On 2008-01-10 13:36:16 +0000, Charlie Pridham
said:

In article ,
says...
I have lifted this from another thread on this newsgroup and ask a question
after it.
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""actually

in area where they are dependent on pumping stations to get them
water, that might not be too silly. What use dry foods when there is no
water at the tap and no one has come round with standpipes?
You'd probably need to have both dried and tinned foods, and a few spare
water containers

Jim Webster ""
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Most

of the readers of this newsgroup will have water butts, we have 8 and
they are full.

Question. Considering they have creepy crawlies in them at certain times of
the year, (I haven't been out to see if there are any now) how can the water
be made fit for drinking in an emergency?

Mike



There are 4 methods you could use.
Boil it
Brew beer or similar with it, that was the method widely used in Europe
in the distant past and the reason why we generally have a higher
tolerance to alcohol than eastern races who were smart enough to boil
theirs!
Filter it, which is basically why spring water is usually ok as it is
filtered by the ground it passes through
Treat it chemically which makes it safe but taste disgusting! although
ship board water was usually treated with silver and tasted fine.
But if your water buts had a closed lid and it was an emergency I would
drink it straight

Sewage treatment plants use a combination of mechanical filters,
biological filters, ultra violet light purification chambers and
chemicals... as do filtration systems for ornamental ponds. Something
like the Cyprio EasyClear combines multiple water purification
processes in a single unit for small ponds and might work in a water
butt which wasn't used very often (biological filters need time to
work).
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufact...oze_Easyclear/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwat...nd_maintenance

The trouble with roof run-off is that it takes in all manner of
impurities and contaminants after it has fallen and before it reaches
the water butt simply by flowing down across lead flashing and through
bird lime, etc. So if an emergency drinking water supply is needed,
you would be better off colecting rainwater straight from the sky in a
plastic sheet.