Do I need to purify drinking water with bleach if I have a water filter??

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I have a Berkey water filter- is it really necessary for me to use bleach on the (well) water I have filled my barrels with? Thanks for any responses.

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), December 20, 1999

Answers

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-- Interested Spectator (is@the_ring.side), December 20, 1999.


yes,

the bleach in the stored water will prevent the growth of algae. The Big Berkey will filter the excess chlorine out.

unless of course, you like algae

-- (4@5.6), December 21, 1999.


If you know that well water was safe (as in you drink it regularly), the containers were clean, tightly sealed and you didn't let the mouth/caps become dirty then it's not really necessary to chlorinate as you would for surface water out of a stream or lake.

For questionable water it would be a good idea. The pore size on the Berkey is small enough to reliably filter out protozoal cysts but there's some question about whether it'll reliably do the job on all bacteria. Chlorinating the water first will also keep microbial growth from building up on the filter candles.

.........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), December 21, 1999.


I don't own a berky but unless it has an activated carbon stage it will NOT filter out chlorine. If you drink the water promptly from the berky, you need not chlorinate it. If you plan to filter several days worth of water at one time, you should probably add chlorine to prevent growth.

In medicine the saying is, "if it's wet, it's not sterile." Light plus dust in the air is enough to start stuff growing in purified water given enough time.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), December 25, 1999.


Don't put chlorine through the Berky! It will not be good for the filter. If you use chlorine at all, wait several hours for it to dissipate. Instructions say not to use tap water (because of the chlorine) through the filter. At least on mine it does.

-- Sammie (sammiex0@hotmail.com), December 25, 1999.


From: http://www.celestialwaters.com/britsh.htm

"Our Ceramic filters also have an activated carbon core this feature allows the filter to reduce chlorine by 95% and also reduces pesticides, herbicides and organic Chemicals. Activated charcoal also removes bad taste and odor making your water taste great even straight from the tap."

I bought the Big Berkey for two reasons: (1) My wife hates the taste of the chlorine in our tap water. (2) Y2K.

The the processed tap water that comes out of the Big Berkey tastes really good.

-- Ralph Shnelvar (ralphs@dos32.com), December 25, 1999.


NO filter will take care of VIRUSES. This is what the bleach is really used for. A Berkefeld (we have one) or a Katadyn WILL filter out ALL bacteria, and the Berkefeld's ceramic filter has silver impregnated within the matrix, which will kill algae.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), December 26, 1999.

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