Purifying pool water for drinking

[workinwifdakids]

There are two sure things about southern California: it doesn't rain, and there are plenty of pools.

When HTRN posted his thread on water systems, I put some thought into drinking water. Things are different here, though - very little rainfall, and no good way (for me) to store more than 15 gallons of water (a bare minimum for my family for 3 days). So, I was wondering what it would take to purify pool water for drinking, in such a way as it wouldn't taste like... well, pool water.

Google didn't help, perhaps because my Fu is weak tonight. Around here, Google Earth snapshots could tell you where one hell of a lot of water is. /*wink*/

[Lokidude]

When you think water storage, don't forget the 40+ gallons you probably have in your water heater, plus a couple in each toilet tank.

[blackeagle603]

hmmm, we've got a salt water system... In excess of 400lbs of salt dissolved in solution. Pool + spa is almost 19000 gallons.

[Termite]

Big Berkey

You don't even need the whole thing. Two 5 gals plastic buckets, one holding a couple of the filter elements(can be purchased separately) and the other having a lid and a spigot works just fine.

[workinwifdakids]

When you think water storage, don't forget the 40+ gallons you probably have in your water heater, plus a couple in each toilet tank.

That's the first on my list, but I'm glad you brought it up. It's easy to overlook.

[HTRN]

Big Berkey

You don't even need the whole thing. Two 5 gals plastic buckets, one holding a couple of the filter elements(can be purchased separately) and the other having a lid and a spigot works just fine.

Webpage showing how. An even better idea is to use a pair of 55 gallon drums - admittedly you'd have to build a rack of some kind to support the upper drum though.

One of the things I might suggest if you want to use your pool as an emergency water supply, is to install a "salt" system - it basically breaks down the salt in the pool water into sodium and chorine, to treat the water. The advantage is the much lower overall level of chlorine in the pool, and because of the automated nature, it tends to be a much cleaner pool. The downside is you have to have saltwater in your pool(typically 3000ppm, vs 35K PPM for seawater). Salt can be removed though, through a variety methods(distillation, notably a solar still, and an RO water system)


HTRN

[Windy Wilson]

I was thinking in terms of a solar still as well.
Long ago a neighbor who owned a pool said that after a while due to the chemicals you added to keep stuff from growing in it, the water in the pool bonded with the chemicals and you didn't have real water in it any more.
I never had enough chemistry to verify this or to dismiss it as backyard blather, so I read this thread with interest.

[Frankingun]

I think that Seychelle has some things that will filter pool water.