# Bleach to water ratio to sterilize pond water for drinking?



## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

This is for emergencies not regular use if it makes any difference.
Thanks!


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

Is this before you filtered it or after? What type of filter did you use? Did you aerate it or not?There is no pat answer it all depends on what the products that make it undrinkable are.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

From memory 2-5% not sure on ratio, but I would boil before taking that route.
reason I'd wait for the bleach or most of it to dissipate. 

Its a very tiny amount you would need though. 

Do not confuse chlorine with Bleach.

Not sure on the accuracy here looks about right though?

http://www.csgnetwork.com/h2oemergencypurifycalc.html


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

200 parts per million -- go to a restaurant supply house and get some test strips.
Works out to about a cap full of bleach per 10 gal of water


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

8 drops per gallon is what the Uncle Sam told us while in the Service. That was in 1982 when bleach was something like 14% sodium hydrochloride. Around 1987 or so the bleach manufacturers cut that in half.
Eta: of course the price never did reflect that


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## beachcomber (Dec 2, 2008)

200 ppm is way to much . Should be .5 ppm or one half ppm.


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## kaitala (Mar 24, 2011)

Filter through something first (cloth, coffee filter, etc). Then let settle to get larger particulates out. Gently pour off clear water.

Add 8 drops per gallon, then agitate, and let sit for at least 1/2 hour. Smell it. It should still smell like bleach a bit. If not, then add another 8 drops, agitate and let sit another 1/2 hour. Continue process until you can smell a hint of bleach.


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

I'd do some serious research on using a system that uses Hydrogen Peroxide. Bleach will kill all the bacteria, which is something you don't want to do.
web site for 35% food grade HP.
http://www.purehealthdiscounts.com/h2o2.htm
http://survivalrecovery.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/using-hydrogen-peroxide-h2o2-to-purify-water/


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## meddac (Nov 21, 2008)

It's 2-4 drops per gallon and it needs to just be regular bleach with no scents etc. Here's a great site and if you have beavers like I do (even though I kill them off) it won't help with giardia. http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile49b.stm


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Here is a safe, cheap way to purify water of bacteria, viruses and such recommended by the WHO. 
http://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN


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## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

i wonder how it is that people know this....and im taking notes


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## Marshloft (Mar 24, 2008)

vicker said:


> Here is a safe, cheap way to purify water of bacteria, viruses and such recommended by the WHO.
> http://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN


 Wonder what it is about the PET bottles. Pretty sure the P part is Polycarbonate, name brand would be lexan, most people would recognize the name.
Good article btw.
Friend of mine asked how he could keep his chicken waters from turning green. Told him about HP,,, no more green algae.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I think, from what I read there, that it is simply that they are commonly available and unbreakable. I'm sure glass jars, jugs or bottles would work better, or at least as well.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I just love the internet! How wonderful is it to have access to all of this information without even leaving your home? We should enjoy it while we can 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate
_"Polyethylene terephthalate (sometimes written poly(ethylene terephthalate)), commonly abbreviated PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P, is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food and other liquid containers; thermoforming applications; and engineering resins often in combination with glass fiber. The term polyethylene terephthalate is a source of confusion because this substance, PET, does not contain polyethylene. Thus, the alternate form, poly(ethylene terephthalate), is often used in scholarly journals for the sake of accuracy and clarity.[4]"_

From the sodis site...
_"We recommend using PET bottles in the application of the SODIS method because they are light and do not break. They are also easy to obtain in many regions. However, glass bottles or special bags can also be used. PET bottles are usually labelled as such, but they are not called by the same name in all countries.
Factsheet Glass vs. PET (EN, FR, ES)
Factsheet Bottle vs. Bag (EN, FR, ES)
Factsheet Use of Bags (EN, FR, ES)

The bottles must be transparent and colourless. PET bottles often have a bluish tinge. This is not a problem. Heavily scratched bottles must be replaced.
Factsheet Ageing of bottles (EN, FR, ES)

The bottles must not hold more than 3 litres.
Factsheet Depth of water (EN, FR, ES)"_


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

I would give some serious thought to getting a good filter such as a Big Berkey.................


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## LonelyNorthwind (Mar 6, 2010)

Jim-mi said:


> I would give some serious thought to getting a good filter such as a Big Berkey.................


And if that's too spendy, there are instructions on the internet for making your own charcol filter with a couple 5-gallon buckets. I wouldn't drink any water with chemicals in it.


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## casusbelli (Jan 6, 2009)

forget ppm, unless you can count water molecules.

From my research: it's 8 drops per gallon if water is clear or prefiltered.
It's 16 drops per gallon if it's cloudy.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

Good point _casusbelli_.
I knew it was very little, I must of been thinking of the recommendation for killing mildew.

On the filter you can also buy the berky filter elements and make your own.
Think if the water where on the merky side I would do a prefilter, sand or sand and charcoal.
Would help extend the element life.
I still think I would boil it. those filters sometimes fail.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Lots of armchair speculation. We get water from a creek. Generally, when I charge the cistern it takes about 500 gallons of water. As it is entering, I dump about 10 oz of bleach into the flow of water. Why so much? The bleach seems to also help remove a lot of the TDS, which ends up as a mud at the bottom of the cistern. After a day or so, the chlorine levels drop to where they are slightly visible when using a pool chlorine test kit. The water then goes through our Doulton filter, which also has activated charcoal in it and can remove residual chlorine. We've been doing it for over five years and are still alive, never had any indication of water borne illness, so it seems to work fine. About the only thing I have noticed is that when the leaves first fall in autumn, there is a difference in the water. Very rarely, if the water is turbid, I'll also add some food grade alum to help with the sedimentation in the cistern.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

kaitala said:


> Filter through something first (cloth, coffee filter, etc). Then let settle to get larger particulates out. Gently pour off clear water.
> 
> Add 8 drops per gallon, then agitate, and let sit for at least 1/2 hour. Smell it. It should still smell like bleach a bit. If not, then add another 8 drops, agitate and let sit another 1/2 hour. Continue process until you can smell a hint of bleach.


This is correct. Your bleach will react with everything in the water. If there's too much other "stuff", the bleach gets used up before it gets everything, and some of the leftovers are bacteria, viruses, and what-all that you want to get rid of. 
Another filter you can use is a sand filter - just packed sand in something with holes top and bottom, and a rag at the bottom to keep the sand in. If the water is muddy with fine suspended clay that won't settle or even filter very well, you can settle it out using large polyvalent (multi-charge per atom) metal salts. Alum works really well, and is used by water utilities, but if you want to cut down (not out) aluminium exposure you could stir in a very little cement dust - say half a teaspoon per gallon. It makes the fine suspended matter clump together loosely (flocculate) and settle out.


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## coolrunnin (Aug 28, 2010)

This has quite a bit of information for using clorox for a variety of disinfecting purposes.

http://www.clorox.com/pdf/5813-50_service-bulletins.pdf


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Bleach doesn't kill giardia.


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

Jim-mi said:


> I would give some serious thought to getting a good filter such as a Big Berkey.................


With Berkey's astronomically high failure rate, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I don't hate anyone so much that Iwant them dead, so I don't recommend that product. Why not get something reputable, like a Doulton?

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sp...berkey-red-food-color-test-picture-heavy.html


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

I'd want the water tested before and after treating to be sure treatment was working. Also, bleach does not remove farm chemicals which is in most surface water in the Midwest and probably the rest of the country.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Common Tator said:


> With Berkey's astronomically high failure rate, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I don't hate anyone so much that Iwant them dead, so I don't recommend that product. Why not get something reputable, like a Doulton?
> 
> http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sp...berkey-red-food-color-test-picture-heavy.html



Be aware that this was brought to the Berkley people's attention and seems that they've worked on fixing the filters. So, do your own tests and ask questions before using this as your guide. It may have been a bad batch of filters, and corrected by now.


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

It was at least a year and a half's worth of bad batches of Bleck Berkey filters. At the link I provided above, please read post #94, from The Berkey Guy. That was the last I had heard from anyone associated with Berkey who was willing to admit that there had been a problem. He says that filters that were sold in late 2010, through May of 2011 they knew of problems.

However they continued to ship filters that they knew to be defective. They had identified a problem, redesigned the things and had the new filters in production in June of 2011. But that didn't stop them from shipping my order that same month with the defective ones. Well, the redesigned filters were also defective. 

And as I recall, they redesigned the m AGAIN, and guess what? According to post #94 from The Berkey Guy, as of January 2012 "In relation to new filter sets that we are offering even in the last few months, we have heard of some problems, and NMC redesigned the base, as soon as they heard of problems with the filters."

That was the last I ever heard. They were still having trouble with he newly redesigned Berkeys. The Berkey Guy never checked back in to tell us if they ever corrected the problems. I can say that my comments on various forums have been censored at the request of a sponsor who is a Berkey dealer. It seems that while they won't be forthcoming about the defective filters that they sold, they sure don't want current or future customers to know about it.

But Angie, if you are aware that they ever fixed the defects,could you please post a link? I have asked, and never got a reply.


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

So in reading other forums, the problems continue. 
A woman on page 7 of this thread says she tested water from her Berkey and found coilform bacteria.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=178353&page=8

Lots of people very unhappy with their Berkey purchases.


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## meddac (Nov 21, 2008)

Too much hype and no third party research with berkey. I went with a large katadyn instead.


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