Home Contents Notes Household Cooking Food Special First Aid Hygiene
If you're planning on filling and storing bottled water, be sure you have
washed and rinsed containers well. Add a sterilising agent to the water if you don't boil it before consumption. The US Red Cross & The NZ Civil Defense advise adding 10 drops chlorine (household bleach) per gallon of water.Clean drinkable tap water may keep for up to 6 months. I suggest you replace your store of water every 3 months. Store it in a cool, dark place.
If you want to do exact water measuring, here are a few suggestions:
1 gallon
= 4 quarts = 8 pints = 4.546 litres 1 quart = 2 pints =40 fluid ounces = 1.136 litres 1 pint = 20 fluid ounces ---------
= 0.568 litres
Buy an accurate measuring jug with pints, ounces or millilitres.
Measure the water carefully into a container large enough to take 8 pints, 1 gallon or 4.550 millilitres, with room to spare.
Add 10 drops of normal household chlorine bleach. Use an eyedropper. Be very exact.
Stir and leave for 3 minutes
Transfer into clean plastic bottles.
Or purchase water purification tablets from your chemist. You may have to order these, so make a note to do this soon. There are two types, effervescent and fast acting at around $NZ 25.00 or plain and slow to dissolve at around $NZ 10.00.
Your other option is to purify all water by boiling for 5 minutes.
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