Our property has a 1/4 acre pond on it, right up near the house. Is there a way to clean that enough to make it drinkable? Or should I concentrate on other sources?

Note: In quantity size. I already have lifestraws for individual use.

life straw

I should note: In larger quantities. I do have some of those in our packs. I am looking for something to produce larger quantities.

Pond water is nasty.  If you want to make sure it's very safe...

First prefilter.  You can get a fine strainer made of HDPE that fits on the top of a 5 gal bucket.  You can put fabric or filter paper over that.

Then add the proper amount of bleach.  1/4 teaspoon per 1.75 gallons.  Let it sit for at least 30min.  (keep in mind bleach has a short shelf life)   Edit - As Cacinok mentioned, Pool Shock has a longer shelf life than liquid bleach.  You probably want to buy some.

Then finally filter using a gravity filter rated to remove harmful pathogens.

If I didn't have bleach I would prefilter, filter and then boil.

A proper filter should be enough, but why risk it?


Link to Clorox page on bleach purification


Amazon link to 5 gal bucket filter

ooops

I’d pre-filter through cloth and then use ceramic or similar filters to filter via gravity.

Chlorine, etc are great except challenging to store for long terms.

Attached File

I agree with pre-filtering and possibly using a flocculant before purification type filtering. I'd probably still use a secondary purification after the Lifestraw rig.

Lifestraw Community Water Filter.

Regarding chlorine going bad, substitute "pool shock" which properly stored has a shelf life of 3-5 years.

A nice 8 gallon still...

A lifestraw isn't a solution for your own pond.

Since we aren't post-apocalyptic yet, you can purchase a household multi-stage filter.      Set-up some PVC pipes to feed the filters with a solar-powered pump.  

Buy about three 10" filter housings and put them in series with simple threaded PVC fittings.

Like this one:



Then you need to pre-filter the heck out of the water before it hits your main filters.

You want to make sure that your location to intake water is sited in a location and in such a way as to to avoid stirring up silt and sediment.  

For example, first use a metal mesh screen particle pre-filter, sort of like this:



Then put it through first a spun fiber particle filter in the first housing, then, (critical) in the second housing, use a high quality ceramic filter that is rated to filter out all bacteria and most viruses.    Getting one impregnated with silver would be good too.

In the third housing, put either a activated carbon filter, or a low pressure reverse osmosis membrane filter.

If it's typical pondwater, your main particle filter might clog up very fast, and need to be replaced frequently, so you need to try to get as much pre-filtering of the intake water as possible.

One possible way to do this would be to dig a shallow well near the pond, which will fill with groundwater from the pond, and install your screened intake there.        This should eventually make fairly clear water and greatly extend the life of your main particulate filter.

Since you have time and resources now, don't be afraid to actually plumb up a decent, capable filter system now.   These filters, pipe fittings, and housings are really quite affordable.    

You could assemble it, test it, and then store it in a clean, dry place to be deployed when needed, or you could even set it up as a permanent install of a very cheap and shallow emergency well near your pond, with the plumbing pipes underground leading to a water storage tank.

Do your research on the filters, and don't skimp on the key ceramic filter.   It needs to be high quality, and not junk from China, and it needs to be specced to at least physically filter out all bacteria.

I like this approach.  I was in south America in a jungle village and they had a blue barrel half full of river sand on an elevated platform that they used as a filter.   I wasn't trusting of that as the only filter, but as a prefilter, I think it would be fine.

Doc

It'll still taste like pond water.

OP, if you want it to taste decent, you want a sediment filter, then a carbon filter, then whatever filter you choose for microscopic stuff - even just boiling/chlorine.  If you boil it, shake the bottle up good before you drink it, get more gasses dissolved in it to make it taste "right" again.

Rig up a sand/gravel pre filter

Municipal water treatment begins with batching through a sand filter.

Solar still!

The LifeStraw Family sized filter works well fr larger quantities of water filtration.  I also have a big burkey filter that is useful for larger quantities of filtration.

https://lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw-family-emergency-water-filter

What does the house use now?

Back country water treatment.  Part 2 covers chemical methods.

I'm also thinking about an emergency water source when the municipal system taps run dry. Here there are two sources. There is a stream about 1/4 mile away that originates from the side of a hill. My neighbor has a well on his property but it was not put in for potable water. He uses it for watering his grape vines. When I finally get a 220 volt generator, I plan to approach him about a plan to use water from it to flush toilets and washing if things really go bad. Being well water, I plan to filter some of it for drinking with a backpack water filter. Would that be okay?

This 100%. Didn't forget chemical and ag contamination such as pesticides and herbicides. Most filters cannot filter those out. Carbon block is needed and even those won't catch everything.

If you must do it reverse osmosis with carbon filters may be the safest bet.

There is a homebrewing forum.

Making bulk potable water is doable but requires some planning and a little risk acceptance. TJ is correct on the various complexities and potential threat vectors to surface water, but ultimately it comes down to understanding the risk to short- or long-term waterborne illness verse dying of dehydration.

The more reliable means such as boiling (doesn’t get rid of heavy metals or some pollutants), or distilling requires a lot of fuel for bulk potable water production. A phased gravity solution is going to be much easier for long term potable water production…with a little more risk on efficacy.  

If you’re really concerned and really want to use the pond, at least get a baseline test. That’s not going to always be the baseline as mentioned by TJ, but at least you’ll know what you’re working with for now.

For bulk pre-filtering, a large barrel with sand will work to get most of the larger detritus. While activated charcoal is much more effective, you can use wood charcoal to help some, the longer you let the water sit will help the efficacy…but it will never be as effective as specific activated charcoal.  

Third stage, you can filter with something like the Sawyer, Berkey or similar gravity water filter system. Lastly, if you’re still concerned, you can treat it with a chemical solution (which I would do if I was making bulk water and storing in other lager containers).

Our lake is about 11 acres and spring fed, but we’re still down-stream. We do have beavers but fortunately (last time I checked), no heavy metal/chemical pollutants. We do have a well, so that’s our primary source, but I plan to use the lake water for flushing and watering plants. I still have the means to gravity filter bulk water and to chemically treat bulk water as well.

ROCK6

Grifaid filters  Amazon has them

Would this work for rain water as well?

Any of you ever read on using Alum as a coagulant to help purify mirky water and make filtering easier?

Forgive the silly cartoon video, but you get the point.

Yes.

The sand filters, etc. mentioned would also be really good pre-filters (better than cloth).

A series of RV preflters.  Seawater pro RO water filter.  Acuva or similar ultraviolet light and cartridge filter.  Whole set up should be less than $5k.  Pre-filter get changed often but your RO should give 10000 gal before replacement.

Boiling, chlorine, iodine, Reverse Osmosis is the best.

You must be kind of rural if you have a pond. Why not drill a well? Too expensive, maybe drive a point? Seems to me it would be purer than pond water but I'm no expert.

I am finally going to buy enough for all our boats and a couple at fish-camp.

https://www.millbankbagsusa.com/


We have so many beavers in all the rivers and lakes.
Will use it, a purifier and chemically treat.
(Advised by a fellow arf member here to do it this way.)
We do boil water but some place wood is harder to get.
Some of the sloughs flow pretty slow and even a few of the rivers we go on.