I have a 200 gallon Jacuzzi that I treat with chlorine chemicals. In a SHTF situation how do I make that water safe to drink?
Your water will be biologically safe but full of chemicals. You'd want to filter it through a filter like a Big Berkey first.
Or distill it. I don't think the filters will do much good for ionic species, which is what the active biocides are.
run it through a solar still, if nothing else. You could do that even without power. A plastic kiddie pool, a sheet of plastic, and a large heavy bowl or bucket. The sun will do the rest.
A activated charcoal filter will remove all the chlorine ions, as well as many of the organics. A 5 micron Filter will deal with any particulates, and bacteria, and virus.... Then boil what comes thru those filters, for that extra added protection, just to be sure, or run it thru an ultra violet germicide chamber.
I use a Katadyn Pocket that has a ceramic filter that will filter down to .2 micron. 5 microns isn't much more than a particulate filter. Definately boil after using a filter with that pore size. Here's just one source for bacteria/virus sizes: http://www.filterair.info/literature/Files%2FBacteriaFungusVirusChart.pdf As you can see, the common human cold virii can be as small as .023 microns so nearly 10x smaller than my filter's pore size. Of course, this isn't an exhaustive list nor is it specific to water borne pathogens but I won't drink anything from any water source that isn't filtered to at least .2 microns &/or further treated. As for drinking water from a Jacuzzi, I personally wouldn't unless it was the only water left in the AO. And then only after distillation post SHTF. Nasty stuff in hot tubs... Reverse Osmosis (RO) would work too if you have the means to pressurize a system to force water to cross the membrane (.0005 micron). RO will even remove Fluoride, arsenic, selenium, etc from tap water. Byte
According to my mom you will get pregnant just by sitting in a hot tub, or at the very least a raging STD that will make you go blind first and to hell second. With that in mind I'd go with the Berkey.
I thought I heard somewhere that temp and acidity hinder chlorines ability to affect hot tub water and should be treated with bromide....can anyone confirm or deny this for me?