hot water heater. |
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If you are in a semi rural area, there may be a well on your property – left over from before you started using the municipal water system – or on a neighboring property. If so, the well water is probably not contaminated as your community’s public water is so you can use the it for drinking. If your home water supply runs out before public water service is restored and you can not find a well in your area, then you will need to use water from a nearby lake or river carefully. |
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| Look at the water carefully. Avoid using the water if it has material floating in it or the water is dark in color or has an odor. If the water is just cloudy you can filter out the contaminants. Filter the slightly colored or murky water through clean cloths or allow the water to settle and then draw off the disinfection. Water prepared for disinfection should be stored in clean containers which are tightly covered and not subject to corrosion. | |
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Disinfecting Water There are two ways to disinfect water. Boiling WaterBoiling water is the most effective way to make water bacterially safe to drink. Vigorous boiling for about a minute will kill any disease causing microorganisms in the water. |
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The flat taste of boiled water can be alleviated by pouring the water back and forth between two clean containers in a process known as aeration, by allowing the water to stand a few hours before use or by adding a small pinch of salt to each quart of boiled water. Chemical Water Purification When you can not boil water, you will have to treat it chemically before drinking it. Using Chlorine Chlorine is one of the chemicals commonly used in disinfecting water. Common household laundry bleach is a good source of chlorine. The method to cleanse contaminated water with household bleach is usually printed on the label of the bleach bottle. IF the method is not printed on the bleach bottle, a good rule of thumb is to use is to add 10 drops of bleach to each quart of water – doubling that amount of chlorine for colored or cloudy water. Another source of chlorine to treat contaminated water is commercially available chlorine tablets made for treating dirty water. You can buy these tablets from drug and sporting goods stores. Use the tablets as instructed on the tablet bottle label. If no use instructions for the tablets are available then use one tablet for each quart of water to be cleansed. And granular calcium hypochlorite is a third source of chlorine to clean dirty water. Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high test granular calcium hypochlorite (about a quarter of an ounce) to every two gallons of water to be purified. To eliminate any bad odor or taste from the treated water, aerate the water as explained before. Using Iodine Iodine is another chemical that cleans contaminated water. One source of iodine should be right in your home’s first aid kit or medicine cabinet. Add 5 drops of 2% United States Pharmacopeia Tincture of Iodine to each quart of clear water. For cloudy water, add 10 drops per quart of water, Let the solution stand for at least 30 minutes. The other common source of iodine to clean water is commercially prepared iodine tablets with the needed dosage to clean impure water. You can buy iodine tablets at most drug and sporting goods stores. Use the tablets as instructed on the label on the tablets’ bottle. If you have no printed instructions for use of the iodine tablets then use one tablet for each quart of water you are decontaminating. ConclusionYour family can survive without your community water supply for a time. Just follow the directions given by your area public health officials. If you can not get directions from your public health officials then follow the directions given in this article. |
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