Water Basics

[gloomsday]

I've searched a few threads and can't really find what I'm looking for with this so here goes:

Water Storage:

Is storing water in old pop/water bottles safe? I've heard numerous stories about there being carcinogens in certain bottles, and the labels always warn of re-use.

If I do store tap water in old pop bottles/jerry cans etc, do I need to treat it first? I read somewhere to put a few drops of bleach in to be safe, but I am worried I'll contaminate it: anything too technical or risky and I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the box! — Do I need to boil it/filter it before consumption? [I know to aerate it to get the 'flat' taste out.] Will I need to use water purification tabs on tap water before or after it's stored?

Water Filtration:

Since rainwater is pretty abundant (even in British summer time ) what will I need to filter it? I'm guessing some kind of fine cloth to strain out the solids, and either tablets or bleach to sanitise it after, + good old fashioned boiling just to be safe.


I'm sure one of you will be able to help me out/point me in the right direction

[preppingsu]

I store water in used pop bottles. I make sure I give them a thoroughly good clean with a few drops of bleach. I change the water approx every 6 months, give or take a few. I wash the bottle again and refill. I figure that the rements of bleach won't matter too much as I'm likely to be boiling the water.
I think the issue of chemicals leaking into the water is worse if the bottle is left in a hot car

With filtering just use a dihydromonoxide slow sand filter which can be made using a barrel, sand and gravel

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/hawaiirain/ ... 0_Sep%2009[1].pdf

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/9241540370.pdf

the-gnole

I'm sure others will be along soon to share their thoughts.

[Ian]

The typical used pop/water bottles are fine, none of mine say don't reuse. A number of years ago there was a scare, mainly in the US, about baby bottles containing traces of a chemical, BPA. This got blown out of proportion when the people selling all sorts of bottles started claiming 'BPA Free' as a reason to buy their product. I doubt if you will find any water bottle with BPA in it these days and no one was sure if it was a problem in the first place.

So, pop/water bottles. Wash them really well and fill from your cold mains tap. The mains water in the UK is already conditioned and preserved by the water utilities and will easily keep a year, so change every six to eight months if you are bothered.

If you are buying supermarket mineral water, the plain has no preservative so use as they recommend. the fizzy carbonated water will keep much longer as the carbon dioxide used to fizz it makes it fairly acid.

Store in the cool and dark or you will get a green growth in the bottle, harmless but it does not build confidence.

Rain water is much more difficult. When there are long periods without rain the water off the roof is fairly manky, dust, bird droppings, feathers and perhaps chemicals from a tarred roof or cement tiles. Removing lumps is easy, as you say fine cloth, coffee filter etc. The chemicals and bugs are a different level though.

There are home distillers that will do the job but are expensive to buy and run. A gravity filter like the traditional British Berkfeld with the special black filters will help but still leave some bugs, viruses and many chemicals. Filtering the water, then bringing it to a boil will pasturise it so there are still some bugs but the harmful ones are killed. Boiling for ten or so minutes will drive off many of the chemicals but becomes expensive. A small camping filter will get you water for a cup of tea and cooking but is tedious and not that practicable for a family.

What to do? Perhaps; and up for discussion:
1. Put away super market water as a 'ready use' supply for a day or so. Easy.
2. Collect, fill with tap water and store pop bottles that you know the history of. Perhaps a month or two. Bulky, difficult.
3. Put in a rainfall collection system sized to hold perhaps a six month supply for the family. Design it so the first 50 or so litres from the roof is discarded when it rains so the bird droppings are not included. A 'Berky' filter to polish it followed by a quick boil if you are going to ingest it or wash the plates and cutlery. Expensive, and bulky.

You can easily reckon that in the UK we use about 150 litres of water a day and even in droughty India their consumption is rarely below 50 l/d. Not all has to be potable of course but then you need to keep strict controls on potable and non-potable water to prevent cross contamination. Very difficult in the family setting and once it occurs is a beast to decontaminate and clean up.

[Arzosah]

The water I carry round with me every day is in a lovely big pba /bpa (sorry! sp!) free container ... I'm having a 5 litre container delivered on Monday with my normal supermarket shopping, princely sum of £1.05 - the flash floods have got me thinking, it could be me next, who knows? And who knows if the mains might break down? I'll have a lot more by the end of the year, in containers I already have, but that need to be cleaned.

As for changing the water every 6 - 8 months - I wouldn't just throw it down the drain, and my garden doesn't often need huge amounts, as its clay ... I'd use it for flushing the loo!

[Arzosah]

Somebody posted this week to say that the £1 poundland type storage containers had sprung a leak - disconcerting, that, as I now have 4 of them, and I certainly don't want water all over the floor. I know its not terrible as far as a SHTF scenario goes, but in the present day, its truly not ideal!

And I'm remembering what I originally thought to do in the first place, as well as the pop bottles etc. Does anyone else have opaque plastic laundry bins? Like a kitchen waste bin, a bit like this one from ikea http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/40188340/ ? I thought it would make sense to use that for water storage. I'd prefer to clean it out beforehand, and what I'll do when I get time is clean it out and use it with a binbag inside, so that if TSHTF I can just pull the binbag of stuff out of it, and start filling it straight away.

[Moony]

Note that in countries with poor water quality and little access to advanced filters or chemical treatments simple PET bottles and sunlight are being advocated as an effective way of disinfecting water. This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection is now widespread and although we might not get as much sunshine as the areas it is normally used, it can be done in this country with increased exposure times. Another good reason to buy your water in simple 2litre PET bottles !

[junmist]

Note that in countries with poor water quality and little access to advanced filters or chemical treatments simple PET bottles and sunlight are being advocated as an effective way of disinfecting water. This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection is now widespread and although we might not get as much sunshine as the areas it is normally used, it can be done in this country with increased exposure times. Another good reason to buy your water in simple 2litre PET bottles !

Ok bit embarassing but what are PET bottles and how do you know if you have them or not

[Moony]

Most 'plastic' bottles for water and other drinks are PET, Polyethylene terephthalate. To identify it it should normally have a '1' in the recycling symbol, typically moulded into the base, along with PET or PETE. The technique i posted above for treating water shouldn't be used with the larger 3 liter bottles or with ones that are coloured. 2 litre clear bottles, unscratched and with labels removed are what u should try for..fortunately this is what most standard water bottles are anyway.

[Ian]

Solar disinfection (SODIS) using PET bottles is not possible in the UK.

The method uses the heat energy to raise the temperature of the water high enough and long enough to pasturise it as well as intense UV radiation. We just do not get that amount of energy (insolation) in the UK for long enough to be effective. The SODIS manual, page 14, only recommends using their method between latitudes of 35º North and South and best between 15º N&S.

http://www.sodis.ch/methode/anwendung/a ... nual_e.pdf

Well worth reading for its information on water and tucking away on the computer as an example of how to write a manual.

[Arzosah]

Duly tucked away, thank you. I'd like to thank the Swiss for writing the thing in English!