How to Supply Clean Freshwater ? What Do You Use ?

[rebel heart]

Plumbing sea water in via a foot pump is so cheap and easy I don't understand why people don't do it. Even if you have ample freshwater it just seems silly to use freshwater for flushing rice down the drain or the myriad of other times that you just need a bunch of water for scrubbing and blasting gunk off plates and bowls.

And as a plus you get to watch the glow-in-the-dark algae sparkle in the sink if you pump it sometimes with the lights off. Try to do that with fresh water!

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by CarlF

I read that municipal water in the US has .5-1.0 ppm chlorine. If I'm doing my math right, 2 teaspoons (10 mil) of 5% household bleach per 100 gallons would be over 1ppm. That seems awfully little but lines up pretty close to Markj's number.

Our local water source considers 1.5-3.0 ppm for chlorine to be acceptable levels. The CDC recommendations comes out to about 160 ppm. Why the extreme difference?

My guess is because the water at your tap--with 1.5 ppm or so in it--has already been treated and sanitized, and this amount is simply what remains. Probably just enough to insure that no further contamination is likely as it passes through the system. The CDC recommendation, on the other hand, is for water that has not been previously treated and is suspected of some contamination.

Obviously there is a continuum here. A full cup in a normal sized water tank is going to be gross overkill. 1/4th of a cup in a 100 gallon tank may be more than you need, depending on just how much you trust the water source. If you are pretty sure the water is good, maybe you don't need to add anything, or maybe you just add a teaspoon or two per 100 gallons. If you are suspicious of the water, though, approximately 1/4th cup per 100 gallons would be the CDC recommendation.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

... My guess is because the water at your tap--with 1.5 ppm or so in it--has already been treated and sanitized, and this amount is simply what remains*. Probably just enough to insure that no further contamination is likely as it passes through the system. The CDC recommendation, on the other hand, is for water that has not been previously treated and is suspected of some contamination ...

* Called "residual chlorine".

The presence of free residual chlorine in drinking water is correlated with the
absence of disease-causing organisms, and thus is a measure of the potability of water, indicating that:
1) a sufficient amount of chlorine was added initially to the water to inactivate the bacteria and some viruses that cause diarrheal disease; and,
2) the water is protected from recontamination during storage.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

And as a plus you get to watch the glow-in-the-dark algae sparkle in the sink if you pump it sometimes with the lights off. Try to do that with fresh water!

See, don't tell Marc, but that's what I do for hours on end in the heads

MarkJ - you are full of wonders. That's a great little photo!

[yardpro]

there are two different forms of chlorine that sanitize...
free chlorine and "combined: or chloramines.... the free Cl is 20 times more effictive as a sanitiver, but is short lived... combined chlorine is much more stable and is what you are usually measuring when dealing with a municipal supply as it has a much longer lifespan...

also, a little cyanuric acid will stabilize chlorine and keep it active in the water for many days or more...

If your water supply has become compromised, a 30 ppm shock is sufficent to kill all algae and bacteria in the water. i drip in a small piece of trichlor in our tank every so often to sanitize.... works well, dissolves slowly and is safe to handle...

[amadeus]

Why not bleach in aluminium tanks?