Drink swimming pool water?

[Hank]

Hey, I`m just asking 
I`m pretty sure the kids are old enough that they no longer `go` in it.
IIRCC, it is over 10k gallons (24` dia. x ~50" deep) and just wondered what it would take to be safe to drink? In-line chlorine treated with sand filter.
I am outside the city but have city/rural water, no well.
Never considered having to`bug out`but rather keep enough canned goods to keep family of four alive for at least a month maybe 2.
I have considered getting some water purification tablets because of near by creek and pond.

[A-FIXER]

Don't see a problem Hank if no tablets then boil and 16 drops of clorox per gal will do the trick and if you have iodine better yet. Do get dried good as well rice, beans, items kept in cool will last when sealed from air 30 yrs.... 1/2 cup of rice and beans will go along way no its not micky-ds but you have a stomach full and beans gives you almost as much as meat....

[Mudinyeri]

Boil it and go.

As an add-on to A-FIXER's comments about rice and beans ... consider a pressure cooker.  It will significantly reduce the cooking time and save on cooking fuel.  Soak the beans overnight before pressure cooking (or traditional cooking).

[66bigblock]

I think 16 drops per gallon for pool water would be way too much.  Most recommend 8 drops per gallon for clear water - 16 for dirty or cloudy water.  I guess you cant be too safe, but unless it sat untreated for a long time or was visibly dirty, 4-8 drops per gallon should be plenty.  In its normal state, pool water already has a significant amount or chlorine which is a form of bleach in it already. 


FYI - my pool water is also a part of our "bug in" prep plan.

LOTS of easy to find resources about this topic on google.


66bigblock

[Phantom]

FYI - my pool water is also a part of our "bug in" prep plan.

Mine as well
the only thing that sacres me about doing it is

[GreyGeek]

http://www.i4at.org/surv/bleach.htm
I am copying them here in case that URL goes away.


Emergency Water Purification
The following is the text from a full page ad by Clorox .


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boiling Is Best
Short of using a very high-quality water filter, this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and keep it simmering for at least several minutes. Add one minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level. Cover the pot to shorten boiling time and conserve fuel.

Liquid Clorox Bleach

In an emergency, think of this (one gallon of Regular Clorox Bleach) as 3,800 gallons of drinking water.

When the tap water stops flowing, Regular Clorox Bleach isn't just a laundry-aid, it's a lifesaver. Use it to purify water, and you'll have something to drink.

It's the same in any natural disaster. As the shock wears off and the days wear on, the biggest demand is for drinking water. Time after time, relief crews hand out free Clorox Bleach with simple instructions: use it to kill bacteria in your water and you'll have purified water to drink. Here's how: (Store these directions with your emergency bottle of Clorox Bleach.)

First let water stand until particles settle. Pour the clear water into an uncontaminated container and add Regular Clorox Bleach per the chart.* Mix well. Wait 30 min. Water should have a slight bleach odor. If not, repeat dose. Wait 15 min. Sniff again. Keep an eyedropper taped to your emergency bottle of Clorox Bleach, since purifying small amounts of water requires only a few drops. See chart* suggestions for storage bottle replacement.

Don't pour purified water into contaminated containers. To sanitize water jugs first, see instructions below.

Without water and electricity, even everyday tasks are tough. In lieu of steaming hot water, sanitize dishes with a little Clorox Bleach. Just follow the directions below to keep dishes clean.

Whether you use Clorox Bleach in an emergency or for everyday chores, it's always an environmentally sound choice. After its work is done, Clorox Bleach breaks down to little more than salt and water, which is good news anytime.

*Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification

2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water

8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water

1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water

If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.

(Only use Regular Clorox Bleach (not Fresh Scent or Lemon Fresh). To insure that Clorox Bleach is at its full strength, replace your storage bottle every three months.)

**(Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution)

Mix 1 tablespoon Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water. Always wash and rinse items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for 2 minutes. Drain and air dry.

[Hank]

Awesome Chlorox Bleach tip GreyGeek. I keep a gallon on hand for such an emergency, but yet I never had read any instructions for actual use. Thank You.

[A-FIXER]

I use the 16 drops as it can not kill you maybe clean you out better safe than sorry.

[Husker_Fan]

I'd be inclined to filter pool water to remove the various chemicals added to it.

[66bigblock]

I use the 16 drops as it can not kill you maybe clean you out better safe than sorry.

Agreed!   


66bigblock

[GreyGeek]

I'd be inclined to filter pool water to remove the various chemicals added to it.

If the chemicals are in solution (dissolved) filtering will not remove them unless they are organic and the filters are activated carbon.   Dissolved minerals, like those used to treat pool water, are best removed by distillation or reverse osmosis. 

If gasoline or oil are in the water then the best approach is to let a spigoted  container of the water set for a while so those fuels can float to the top, then let the water out through the spigot.  There will be miscible amounts of oil and gas in the water but boiling it for a while will remove them, since the boiling point of gas is lower than that of water, and oil isn't as miscible as gas.   Activated charcoal *may* remove miscible amounts of gas or oil, but once they loose that ability they have to be reactivated by running live steam through the filters for about an hour, depending on the size of the filter, then rain or distilled water for 20 minutes to wash out any dissolved solids trapped in the filters.

[CitizenClark]

Mine as well
the only thing that sacres me about doing it is

This scares me a bit: http://news.discovery.com/human/health/chlorinated-pools-swimming-cancer.htm

More importantly for short-term and medium-term survival, I don't like the idea of killing off all the very important microbes in your gut by drinking heavily chlorinated water. Your bathroom life is going to get a lot more interesting if you do.

If you are relying on pool water, here is a how-to on dechlorinating it to make it more useful as drinking water, etc.: http://www.wikihow.com/Dechlorinate-Water

[GreyGeek]

Public water utilities set 1 ppm as the target goal for the amount of Chlorine coming out of the consumer's fosset.   You can always tell if the amount is just right -- you won't smell it.   If you smell Chlorine in your tap water it is either because there is too much, and you are smelling the Cl2 gas, or it is too low, and there wasn't enough to decompose the chlorinated hydrocarbons that are formed when Chlorine reacts with organics in the water.   These chlorinated hydrocarbons are usually carcinogenic.

Activated charcoal removes Chlorine from the water.   As the cost of electricity rose I switched to reverse osmosis, and most of these devices have pre and post carbon filters which make sure that Cl2  and other organics are removed.   My home had an under the sink RO system with filtration.  After we sold it and moved into a condo apt we found it didn't have RO, so we bought this device:
http://www.pure-earth.com/pro.html
and we have the 50 gal/day version.  Our sonic humidifier takes about 5 gallons per day and our 2.5 gal drinking water container needs to  be  refilled about once a  day, for a total of  about 8 gallons per day.   The filter started out delivering about 12 ppm water but as we used it the quality improved to the point where it now delivers water with only 4 ppm Total Dissolved Solids.   It takes about an hour to fill up the humidifier and about the same to fill up the drinking water.