Experiments in collecting rain water off a tin roof:
Let it rain a while to wash the roof and the air....the water came up quite
pure at around 2 uS conductivity or less.
Probably not uniformly sterile, but cisterns have been used for potable
water for centuries. [usually made of concrete or masonry where lime might
sterilize the water]
Back in the day: I would tie a very large tarp by the corners to tree
trunks, cut a hole in the central sag to fill an upended open ended [with
screen wire to keep out the skeeters], 275 gallon drum...spigot and hose
just off the bottom.
..nice dry spot to watch it rain from and LOTS of water, very fast, even
during a light rain. [but with everything smaller than screen that was on
the trees in it ]
Inexpensive water filter [used for years and years to filter rain water
caught on the old bus roof channeled into hose line by gutters on the sides]
10 feet of 4" PVC pipe and end caps drilled and tapped to take 1/2" pipe
thread hose fittings , polyester pillow stuffing and a few pounds of
activated charcoal.
Interesting process learned last night:
A clear water bottle left in full sun with Aluminum foil on one side to
reflect concentrated sunlight back into the bottle [parabolic mirror]
will sterilize the water in about 6 hours.
Heat?.... and concentrated UV light.
UV lights are often installed along well to home water lines.
Looking into water purification kits at REI...
Some had powdered Chlorine to kill everything..and..H2O2 to drive off the
Chlorine.
ie: Add H202 to tap water and wind up with water with no sterilant in it.
-Does hydrogen peroxide remove chlorine? Hydrogen peroxide can be used for
dechlorination, in other words to remove residual chlorine. Residual
chlorine forms corrosive acids when it is oxidised by air or condenses in
process systems. When chlorine reacts with hydrogen peroxide, the hydrogen
peroxide falls apart into water and oxygen. Chlorine gas hydrolyses into
hypochlorous acid (HOCl), which subsequently ionises into hypochlorite ions
(OCl-).
Cl2 + H2O à HOCl + HCl à H2O + OCl-
After that, hydrogen peroxide reacts with the hypochlorite:
OCl- + H2O2 à Cl- + H2O + O2
The reaction between hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite takes place very
quickly. Other organic and inorganic substances cannot react with
hypochlorite.
Lots of info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach#Color_safe_bleach
Boiling for water sterilization
Boiling can be used as a method of water disinfection but is only advocated
as an emergency water treatment method, or as a method of portable water
purification in rural or wilderness settings without access to a potable
water infrastructure. Bringing water to the boil is effective in killing or
inactivating most bacteria, viruses and pathogens. Boiling is the most
certain way of killing nearly all microorganisms. According to the
Wilderness Medical
Society<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling#cite_note-backpackers_field_manual-0>[1],
water temperatures above 160°F (70°C) kill all pathogens within 30 minutes
and above 185°F (85°C) within a few minutes. So in the time it takes for
the water to reach the boiling point (212°F or 100°C) from 160°F (70°C),
all pathogens will be killed, even at high altitude. To be extra safe, let
the water boil rapidly for one minute, especially at higher altitudes since
water boils at a lower
temperature.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling#cite_note-backpackers_field_manual-0>[1]
Silver, copper and zinc are all metals that will kill micro-organisms at
very low concentrations.
Hydronium [H3], an acidic byproduct of electrolysis will sterilize water at
low concentrations as well..and..it neutralizes after a while as it finds
the counterpart also produced, or both bubble off.
Warm up that water in the sun to help de-gass it.
Got a car battery, [solar panel? Bicycle with old style generator?] some
old galvanized pipe or copper wire and some jumper cables ?
Ode
Ode
