question about water...

[WhiffyBiffer]

Not normally a prepper but stuff in the news today about potential for cyber attacks eg on utilities has got me thinking. We have a swimming pool in the garden. Obviously pool is chlorinated - does anyone know if purification tablets could be used to make the pool water safe for drinking?

I had a quick look at some of the discussions on the more extreme sites about this issue. The general consensus seems to be that you would only use pool water as a last resort as it has a lot of nasty chemicals in it. Instead use it for washing.

Apparently it can be treated if you are really desperate.

www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=316943

Could you'd get rain butts?

Purification tablets contain chlorine usually, (you can use plain old bleach as long as you get the "dosage" right in drops/litre) so would just increase the amount in the pool. Pool water usually has too much in it already to be good to drink except as a last resort - if it came to it, I would try and boil it and not add any extra chemicals.

Thanks everyone. How ironic would it be to be dying of thirst with a sodding great swimming pool next to you.

Not sure about using pool water but pretty much most other water can be purified using a berkey water purification system

The chlorine isn't a problem at all. Most properly treated pools have a chlorine level of between 3 and 5 ppm and its recommended you don't go above 4ppm. Sunlight breaks it down though.

The potential problem is the stabilizer and any other chemicals you might add.

Lots of the US extreme prepping sites recommend keeping pool bleach to treat water (although you can also just use a couple of drops of normal thin household bleach)

Think a Berkey may be the answer then as according to these claims it should take care of chemicals as well

The Berkey system removes viruses, pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites entirely and extracts harmful chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, organic solvents, radon 222 and trihalomethanes. Say good-bye to chlorine and fluoride and harmful heavy metals. 

This system is so powerful it can remove red food coloring from water without removing the beneficial minerals your body needs. Virtually no other system can duplicate this performance.

Price wise they vary depending on size at around £250 - £300 for what j would consider a minimum size requirement

Filter life looks very good and a fresh pair is around £100 so after purchase it would be a case of adding a pair of filters here and there which should give you the ability to have potentially years worth of water purification ability

yep a Berkey will do it, we have one and apparently it can filter pond water, not that I have tried doing that though, just watched youtube vids.

We have the big berkey with 2 filters, thinking of adding 2 more to speed up the flow as we get through a lot of water each day , each set should last about 10 years so not as expensive as they seem

Had a scout around you tube and found this guy testing his Berkey system with rainwater, pond water, water from a barrel in his garage that was 5 years old, neighbours swimming pool water and water with red food colouring in it (which it removed)