Purify 128,000 gallons for $10

[RCCrawler]

I am still a little confused. So after I bleach the water I need to let it sit and will just 'become' safe on its own to drink by airing out?

Correct, I am a water treatment plant operator by trade.

The instructions he gave you will produce water that has a chlorine concentration of about 4mg/L, which is really high, it's just at the level that the epa says is too high for us. Most waterplants put out water that is between 1.00 to 1.4mg/L, that number dissipates as it goes through the system and when it gets to your house the water is at about .8-.9mg/L.

The good thing about chlorine is that when you add it to the water it'll kill everything it needs to then remain there as a residual which will slowly go away.

If you put it in a container with an open lid it'll dissipate quicker.

[Wulf202]

It should be said that the instructions are for this shock and not universal. Shocks differ in amount concentration of chlorine. Also any open pouches will degrade over time due to moisture in the air.

[68Charger]

I'll also add the obvious:
this only kills biological hazards in the water- if it contains toxins, heavy metals, radioactive materials, etc- then no amount of chlorine will help- will take distillation, RO or proper filters to remove most of these..

[jerrymrc]

I still have 11 lbs of this from a 16 lb box I bought on a year end close out for $19.99 I have not bought bleach in a long time.

[7.62x39(4)life]

where would be a good place to buy this and what is a good brand to buy?
are there any brands that contain additives?

[SA Friday]

I just checked wikipedia for the chemical reactions you are talking about and suprisingly it's pretty accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_(chemical)

You are dealing with the reactions of NaClO (aq) (sodium hypochlorite (aqueous)) + H2O (l) (if I have to explain this one, don't bother...). The NaClO when mixed in H2O is evaporating off at a much faster rate than the H2O. That's why the bleach concentration lessens from the mixture.

If you want the evaporation to happen faster, increase the surface amount exposed to air, get the mixture hotter, and increase the flow of air over the surface of the mixture.

[Wulf202]

where would be a good place to buy this and what is a good brand to buy?
are there any brands that contain additives?

HTH brand at walmart. Blue label not the red. There are plenty of brands that contain all kinds of fun stuff, just stick with the instructions on the video.

[SA Friday]

Lol, I just watched the vid. Obviously, I didn't watch it before my last post. hmmm, not all of the info he says is correct. CaClO2 isn't exactly bleach. It's a salt (bleach is also a salt), and extremely similar, and reacts the same, but it's not bleach. It's pool shock (like he says), and is probably safer to use than NaClO as it leaves calcium in the water instead of sodium. It's only the chlorine and oxygen that evaporates as I understand the reaction. Both would work though.

Mixing NaClO in water to shock it would take less NaClO and it would taste like crap afterwards, but if not consumed in large quantities it would get you by in a pinch. I wouldn't do it as a long term solution though. CaClO stored as a solid is going to keep a hell of a lot longer like he mentions too.

What he doesn't mention is you are going to get residual Chlorine from this method (you would from both). It going to taste like pool water and have a slipperly feeling like pool water. Chlorine isn't the best thing for the human body. I think this method would work though until one could set up a solar still or water distillery, but both of those methods are going to render safer long term water source. Hell, collected rain water is really good stuff as long as the atmosphere isn't contaminated with anything. Nitrogen and radioactive fall-out are probably the things you would have to worry about floating around in the atmosphere that would cause problems with rain water after the SHTF. Nitrogen mixed into rain water is what causes acid rain. It turns into nitrous acid (H2O (l) + N (s) --> HNO2 (l)). Distilling this would render it safe to drink though.