DIY Potable Water Chlorination

From the beginning, life centered around water, but it wasn't until the 1800s that people realized that water can carry disease. While Europeans were reluctant to treat water supplies with chlorine, due to its use as a chemical warfare agent in World War I, the early 1900s witnessed the spread of chlorination of drinking water -- and the reduction of many serious diseases. Sodium hypochlorite -- the chlorine contained in household bleach -- is still widely used in community water treatment. You can use it yourself to produce your own safe drinking water while camping, traveling, in a natural disaster, or even to disinfect a home well.

Things You'll Need

• Food-grade containers
• Dish soap
• Bleach -- unscented 5.25- to 6-percent strength hypochlorite
• Funnel
• Coffee filters, paper towels or fine-meshed cloth

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Instructions

• 1

  Select enough food-grade containers to hold the amount of water you need -- generally one gallon per person, per day. Keep at least a three-day supply at all times.

• 2

  Wash containers with soap and water if possible, then disinfect containers, pouring about a quart of water in each and adding a teaspoon or two of bleach. Use one tablespoon bleach per gallon in larger containers. Shake and swirl the bleach solution around inside the container to coat completely. Dump the water out and allow the container to dry. Rinse with clean water if available. In some situations washing and rinsing may not be possible.

• 3

  Filter cloudy water that has dirt in it. Place a funnel in the mouth of your water container and line the funnel with several layers of coffee filters, paper towels or a fine-mesh cloth. Pour water through slowly, allowing the dirt and debris to collect in the filter. Change the filter as needed.

• 4

  Add household bleach to the water, using the amount appropriate for the volume of water you are treating:

  1 quart water requires 3 to 5 drops , added with a dropper

  1/2 gallon requires 5 to 10 drops

  1 gallon requires 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (8 to 16 drops)

  5 gallons requires 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (32 to 64 drops)

• 5

  Mix the water by shaking. Wait about 30 minutes, unless the water is very cloudy or cold, in which case you should wait about an hour. Smell the water. It should have the faint scent of bleach. If it doesn't, add a second dose of bleach. After another 15 to 20 minutes, sniff the water again to verify the presence of a bleach smell. If you still can't smell the bleach, it is too dirty to drink and should be discarded without drinking.