Purifying Water with Calcium Hypochlorite

You have probably heard it before, but you can go many days without food. Without water however, at best your health will deteriorate drastically in 3 days. By then many people have already died. Most people will not survive after 5 days. This means to ensure your survival you need a constant source of water.

If you live on your own homestead I am sure you took this into consideration when buying your place. Give yourself a pat on the back because you are MANY steps ahead of the average person, living in cities, towns and a lot of urban areas. This post is aimed more at those people instead of homesteaders.

Bleach Disinfects water but there are some problems

Bleach is used around the world to purify water. For years there has been a lot of debate on what is a safe level to consume, that will still kill organisms that are in the water. If it was left up to me, I would not use any form of bleach. However, in an emergency situation, I stay prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

You could go out and stockpile your favorite brand of non-scented bleach, but there is a major problem with that. In the liquid form, bleach loses about 50% of its strength in 6 months and about 90% by 12 months. If you stockpile it, and it is over 1 year before you need it, you are out of luck.

Calcium Hypochlorite is a game changer

Calcium Hypochlorite is a beaching powder. According to merriam-webster.com bleaching powder is “a white powder consisting chiefly of calcium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and calcium hypochlorite and used as a bleach, disinfectant, or deodorant”. It serves the same purpose as what we would call bleach such as Clorox bleach or any other name brand.

The main difference between what the bleach we buy in the grocery store and the Calcium Hypochlorite in this article is shelf life, how much you use, how and where it is purchased and how to store it.

Where to buy Calcium Hypochlorite

Calcium Hypochlorite is the main ingredient in Pool Shock. You can buy it at any pool supply store, on Ebay or Amazon and on hundreds of websites around the world.

IMPORTANT

Make sure the only active ingredient is Calcium Hypochlorite. Some brands of pool shock contain other ingredients such as algaecides and fungicides and SHOULD NOT be used to treat water for human consumption. The package may say it has a percentage of inert ingredients and that is fine. But it should only have Calcium Hypochlorite listed as an active ingredient. Make sure it has a minimum of 65% Calcium Hypochlorite.

It is usually packaged in 1-pound packages which is enough to treat about 65,000 gallons of water. However, purchasing a single pound and having it shipped is almost as expensive as buying 6 or more individual 1-pound packages at the same time. This makes it a GREAT item for several people to get together and buy to save on costs.

It really is not that expensive however. I glanced at some prices on Amazon and I saw one brand that is selling 6 – 1-pound packages delivered for $15.

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How to Store the raw Calcium Hypochlorite

THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Calcium Hypochlorite is very safe WHEN STORED PROPERLY. Choosing to not store it properly is one little mistake or accident away from burning your house down.

If you developed a water leak that just happens to drip on your stock, it will catch fire and it will be a big fire. To prevent this from happening, follow these directions.

• When working with the powdered product, use in a ventilated area. Wearing a filter mask is desirable to prevent breathing any fumes.
• Store the powdered product in air-tight PLASTIC containers. DO NOT use glass. It is far too easy to break and allow moisture or contaminants into your stock. See below for images of some container types that would work. Your goal is something that would not break when knocked off a shelf, seals out air and water and would prevent water from escaping if it was inside the container. You do not want the thin squeezable bottles like the ketchup and mustard bottles you can buy. They are too easy to be squeezed causing the top to pop off.

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When and How to Purify your water

• Do not try to purify a lot of water in advance. It can become contaminated, attract animals or insects or evaporate before being used.
• Make a single bottle of the base liquid you will use to disinfect your regular water stock as needed. (instructions below)
• If your water source is murky or cloudy, it will always be best to put it through a basic filter BEFORE purifying. (instructions on how to make are below)

Making your Base Purifying Liquid

FIRST, think about your storage container. What you will make is basically the same as the bleach you can buy in your local store. It will degrade by about 50% in the first 6 months and by about 90% in less than a year. The base formula is for making 2 gallons of bleach. That may be too much if you are on your own with no one else using your water supply.
If you are on the run, 2 gallons of liquid is a lot of weight to carry over and above the water, food, supplies and weapons you will want to carry. It may be best to make a smaller supply of base.

Base ratio of water to calcium Hypochlorite

• 2 gallons of water to ¼ ounce of Calcium Hypochlorite (1/4 ounce is approximately 1 ½ level teaspoon)
• 1 gallon of water to 1/8 ounce of Calcium Hypochlorite (1/8 ounce is approximately ¾ level teaspoon or slightly over 5 milliliter)
• 1 quart of water to 1/32 ounce of Calcium Hypochlorite (1/32 ounce is approximately .1875 level teaspoon, or just slightly less than 1 milliliter )

It is an extremely good idea to purchase an inexpensive set of small plastic measuring spoon to keep with your supplies. It is a lot easier and faster than trying to divide out a larger amount to reach your goal. Almost every household already has a set of measuring spoons that will easily allow you to make a 1 or 2 gallon batch. making a single quart is a little harder. Many spoon sets do not include a 1 ml size.

There are many auctions on Ebay that sell a set of plastic measuring spoons that includes a 1 ml sized spoon. You can often catch an auction for $0.50 or less or there are several like this one that sell the sets for $0.99. Buy a couple of these sets and store them with your Calcium Hypochlorite.

NOTE: I do not make a dime on any items shown in this article. They are for reference ONLY. You could easily find a better deal than I did by taking more time to shop around.

To Purify Water

1. Remove as much obvious impurities as possible. If you do not have access to a filter that removes large contaminants, (a pre-filter) at the very least, pour it through a clean tee-shirt, towel or other fabric. Thicker is better, but make sure the fabric does not contain paints, glitter and such and is reasonably clean.
2. Using the base you made above, add 5 drops per 1 quart/liter of water. Stir or shake to distribute, Cap the bottle and allow to sit a minimum of 1 hour. (longer is better) A quart is 5 drops, a gallon is 20 drops and 2 gallons is 40 drops.
3. After 1 hour, if the smell or taste of chlorine is too strong for your liking, leave the container open to allow the chlorine to evaporate (after it has set long enough to kill bacteria).

NOTE: If after one hour there is zero smell of chlorine, you might want to add a few more drops and allow it to sit again for an hour. With zero smell it is possible all the bacteria did not get killed.

Should I use water purification tablets instead

The only honest answer I can give is POSSIBLY. There are pros and cons to both

1. 6 pounds of Calcium Hypochlorite costs about $15 to $18 and can purify about 390,000 gallons of water. For about the same price, you can purchase enough tablets to purify about 500 quarts of water. (different tablets will clean different amount) That is a MAJOR difference cost wise.
2. Calcium Hypochlorite is the same, no matter who is packaging it. Water purification tablets vary greatly in the chemical(s) used. Each brand of tablet needs to be researched to know safety levels.
3. Calcium Hypochlorite can be reduced after it has done its job by allowing it to evaporate. You will need to research each chemical in the tablet you buy to know if it can be evaporated out of the water or not.
4. Purification tablets weigh less and are easier to carry than base made from Calcium Hypochlorite.
5. When stored properly, Calcium Hypochlorite has a shelf life (in powdered form) of a minimum of 10 years. Purification tablets shelf life varies with brand.

How to make a pre-filter

NOTE: You do not need to pre-filter if you are using city water or well water unless your well becomes contaminated. Pre-filtering is for those using raw water from creeks, streams, lakes and such.

You need 3, 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in the bottom of two of them. A bag of clean sand. Play sand is very cheap at Home Depot or Lowes. A few coffee filters. Several pounds of Activated Charcoal. A bag of polyester fibers like the one that go into aquarium filters or I have heard of people using the polyester fibers quilt and pillow makers use, especially the cotton varieties..

The top bucket is just sand, with the bottom of the bucket covered in coffee filters just to keep the sand from running through. The middle bucket also has coffee filters in the bottom, then a THICK layer of polyester fiber on top. You want a VERY thick layer because the Charcoal will go on top and it is very heavy. You want several inches of fiber AFTER the charcoal has been added to remove all the charcoal dust before it drains into the bottom bucket.

Pour your water into the top bucket (slowly) and allow it to drain naturally to the bottom bucket. This gets the large contaminants out of the water and the charcoal will kills some bacteria.

When pre-filtering is complete, you can use your DIY Bleach to finish the purification process.

Sources:

geekprepper.org
simplypreparing.com
emergencyhomepreparation.org