Calling water experts

[markayash]

Had a discussion a few weeks back and it’s bugging me. If you needed water to drink how safe would it be? Assuming you don’t use any algae killers. Should just be water with maybe CYA and calcium??

 

[Flying Tivo]

Correct, more sanitized than regular drinking water.

 

[TexEdmond]

Had a discussion a few weeks back and it’s bugging me. If you needed water to drink how safe would it be? Assuming you don’t use any algae killers. Should just be water with maybe CYA and calcium??

Plus a very small (nonlethal) amount of salt and possibly borates. It's my understanding 50ppm borates is completely safe in swimming water, but it's probably not a great idea to cook and drink with it as a primary source. I think the article I read was a medium sized dog would have to drink several litres of 50ppm borates water per day and no other fresh water for it to be dangerous.

In an emergency at our house I'd go ahead and filter / boil it just to be safe, and we don't have borates. When we lose power we also lose our well pump, so I've definitely gone out with a 5gal bucket and gotten some toilet flushing water from our clear blue reservoir just outside the back door...

 

[PoolGate]

Not sure about other chemicals, but the salt level in a saltwater pool is well beyond potable range. You cannot use it as a source of drinking water.

 

[zea3]

Technically, there is a safe level of CYA you can consume in drinking water:
"The World Health Organization (WHO) provides guidelines for the addition of dichlor and cyanuric acid to drinking water where the WHO specifies maximum concentrations of 50 and 40 mg L–1, respectively." First Acid Ionization Constant of the Drinking Water Relevant Chemical Cyanuric Acid from 5 to 35 °C

So, if your CYA level is 50 ppm or less the World Health Organization designates this is safe. I also read that consumption should be limited to 2 liters or less per day. Personally I would still boil this water and drink it as a last resort in an emergency.

 

[Donldson]

Boiling pool water won't do anything. Boiling removes pathogens, if your water is properly chlorinated there won't be pathogens. It won't do anything regarding CYA or salt. And while the FC/CYA chart is appropriate for outside the body it's not appropriate for drinking. That chlorine will react with the acid in your stomach, so when it comes to using the water as a drinking source you're going to want the FC to be below 5 ppm. (Note that this is as a drinking source where you would consume 64+ ounces per day, incidental ingestion while using the pool is not of concern).

A Brita-style filter would filter out the chlorine and some of the dissolved solids of a few gallons of pool water, but with the chlorine and TDS levels being much higher in a pool than in tap water it would likely fail quite quickly. The pool is an excellent source of grey-water to use in toilets, cleaning, or even bathing, but it is not potable. A case of bottled water will supply a family of four with potable water for 3 days. That seems a far easier and better source of emergency drinking water.

 

[PoolGate]

There is no easy way to remove salt from water. Most methods involve some sort of distillation. Lifestraw does not even filter salt. I believe the max level safe for consumption is like under 200ppm (don't quote me on that). So even a non-saltwater pool is likely above this level.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

There are discussions of this on TFP going back many years. The consensus is pool water is not potable. The TDS and sodium levels would be too high as well as nitrate levels. You would be sickened by it.

 

[markayash]

I have a whole house water filter but not sure it it would help. One cartridge removes sediment and the 2nd chemicals
Just with all the cray stuff going on in the world wondered.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I have a whole house water filter but not sure it it would help. One cartridge removes sediment and the 2nd chemicals
Just with all the cray stuff going on in the world wondered.

Your setup would only reduce sediment/suspended solids and then reduces mineral hardness (calcium and magnesium). If there is granular activated charcoal (GAC) in it , then it would reduce chlorine/chloramine. That would still leave behind sodium, potassium, nitrates, phosphates, chloride, bicarbonate, and cyanurate. Your TDS levels would be relatively unchanged but the water’s sodicity (concentration of sodium) would be well above drinking water standards. Drinking high TDS water for any length of time can lead to dehydration and kidney damage. The only practical use of your pool water would be for bathing purposes and maybe brushing your teeth. Otherwise, it’s not suitable for much else.

If you want to process water that is contaminated, or process pool water, there are YouTube videos for building DIY solar stills that can distill a useful quantity of water for a few people. You would also want to have a small quantity of iodine or chlorine on hand, as well as some ascorbic acid, to help sanitize the water after it’s processed … or you can just drive over to Costco today and stock up on a few pallets of bottled water.

 

[TexEdmond]

or you can just drive over to Costco today and stock up on a few pallets of bottled water.

Or I could get a funnel... and CHUG MY POOL

(don't do this)

 

[markayash]

Or I could get a funnel... and CHUG MY POOL

(don't do this)

I loved that show, my wife thought it was stupid and never understood why I laughed all the time

 

[Newdude]

my wife thought it was stupid and never understood why I laughed all the time

Until the shortages hit. I bet she had a whole new appreciation for Cornholio.

 

[markayash]

Until the shortages hit. I bet she had a whole new appreciation for Cornholio.

“I need TP for by bunghole”
Washing the dog washing the dog

 

[TexEdmond]

“I need TP for by bunghole”
Washing the dog washing the dog

I always laugh so hard whenever I think of them watching "This Love" by Pantera.
"Does this guy Pantera ever relax?" "HuhhuhhhuhhhuhhhuhhHHuhhuhuh.... His dad must have kicked his butt when he was a kid." "HMMHMM YEAHYEAH! DANGIT PANTERA, THIS BEER IS WARM! GO GET ME ANOTHER ONE!" "HuhhhhuHUHhhUHhhuhhhuh... You treat your stepmother with respect, Pantera!"

I'd push back on the salt issue, but only gently. Regulations and recommendations around salt remind me very closely of pool chemistry FC/CYA "best practices" that led many of us to TFP and keep us here. I'm not saying it's safe or a good idea to drink pool water, especially considering all the other stuff brought up in this thread. It seems like this was brought up in an "emergencies only" thought exercise. In an emergency right now the only other options on my property are relatively nasty: the clarifier tank on my septic system and a swampy green stream with an undetermined amount of contamination.

Whoa, this brings up an interesting thought: could freeze distillation be used to safely isolate CYA, metals, TDS?

Check my math on salts: Is this correct?
EPA provides an approximate conversion of 1ppm to 1mg/l for salt water, and it seems like most salt pools are in the 3,000 - 5,000 ppm (mg / L) range.
One quarter teaspoon of Morton's iodized salt is 590mg sodium, meaning pool water has around 1.3 to 2.1 TEASPOONS of salt per litre. Over the threshold, yes. Unsafe? Over time, maybe?

Other considerations:
Human sweat salt concentrations vary between individuals (~500-2000ppm per litre lost), but it's not uncommon to plan for 1 litre of sweat per hour of exercise.
It's my basic understanding that normally functioning kidneys easily excrete excess sodium and have to work relatively hard to save it when levels are low. When low on sodium, the body will also actually sacrifice water to keep sodium levels up, which can be equally dangerous and extremely unhealthy.
I notice a 2018 study that measured 24 hour urine sodium levels across a wide age range. Women: ~3000mg / day, Men: ~4200mg / day. If that's the steady state, what's the upper range of healthy kidney excretion?
Everyone knows that BRAWNDO is the Thirst Mutilator, and it's what humans, cows, and plants crave.
It's my belief that daily recommended sodium intake, not unlike municipal FC/CYA requirements in pools, is based on entrenched industry knowledge and incorrect scientific conclusions. The history of how those numbers came about is pretty fascinating.

 

[Mdragger88]

I always laugh so hard whenever I think of them watching "This Love" by Pantera.
"Does this guy Pantera ever relax?" "HuhhuhhhuhhhuhhhuhhHHuhhuhuh.... His dad must have kicked his butt when he was a kid." "HMMHMM YEAHYEAH! DANGIT PANTERA, THIS BEER IS WARM! GO GET ME ANOTHER ONE!" "HuhhhhuHUHhhUHhhuhhhuh... You treat your stepmother with respect, Pantera!"

I'd push back on the salt issue, but only gently. Regulations and recommendations around salt remind me very closely of pool chemistry FC/CYA "best practices" that led many of us to TFP and keep us here. I'm not saying it's safe or a good idea to drink pool water, especially considering all the other stuff brought up in this thread. It seems like this was brought up in an "emergencies only" thought exercise. In an emergency right now the only other options on my property are relatively nasty: the clarifier tank on my septic system and a swampy green stream with an undetermined amount of contamination.

Whoa, this brings up an interesting thought: could freeze distillation be used to safely isolate CYA, metals, TDS?

Check my math on salts: Is this correct?
EPA provides an approximate conversion of 1ppm to 1mg/l for salt water, and it seems like most salt pools are in the 3,000 - 5,000 ppm (mg / L) range.
One quarter teaspoon of Morton's iodized salt is 590mg sodium, meaning pool water has around 1.3 to 2.1 TEASPOONS of salt per litre. Over the threshold, yes. Unsafe? Over time, maybe?

Other considerations:
Human sweat salt concentrations vary between individuals (~500-2000ppm per litre lost), but it's not uncommon to plan for 1 litre of sweat per hour of exercise.
It's my basic understanding that normally functioning kidneys easily excrete excess sodium and have to work relatively hard to save it when levels are low. When low on sodium, the body will also actually sacrifice water to keep sodium levels up, which can be equally dangerous and extremely unhealthy.
I notice a 2018 study that measured 24 hour urine sodium levels across a wide age range. Women: ~3000mg / day, Men: ~4200mg / day. If that's the steady state, what's the upper range of healthy kidney excretion?
Everyone knows that BRAWNDO is the Thirst Mutilator, and it's what humans, cows, and plants crave.
It's my belief that daily recommended sodium intake, not unlike municipal FC/CYA requirements in pools, is based on entrenched industry knowledge and incorrect scientific conclusions. The history of how those numbers came about is pretty fascinating.

Reading this thread makes me wanna test my ketoade w/ my k1766 -
i add about 1/16 - 1/8 of a teaspoon of mortons lite salt to a glass of water & a squirt of mio or similar flavor enhancer. I drink 3-4 glasses of this a day.
Is my pool filled with plain ketoade?
I will report back…..
Ps.
Ketoade is way better than Brawndo

 

[markayash]

Reading this thread makes me wanna test my ketoade w/ my k1766 -
i add about 1/16 - 1/8 of a teaspoon of mortons lite salt to a glass of water & a squirt of mio or similar flavor enhancer. I drink 3-4 glasses of this a day.
Is my pool filled with plain ketoade?
I will report back…..
Ps.
Ketoade is way better than Brawndo

Like when my son used my test kit to test PH of water for a school project and Dasani had a really low PH compared to the others.

 

[zea3]

And by emergency, I mean I'm surviving in a giant smoking cinder of a place where there is no hope of fresh water, not I'm out of Dasani and I'm too tired to go to the store. I see pool water more as a source of bathing, laundry, and toilet flushing water.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

…. I'm out of Dasani and I'm too tired to go to the store …

Truly an awful nightmare that could only be made worse when your personal DoorDash lackey refuses to answer your messages about grabbing an extra bag of Cheetos with your pallet of bottled water … I mean, the whole point of the messaging system is so that I can make last-minute, ridiculous requests with the full expectation that “my personal shopper” will get out of that long Costco line and get me my chips!!! Dang these 1st World problems are so difficult …

 

[TexEdmond]

Truly an awful nightmare that could only be made worse when your personal DoorDash lackey refuses to answer your messages about grabbing an extra bag of Cheetos with your pallet of bottled water … I mean, the whole point of the messaging system is so that I can make last-minute, ridiculous requests with the full expectation that “my personal shopper” will get out of that long Costco line and get me my chips!!! Dang these 1st World problems are so difficult …

Just make sure they grabbed plenty of Clorox wipes so you can wipe all those delicious snacks off when they get home thru the airlock...