How do we make the swimming pool potable?

The idea is an urban setting. A plane goes down and wipes out the water plant. Jet fuel, dead burnt bodies, and blue ice have contaminated the holding ponds. The plane clipped the city water towers on the way in.

I've never had to care for a pool, and know very little about the chemicals used therein. I do know that the chroline evaporates and must be replenished depending on conditions.

I also know that pool water is not hazardous in small quantities as we've all ingested a mouthfull or two. The problem is to render it safe enough to drink a gallon or two a day for a week or more?

Can the pool water be boiled, set out in the sun, or filtered? I've heard a solar still can get drinkable water from urine, so this should work for pool water.

A pool is a great source of water for washing too, but thirst is the main consideration.

How can we make this happen? -Brian

[This message has been edited by Schlager (edited 29 December 1999).]
 
I am sure that boiling the water will sterilize it for drinking purposes. Never having had a pool I am not familiar with whatever chemicals one puts in when it is put up for the winter.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Michlee,
The sterilization by boiling is the easy part. I've got a pressure cooker that will do water buy the gallon very quickly.

My real concern is the chemicals. Will I get minor or major Trotskis, by drinking a cup right out of the pool. Or can I get really safe water boiling of the chlorine for 5 mins.
Thanks for chiming in! :) -Brian
 
S

sarge

Joined
Nov 1, 1998
Messages
262
Well, not being a chemist but having a swimming pool to care for has led me to believe that the water exposed to the air/sun will remove the chlorine after a few days. Seven days max is the longest that the water has maintained chlorine. The hotter and brighter the sun reduces the chlorine level at a greater rate. You can obtain a chlorine test kit at a swimming pool supply store or even WalMart and K-Mart have them during the swimming season. There cheap and easy to use. The swimming pool supply store will check your water for free. Be careful, some pools use Bromine and I do not know of it's potential chemical reactions to the human body. Since, I live in a cooler climate, I have 30,000 gallons of boilable water in my backyard if needed.

sarge
 
Hey Guys....

It all depends on who's been swimming in the pool..LOL
If it's a city pool,, I wouldn't want to swim in it let alone drink it,,,but if it's your own,, a couple of drops per gallon of clorine will kill anything in it...

You'd want to do this on an, as need basis,, not kill all of the water in the pool all at once,,because of clorine evaporates...

Unless the water is real chunky,,you wouldn't really even need to flter it past using a coffee filter...

ttyle Eric...

------------------
Eric E. Noeldechen
On/Scene Tactical
http://www.mnsi.net/~nbtnoel
Custom made, High Quality
Concealex Sheaths and Tool Holsters
Canada's Only Custom Concealex Shop!

 
There are several chemicals that get used to put "chlorine" in pools. Chlorine itself is a gas and I don't think that you commonly buy chlorine water (water with chlorine gas dissolved in it) to chlorinate a pool. One of the common chlorine sources is sodium hypochlorite ( NaOCl ). This is a caustic powder in its native state. When you add it to water it breaks into various fractions. If you want to get more free chlorine you add hydrochloric acid ( HCl ) to reduce the pH of your water. The thing I notice is that everything but the Na (sodium) are gasses. I would expect that boiling would tend to drive off some hydrogen, oxygen, and chlorine and mostly leave behind sodium chloride (table salt). There may also be some tendency to create sodium chlorate (NaClO3) which would not be good for you. Anyway boiling and sunlight would tend to leave salty water. The longer time since you changed the pool water the saltier it would be. When you rechlorinate swimming pools you are never removing the sodium, so the sodium content in swimming pools can be very high.


[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 29 December 1999).]
 
Some of the algicides are pretty nasty, I wouldn't want to consume large amounts of pool water with out some way of removing the chemicals. On the other hand pool water would make good washing/ toilet flushing water.




------------------
p1445
Beat it to fit, paint it to match.
 
My vote would be to make a solar still. Barring that, I'd be willing to try putting it through a brita-type filter. The chlorine/bromine should kill any bugs in the water I'm worried about, and a charcoal filter like a brita should reduce the chemical content substantially.

Stryver, wondering if he could build a functional still in his house...
 
As I recall, charcoal briquets (specifically the formed briquets) are a decent source of "activated" charcoal. A combination of coffee filters and crushed briquets might take out a lot of organics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top