Water Treatment in a Disaster Situation
Jay Whimpey, P.E. President of The American Civil Defense Association
Most drinking water in the United States is treated using a filtration process followed by disinfection with chlorine. A very common method for treating the effluent from sewage treatment plants is also disinfection with chlorine. It is likely that in a major disaster situation the normal processes for delivering clean safe water to your home will be affected. In fact, there are many minor problems that can affect your drinking water source on a more frequent basis such as a water line rupture or contamination of the local storage tanks. Warnings are posted quite often from local public utilities to boil your drinking water when problems like this occur.
We should be prepared to treat water to make it safe for drinking any time our drinking water supply is interrupted or contaminated. The preparations to do so are very simple and inexpensive and will be covered in this article. But first we will cover some basic information.
We should also store at least 10 gallons of drinking water per person for emergency situations. The storage will allow time to either evacuate the current area or identify an alternate source of water in our local area.
Water Filtration and Clarification
Water that has a significant amount of solids is almost impossible to properly disinfect. The foreign materials in the water react with the chlorine requiring a significantly higher dose and the solids normally have small cavities and pores that allow disease causing organisms to “hide” and not receive the full concentration of the disinfection agent. The most effective way to remove the solids is by filtration. I recommend filtering the water before it is disinfected.
Another useful process is clarification where the solids are allowed to settle out of the water and collect at the bottom. This process can be done before or after filtration. It is advisable to clarify the water before filtration if it is significantly muddy because it will reduce the loading on the filter. If you are collecting water from a mud puddle the clarification step before filtration is advisable but if you are collecting water from a clear lake or pond it is largely unnecessary.
All water should be filtered before disinfection even if it appears clear. I have collected water from a clear mountain stream that appeared perfectly clear and once it was placed in a white plastic bucket it was apparent that there were numerous dark particles. Once the water was filtered it was surprising how much material was in the water. There are industrial filter socks available that can filter particles much smaller than you can see and can actually filter out a significant amount of certain types of bacteria.
A good food grade industrial filter bag, available through the TACDA website, will remove 99.5% of particles 1 micron or larger. They are recommended for drinking water filtration. These filters are used in many small town or remote site drinking water systems such as established Boy Scout camps. An alternate expedient filter is shown in “Nuclear War Survival Skills” but it would take time to construct and would not be very portable. Fabric or coffee filters can be used in an emergency situation but are not as effective as the industrial filter bags.
How Chlorine Works
Chlorine kills disease causing organisms such as virus and bacteria by chemically reacting with them. It forms a chemical bond with the outer layer of the organism and changes the character of that outer layer making it less protective. As more chlorine reacts with the organism the internal parts and enzymes are changed or destroyed making it non-viable and causing it to die. Various organisms have different resistance to chlorine and therefore the time for complete disinfection can vary.
The time for proper disinfection can also vary depending on the pH, temperature, concentration of the chlorine, and the amount and character of contaminants but if you follow the process outlined here it should be effective essentially all of the time as shown by the fact that this process is used so often to treat drinking water.
The disinfection time for various organisms is shown below based on a concentration of 1 ppm chlorine, at a pH of 7.5, and a temperature of 70 F.
Organism
E. coli
Hepatitis A Virus Giardia Parasite Cryptosporidium
Time for Disinfection 1 Minute
16 Minutes 45 Minutes
7 Days
Recommended Water Treatment Kit Kit Components with Approximate Costs:
1. Five-gallon plastic buckets(2)
2. Gamma Seal lids (2)
3. Large plastic funnel
4. Small plastic funnel
5. Filter sock
6. Eye dropper and container with lid
$ 6.00 each $ 8.00 each
$ 3.00
$ 2.00
$15.00
$ 3.00
7. One-gallon 5% to 6% bleach (no scents or additives) $ 5.00
8. Two-liter plastic bottles with lids (juice containers preferred), roughly one bottle for each family member. Juice containers are much more heavy and durable than soda pop bottles. They usually have a wider mouth that is more convenient.
9. Dry calcium hypochlorite powder or granules can be found at swimming pool supply or aquarium stores for roughly $5 per pound.
Instructions:
1. Install Gamma Seal lids and mark plastic buckets and store kit components in the buckets in a designated convenient location. When the water treatment process is needed remove the kit contents from the buckets being careful to keep the contents clean.
2. Scoop water from a ditch, stream, pond, or canal using one of the buckets in the kit and filter water through the filter bag into the second bucket using the large funnel and filter bag. This step may require two people or securing the bag and funnel before filtration. Rinse the second bucket a few times with filtered water to remove any particulate matter.
3. Once there is an adequate amount of water that has been filtered into the second bucket, pour the water into the two-liter juice containers using the small funnel.
4. Pour a small amount of bleach into the small container for the eye dropper and then be sure to immediately close the large liquid bleach container. Be careful not to splash or spill the bleach because it can damage eyes, skin and clothing. The small container for the eye dropper can be any small plastic bottle that has a tight fitting lid with a gasket.
5. Place at least eight drops of bleach solution in each two-liter container full of filtered water and close the lid tightly. The container can be gently inverted to aid in proper mixing of the bleach. Wait at least thirty minutes after the bleach has been added before consuming water. Wait longer if possible. If there is not a bleach smell when the container is opened, add an additional four drops of bleach to the bottle and wait an additional thirty minutes. Repeat until you can smell residual chlorine.
6. Once the disinfection process is complete the two-liter bottles can then be left open or the contents poured into another container with a large opening to help dissipate residual chlorine before consumption.
7. Hang the filter sock to air dry before placing it back in the storage containers to prevent mildew. The sock can be cleaned once dry to remove dirt and debris that were filtered. Keep the outside of the filter sock as clean as possible by storing in the clean bucket.
8. Stow water purification kit components back in the buckets and seal the lids. It is a good idea to store the filter sock in the clean container to help keep it clean. It is also good to store the bleach in the other container to protect the filter sock.
Making Bleach Solution from Dry Bleach Powder
The shelf life of a liquid bleach solution is limited. Each time the container is opened one can smell some chlorine escaping. After multiple uses the active chlorine concentration can decline leaving the bleach less potent. If you follow the directions above and have a reasonable sense of smell you should be able to adjust for lower concentrations by ensuring that there is a residual chlorine smell after the disinfection step.
The shelf life of powdered bleach such as calcium hypochlorite is much longer and much more concentrated so it is easier to store. The powdered bleach is also more hazardous and can cause chemical burns if it comes in contact with your skin, eyes, or mucous membranes. Care should be taken to wear protective eyewear and gloves while handling the dry powder or granules. Follow the instructions on the dry bleach container to ensure it is properly handled.
The bleach solution is made by mixing the dry powder or granules with a known quantity of clean water to create a 6% solution by weight. The required information is the density of water, the density and concentration of the powder or granules, and the overall volume of bleach solution to be made. For the purposes of this example I will choose a one-gallon quantity of bleach solution, assume the density of water is 8 pounds per gallon, measure the density of the calcium hypochlorite granules at 0.5 pounds per cup(most dry bleach powders or granules should be close to the came density), and note that it is 68% calcium hypochlorite on the label. The granular calcium hypochlorite has a binder to help make it granular and therefore it is only 68% pure.
calculation is as follows:
0.06 = (X cups of bleach gran)(0.5 lb. gran per cup)(0.68 pounds calcium hyp/ lb gran) (8 pounds of water per gallon)(1 gallon)
Solving for X cups of granules:
(0.06)(8 pounds of water per gallon)(1 gallon) = X cups = 1.4 cups of bleach gran (0.5 pounds per cup) (0.68 lb calcium hyp/ lb gran)
The step-by-step instructions are detailed below:
1. Place one gallon of clean water in a clean plastic container. A jug previously used for a 6% bleach solution is ideal since it is already marked.
2. Pour one cup of water out of the container to make sure there is room for the dry bleach powder or granules in the container.
3. Pour one and 4/10ths of a cup of bleach granules into the container, seal the container, and gently agitate to help the granules mix and dissolve in the water.
4. Allow the granules several hours to completely dissolve and then the bleach solution can be used to disinfect the water using instructions for 6% bleach solutions.
5. Smaller amounts of liquid bleach can be mixed by simply using the same ratio. For example, one quart of bleach solution can be prepared by using one quart of water and 0.35 cups of dry bleach powder. A one-third cup measure would work great. This does not have to be precise since there is a chance to add more to the water being disinfected in the final treatment step.
**WARNING:This is a concentrated bleach solution not to be consumed directly!** Disinfecting Water Directly With Dry Bleach Powder or Granules
For long term disaster situations it might be more convenient to disinfect the water in a 55-gallon drum with dry bleach powder or granules. In that case, the drum is filled with at least 50 gallons of water through the filter bag. One-half teaspoon of dry powder or granules is added to the drum and then the drum is sealed and left for a least one day before consuming the water. The bleach will dissolve and mix if given adequate time.
A filter canister can be made for filling the drum through the filter sock by cutting a hole in the bottom of a 5-gallon water cooler container and placing the filter sock in the container with the plastic ring protruding outside the hole. The neck of the water cooler container fits inside the 2″ bung hole in the drum and the container stays in place quite well. The raw water is poured through the plastic ring at the top of the filter sock and the water penetrates the filter and is collected in the inverted filter container and funneled into the drum.
Summary
I hope this information is useful for you in preparing for potential disaster situations to minimize the impact to you and your families. Please try to make an effort on a daily basis to become better prepared to protect the people that you care about.