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| Water Storage and Homemade Water Filter |
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Water Storage and Homemade Water Filter
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Water Storage
Notes on Water Storage – November 2005
Guest Lecturer: Jim Callison, Director, Environmental Tech, Earth Sciences Department, UVSC
How much to store:
Two gallons per person, per day for a two week period = 28 gallons per person.
Family of four = 112 gallons
Family of six = 168
NOTE: Don’t forget your pets!
Containers to store in:
Polyethylene works well. For small quantities, a well-cleaned two liter soda bottle also works
You should store three different sizes:
1) 50 gallon drum – for lots of water that you won’t be able to, or need to,
transport. Make sure to get a siphon or pump in order to get the water out.
2) 5 to 7 gallon containers – these are heavy, but transportable.
3) 2 liter or small plastic bottles – very transportable, especially for small
children. This size is also good for transportation because you can pack a lot of
them into several small places.
Rotation:
Water should be rotated every six months to 1 year. A bio-film can form over long term storage. It is not dangerous, but it can make the water taste disgusting.
Bottled water is not necessarily the best quality; your tap water is probably better quality and better tasting in most cases. The bottled water industry is not very well regulated. To get the results of testing and the quality of different brands go to: www.nrdc.org. Look at the “Turbidity test”; this is the test that measures the cleanliness of water.
The NRDC site has done extensive testing and has shown that ¼ of all bottled water has E.coli present in it. If you are unable to visit this site just know that the safest brands are bottled by the major bottling companies (Pepsi, Coke, etc…), they know and follow proper bottling procedures.
Purifying Water:
To purify water, the best way is to boil, at a rolling boil, for one full minute. This will kill almost 100% of any organisms present in the water. If you use bleach you only need one drop for every five gallons (unscented – non detergent). This will discourage bio-film build up, but is not the most effective way to disinfect water.
When using bleach, a 3% solution strength is all that is needed. Make sure that you rotate your bleach because it loses its effectiveness over time; it needs to be rotated each year. (Bleach will kill many organisms, but not all – boiling is the best method, if possible.)
NOTE: Bleach becomes ineffective if added to boiling water, it will evaporate.
If using purifications tablets to purify your water, be careful. Iodine tablets can cause birth defects to a fetus at certain stages in development.
Filters:
It is much easier to store a good filter than it is large quantities of water. In emergencies we usually still have water, but it needs to be treated (boiled, filtered) to be made safe.
A good quality backpack brand filter is PUR, Katadyn, or MSR. The backpack filters work well if you have to leave your house
Fiberglass filters are easy to transport and can travel well, but they only filter about 200 gallons and then you have to change the filters. You need to make sure that you have a spare on hand.
Ceramic filters are cleanable which they can filter more water in the long run. They are more fragile and can break. It also takes longer to filter the water, but it will filter just about everything out.
Just because you filter the water it doesn’t mean that it will necessarily taste good. If you are concerned about the flavor of your water, you want to buy a filter that has activated carbon in it or have flavor powders in your storage to cover the bad taste.
To order ceramic filters:
There are several different websites that you can visit to buy the ceramic drip filter shown on the other page. You can either buy the entire system (which can be quite costly) or you can buy the replacement filter and make your own filtering system (I will try to get pictures on this site to show you a simple and inexpensive system that is easily transportable also.) The replacement filters will cost about $35.00 to $40.00, depending on where you buy them.
Some places that you can check are:
www.jamesfilter.com
www.apswater.com
or go to
www.google.com
and type in Doulton filters or British Berkefeld filters.
You can compare the costs and decide for yourselves. I am sure that you will also be able to find the same system in local stores. Every house should have some type of filter; you can live for quite some time without food, but you just can’t live without water and after seeing pictures of the various little guests that live in Salem pond, I will NOT drink it without filtering it first! It really is best to rely on your stored water and REMEMBER - Two gallons per person, per day for a two week period = 28 gallons per person.
Home Water Systems:
There are different filters for different objectives:
Taste: Activated carbon system – the bigger the better.
Germs: Fiberglass filters / 0.5 micron or less (minimum) OR 0.2 micron is even better.
Overall Quality: Reverse Osmosis system (about $300 to $500).
Best: Reverse Osmosis (for germs) with activated carbon (for taste).
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Created on 02/26/2005 04:40 PM by daleb
Updated on 04/24/2006 11:03 AM by daleb
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