Flood water

[karen2205]

Am I right in thinking that flood water could be drunk if it was filtered and then purified with water purifying tablets/solution?

I'm shocked that bottled water isn't suitable for babies. You'd have thought at least one manufacturer of bottled water would bottle water with sufficiently low trace elements that it could be used for babies.

I'm not surprised at people hoarding water/taking more than their 'fair' share. Water is such a essential resource that people are going to fight about it if they've not got enough. Human nature, the survival instinct and all that. The time to be stockpiling water is at some point when there is no imminent danger of its loss.

Comments

[arkady.livejournal.com]

As regards drinking flood water - yes, it could, if you don't have access to a source of heat to boil it.

Some bottled waters are safe - Chiltern Hills, for instance, is basically taken from the same source as tap water in Hertfordshire (i.e. artesian wells in the chalk). And there's one bottled water produced by Coca-Cola that is just bottled tap water! But rather than issuing a long list of which bottled waters would be safe and which wouldn't, it's simpler to just say "don't use bottled water to make up baby formula". In theory if you put it through a good quality water filter such as Brita it would filter out the harmful minerals. It's one of those situations where I'm heartily glad I breasteed though.

[cultureofdoubt.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's ever an optimal solution. And using tablets makes water taste awful I hear - it really is a last resort thing.

[clare-s.livejournal.com]

You can use bottled water for feeds as long as the sodium content is below 20. Evian is one of the best.

[frodomorris.livejournal.com]

I'd be inclined to boil, rather than purify-tablet, but yes, it's drinkable. I'd guess that humanity survived a good few hundred thousand years drinking raw river water with only a few tens of percents of people dying of cholera.

[pne.livejournal.com]

I've seen at least one brand of bottled water here in Germany that was specifically marketed towards mothers to make up formula or other baby food with.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

The reason bottled-water manufacturers don't advertise the product as suitable for babies is that tap-water is often far cleaner.

You are quite correct to identify filtration as assential: soil particles and 'dirt' (any visible organic matter) harbour bacteria and may shield them from boiling or chemical sterilisation. The public water supply is treated by filtration - usually sand filter beds - and by 'flocculation', the addition of chemicals that cause minerals to precipitate out of solution and small suspended particles (including bacteria) to clump and settle out. Some brands of water-purification tablets do this, too - its quite a party trick, turning ditchwater sparkling clear - and flocculation alone is often sufficient to render water safe to drink without additional chemical treatment. Nevertheless, both you and the local water authority will use a chemical agent, too - a belt-and-braces approach that leaves the smell of chlorine and a near-total reassurance that treated water is now safe to drink.

Be that as it may, floodwater is best left well alone: it isn't just soil bacteria and sewage, it's chemical pollutants you need to worry about. Runoff from roads, for example, contains oil and petrol residues - mildly carcinigenic, severely irritant to your gut. Even charcoal filtration isn't reliable against urban pollutants, and there's no hope of removing industrial spillage.

So collect rainwater instead - it still needs treating (was the container clean?) but it's a better bet than floodwater.