Posted on 11/21/2015 3:49:49 PM PST by Kartographer
My father 3was chief inspector for his area of sanitation department for 20 years. They had a pamphlet produced for campers. Here’s what it said.
You can use water from almost anywhere, lakes, ponds, artesian wells or whatever, add 2 drops chlorine bleach per gallon, let it sit overnight and if it still has a slight bleach smell in the morning it’s safe to drink.
Go with 8 drops if you want to, as long as you can still detect a bleach smell the next morning. If not, do it again.
I used this with wat3er from a local artesian well for over 10 years, never had any problems. Our well water was pretty bad, I think the pickup was too low and it was bringing up mud from the well. Water was brownish, didn’t taste good so we used water from the artesian well.
we have a different shallow water well now, better water but I still use bottled water for drinking. When I moved back here, artesian well seems to have some sort of powdery yellow fungus or something growing in the pipe, I haven’t been able to get a brush to clean it out with and see if it improves. Someone put a PVC pipe in at least 20 years ago. I got a bottle full and could see yellow stuff floating in it. Not drinking that...
Pour a gallon of bleach down the well itself and see if that helps. Or do the same to the holding tank. Let it sit for a day and then flush it out by turning on every faucet in the house and outside if off that’s off the same system. That should clean out the pipes to the house. Treat the holding tank a second time if you’re still worried. I’ve been told to do this once a year but never do.
Thanks. It amazes me that so little bleach will do the job. I’m sure it’s true though because I’ve heard the same recommendations from numerous reliable sources.
The old well is no longer in use, shallow water well we have now is ok just not great for drinking, but clear water and a good bit of iron. I put some bleach in it a couple of times a year to keep bacteria down, we generally use bottled water for drinking, anything else is usually boiled.
The artesian well I mentioned comes out of a horizontal PVC pipe beside a local road, no way to pour anything in and it would be immediately flushed out anyway, it’s been running 24/7 for many many years. Going to have to get something like a round stovepipe brush and try to clean it out, just haven’t been able to do it, no money these days. I’d love to get it usable, best water around here, I used it for about 10 years.
Public safety guy told a neighbor it was tested 20 years ago or more and found to be some of the best water in the area. Yellow looking stuff has to be growing inside the PVC pipe, it was never there for years until recently. They just can’t approve it for public use, bureaucrats can’t control it, add chlorine and flouride, “purify” it, pump it all over and mainly, charge for it.
It has a 4 year shelf life and water has a 5 year shelf life after treatment. It's cheap enough too.
$11 to treat 30 gallons? Yeah, anything in an emergency, but that is VERY expensive.
I didn't think $12 was too pricey for treating a 55 gallon drum for 5 years.
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