Bleachy water anyone?

Astitchintime

Safe if the quantities are followed to the letter no doubt but as so many don’t know pounds from kilograms, think a litre is little more than a cup full, and cannot determine the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon………it does give cause for concern

I am sure most younger people work in metric.

Sago

So many of you seem to have missed the point!

I fully understand that a tiny amount of bleach will make water safe.

The point was the very many feckless people will remember something about bleach and pour a load in, it could be seriously damaging for babies and infants.

Are people really that stupid?

I'm sure public health warnings will be very clear and Councils and Water companies will make bottled water available especially for the young and vulnerable.

Safe if the quantities are followed to the letter no doubt but as so many don’t know pounds from kilograms, think a litre is little more than a cup full, and cannot determine the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon………it does give cause for concern

Bukkie

I presume using the word lovely and Chris Witty in the same sentence is a joke? He is a complete idiot who terrified previously sane people during 2020 with his inflated figures keeping us in lockdown far longer than was necessary. If you were run over by a bus it still went on your death certificate you died of Covid.

Notes on Reporting of Deaths Involving Covid-19 - available in full online.

Definitions:
Standard guidance for medical certification and death registration have been updated. WHO have released new codes in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for reporting COVID-19. The agreed practice for certification is:

• The certifying doctor uses their medical judgment on whether COVID-19 was involved in the death or not, based on symptoms and clinical findings not just test results.
• All health conditions that contributed to the death are included on the certificate.
A death is classed as ‘involving COVID-19’ if either code appears anywhere on the certificate, either as the main cause or as a contributory factor.

WHO is the World Health Organisation.

So many of you seem to have missed the point!

I fully understand that a tiny amount of bleach will make water safe.

The point was the very many feckless people will remember something about bleach and pour a load in, it could be seriously damaging for babies and infants.

prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/

Shame on OP for undermining perfectly good advice. Here we all are online; so by now you should know that every European Govt is advising its population to be three-day ready ; able to handle three days without gas, power, water, open shops . Keep a stock of nutritious canned food because it's cooked, safe to eat cold from the tin. We have a wind-up lantern and battery radio.

To enthusiastic hikers and campers, or residents of the Highlands. islands or remote rural, that's nothing new and no big deal. When we had small children we lived in the sticks and often had long power cuts/ roads closed by heavy snow/ no water whenever our private supply froze or broke down.

Whenever we had no tap water I just fetched it in buckets (river, rainwater tanks from roof, snow). We used it raw to wash, cook, and flush lavs. I boiled only what we needed to drink and clean teeth with. If the power and water were both out, I could still boil water in a pan on the woodstove's hotplate (and cook, and stay very cosy).

Mr Whitty's advice applies to urban people who in the event of power, mains water and mains gas being unavailable, can't boil water but still need to drink it. To melt snow, you need a heated home and lots of snow; a crammed panful melts down to a mugful to drink. IF it's raining; you'll need to divert a downpipe. Otherwise, find a handy pond or river. If you live by the sea, salt water is fine for everything except drinking.

How to collect and bring home your "wild" water supply?

Many urban dwellers, even in flats. conveniently own a portable clean-ish container that holds 10 litres. It's called a garden watering can.

If you don't own a watering can then please keep a few clean 2 or 4 litre milk containers.

And if there's no means to boil dirty water for drinking, you'll be grateful for Mr Whitty's tip to keep some bleach on hand.

I have a packet of purify tablets in my stock cupboard for such emergencies.

On the advice of idiots like Chris Twitty. Sweden didn't lockdown and didn't have a higher death rate than countries that did.

The politicians made the decisions Bukkie

I presume using the word lovely and Chris Witty in the same sentence is a joke? He is a complete idiot who terrified previously sane people during 2020 with his inflated figures keeping us in lockdown far longer than was necessary. If you were run over by a bus it still went on your death certificate you died of Covid.

There is often a vaporous pong of the swimming pool from the bathroom cold tap especially in the morning. There is a water tower near by. I wonder if that makes it more potent especially after heavy rain.
The water doesn’t make suds eg washing up liquid either. This is just here though. Quite strange.

Your tap water is bleached to make it safe, Sago, supposedly in safe quantities although sometimes, when it comes out of the taps, it smells so strongly of chlorine they must overdo it.

Water companies have made mistakes, too.

Thank you, Professor Witty.
Yes, perhaps you need to specify what a litre looks like for those who do not realise. And recommend water purification tablets although, had you done so, the shelves would be empty of them by now.

He forgot to mention - "Don't eat yellow snow" (sorry to lower the tone).

love0c

To think the government controlled us with this man's lunacy.

I defer of course to your superior scientific knowledge.
Why ever didn’t they consult you during the pandemic?

If power is out there may be no way to boil water. Bleach in water is used in many places where there are frequent power outages from hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, landslides, etc.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

we /hurricane area/we bottle water with small amount bleach
put bottles in freezer to keep food good if power goes down
extra ones for flushing toilets and drains
storaging water will go bad mold algle / so bleach is the best thing and not real expensive

learned it all about 60yrs ago

To think the government controlled us with this man's lunacy.

I shall remember this advice when we have a catacysmic event.
Then wonder where our bleach is..

Why the passive-aggressive sarcasm re Chris Whitty @ OP?
The lovely Chris Witty has reared his head again, this time regarding UK power emergencies
(“Lovely” , “witty” )
His advice is sound, and hardly “lunacy”

Bleach is sodium hypochlorite.

Household bleach is mostly water. Only around 5% is sodium hypochlorite which quickly breaks down into sodium chloride which is salt.

If people can’t measure 10litres (10 large water bottles) you can’t do much about that.

Agreed but it isn't that difficult.

Most people buy milk in 2.2 litre plastic containers. It’s clearly show on the label.

In an emergency, take 5 large plastic milk containers from the recycling …

Oh dear. Don't let Trump hear. He will be advising to inject bleach again like he wanted to in the pandemic.

Well at least he may be a bit less orange.

I imagine when Chris Whitty gave the proportions he meant exactly that as a scientist he would know the safe degree of dilution .
If you think about it - Milton sterilising fluid which we used to use for sterilising babies’ bottles was a form of bleach and was regarded not only as safe but recommended, being a form of diluted bleach, containing 2% sodium hypochlorite.
If people can’t measure 10litres (10 large water bottles) you can’t do much about that.
You can’t legislate for stupid.

I thought that it was OK to drink such water if it has been boiled. What is the difference with bleach?

Anyway, it's possible to buy water purification tablets over the counter. People use them for camping. etc. Why didn't he recommend them?

Here's a page of search results for them

duckduckgo.com/?q=water+purification+tablets+for+drinking+water&t=chromentp&ia=web