“Prepare for the time of the great famine”– Begin with safe drinking water
(Part 3 of 5)
Guidance from the spiritual messengers of God, Aka, in 1970
There’s more than one kind of disaster that can be brought on by man.
A lesson might be learned from the late 1960s, when the U.S. Forest Service dumped Agent Orange, a chemical used in Vietnam for defoliation, onto the Pinal Mountains around Globe, Arizona. The Agent Orange did more than just kill the undergrowth on the mountainsides to cause more water to run off into the valley; it contaminated the streams, ponds and rural wells, even the city water supply. It caused tumors, cancers, arthritis, birth defects, strange illnesses, sterility, and more. Farm animals died; young were born with abnormalities and uncommon illnesses. Many of the residents and their children in the valley below Pinal mountain also encountered these serious health problems.
One couple, desperate to find help for their children, themselves and their animals, heard about a man named Ray Elkins who also lived in Globe; he might be able to help. They were told he gave health readings, much like the famous American “sleeping prophet” of the early 20th century, Edgar Cayce. So they went to see him in hopes that he could help them recover their health. It was a good choice. Though doctors could do nothing to help them, he did when the spiritual messengers of God spoke through him.
The spiritual messengers of God healed family members, and instructed those who came in need on how to purify their drinking water of this Monsanto-made contaminant.
If we had a disaster today, some of this guidance might also be helpful in learning ways to make our drinking water safer. After all, there are many toxic chemicals that might run off or seep into groundwater from golf courses, nearby agriculture use, factories, automobiles, dumping areas — the list goes on. Some man-made contaminants are not fully removed upon evaporation into clouds (leaving “acid-rain), or in the similar process of distillation. Although distillation is the best way to purify water, further distillation or purification through filters may become necessary.
But distillation or reverse osmosis also removes essential minerals that man and animals require to live. Essential minerals must be added back into the drinking water through sources such as pink or sea salt. Without these minerals, animals often die within about five months. This is important to know.
When the municipal water plant isn’t pumping and ponds may be contaminated, what can we do?
The guidance given on April 11, 1970, by spiritual messengers of God, of a way to remove Agent Orange that had seeped into the groundwater, may offer a lesson for us to consider. Hopefully, we’ll let the water experts evaluate this more fully.
Still, there may be some good concepts to know.
On April 11, 1970, as the couple and others gathered in Ray’s living room, they listened as angels saw their needs: I see that thy group should change the water that thy drink, and drink of distilled water. There is a strong acid content to this water, also another foreign chemical called “salicyscope” which has contaminated the water of this area. If this chemical is not used again for eight months, the water shall have a chance to cleanse itself, and then it will be good again, except for the acid content. Therefore, the purchasing of water from another area, which has been, then been distilled, would be good. Do not distill the water from here because you have not the means of cleansing it, and it would be too costly….
The moderator, Rod, replied: “Yes, I — I have become interested in the last few days in distilling this water. Do you mean that we could not get the chemical out by distillation?”
Aka said: No, not unless thy run it through carbon filters after the distillation. The carbon filters must come, could come, from the carbon which can be extracted from what thy call thy “mesquita.”
“Mesquite?”
Yes. If, by burning at…560 degrees Fahrenheit, and then re-burning at the same temperature, three times, then using the carbon extracted from this as filter, after the water has been distilled, then it could be made purified.
“Where should we buy water from?” Rod asked.
The water which comes from the Safford area is fair, but not good because it has a large sulfur content, a sulfuric acid content.
“How about Wilcox?”
Wilcox has — and shall come to pass — the chemicals of [oil] leaking into its water; therefore, it is not too good. But yet, in the San Simon Valley at — at the Shainty place.
“Shainty?”
It is known as the Shanty place, and it is an artesian well which flows. What other question?
“What about the purified water such as ‘Cascade’ or — “ [Rod turns to ask Ray’s wife, Margaret, “What other purified water in place of this?” She answers him, “‘Triple A.’”] — “‘Triple A?’ Will the purified water from any of the commercial companies be good?”
Yes, your “Triple A” would be fair; they use carbon filters in their distilling process. It is not perfect, but it’s better than what you would normally find.
“The water from the artesian well at the Shanty place is very good, isn’t it?”
Very good; once distilled, would be perfect.
“All right.”
It is almost in a pure form now.
There is one other place; it is a place in Arizona called Agua Caliente.
“Uh huh.”
That water could be very good. But also it should be filtered.
“Not distilled, but filtered?”
Yes, that’s true — because it is picking up a very, not strong, but a fairly strong iron content. There is one other well, and it is pure in its present form. This well has been capped for ten years. It is owned by what you call a railroad company. It is located in the town known as Coolidge, Arizona. Ray, soul Ray, which at that time was known by his family as soul Ammie, knew of this well. He has blotted this memory from his mind, but when he awakens, I shall place this thought in his mind, and he may tell you about it.
“Why? Will it be easy to get the water, or will the railroad give us trouble?”
They will give a slight bit of trouble, but I think — I must ask for permission, will thy wait?
“Yep.”
Permission has been granted.
You should write a letter to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, to “Care of the Division Engineer’s Office, Tucson, Arizona,” asking for permission to take water from their railroad well at Coolidge, Arizona. This water is also high in chemicals which are very good for the teeth and the preservation of the teeth. If this water is drunk, none of thy group shall ever have cavities in thy mouth and shall have teeth, all of them, to the day that thy pass into my plane.
June 9, 1970, Aka said: In your locale, it would be suggested to purify your water where you are. Drink, each of your family, of the sage.
But for thy own personal drinking water, build thy slough, as thy would call it. In your case, build it 36 feet long. Build it in a one-foot cube, placing baffles every six inches; drilling holes. The baffles should be made preferably of oak, if not, pine would do; oak would be better — drilling the holes in one-eighth diameter. Drill 50 holes [in] each baffle, at the last baffle placing carbon, either from the mesquita, or it can be purchased locally; it would do as well. Then in front and in back of the carbon, placing, what thy would call, a fiberglass back, wrapping this fiberglass in cloth of a close-knit nature, making a compartment that [it], this fiberglass, can be changed at least once a week. Therefore, this would purify thy water.
April 23, 1971: Thy have many questions, ask.
“Aka, [3–4–70–002] asks, ‘Is the water filter that is being used in Yuma satisfactory for the present time?’”
Yes, [ah], this would be good. But we say unto thee, now is the time to make the preparations to store thy water, for thy needs shall be soon. Now is the time to store thy food, for thy needs shall be soon. Now is the time to store of the seeds of all plants.
Can thy understand of which we speak?
“Yes.”
For, as we have spoke before, the time is near, for the Sword of our Lord, which shineth above all, shall strike soon, the Sword that cuts two ways. Where it was wet, it shall be dry. A coldness shall come upon the earth, and a darkness, and not a pebble upon your land shall be left unturned.
June 28, 1975, clarification was asked: “Yes, Aka. Aka, in the reading on June 9, 1970, you told us how to build a water purifier. Is there any way this could be made on a smaller scale, and how can it be made to withstand the pressures of city water lines?”
We will tell you in this manner, that the contents could be made of that of the white plastic substance you now use. Each section, 36-foot [inches?] long, should be placed together and, first — in 6-inch intervals, with baffle plates being placed in front of each of the 6-inch intervals, placing, therefore, that of 20 one-eighth-inch in diameter holes within the same; coupling these together with screw-type fittings. First by starting at the pressure end and placing that of the fiberglass wool within the same — this must be covered with the fiberglass cloth; then a layer, in the second section, of gravel; then in the third section, of crushed rock, and then, of carbon, and then, of fiberglass; repeating this until you have reached the 36-inch interval. You will find that this type filtering system will completely purify the water.
But do not build this in a straight line; build it in a curvature-trap fashion. This will allow for settlement in each small section, which will mean that you may replace the center sections and the end sections of your packing, and your other sections shall remain in good working order. Three curvatures should be put in the 36-inch length[s].
So we learned of several methods to purify or find safe drinking water that were suggested by Aka who sought to guide a family and others in Globe who had become ill from the water. They were also told how long it would take for nature to cleanse the Agent Orange contamination there, below the Pinal Mountains. For this case, Aka recommended distillation followed by filtration with charcoal filters. Before trying this for a different situation, one may want to study if it will meet these needs. This guidance is shared to provide some ideas to consider. Remember, not all chemicals are alike, certainly not weaponized ones.
Eighteen years later, April 8, 1988, the spiritual messengers of God were asked: “Dear Aka, is the city drinking water in Globe, Arizona, contaminated to such a degree that we should be drinking distilled bottled water? Also, would you please tell us if we need to be concerned [about our air pollution because of new contaminants?] Thank you very much.”
We shall answer your question. The drinking water where you live is not pure. The drinking water in Globe is not completely pure, but it is safe.
Understand these things, there will come a time when they, it is no longer safe. When that time comes, we will tell you so. You say, should you fear? If you build a house of glass you should not thrown stones. But those things that you produce outward can come inward.
A long time ago, in this town, when that which you know as “Agent Orange” was being experimented with, we told you of such and we advised you not to drink this water. And then came forth the rains. And it cleansed the ground and it cleansed the underground water. This could happen again.
Among possible ways to find safer drinking water is to look in different places. As spiritual messengers of God, Aka, was able to look into different locations in the area at which these people could find alternative sources of good drinking water. They also answered about buying bottled water to drink. Bottled water varies considerably between brands, sources of water used, and the purification process. One company might simply pour water from a municipal tap into a bottle to sell. Another might fill their bottle with mountain spring water (hopefully from a clean place); others might filter it or use reverse osmosis. Purchased water in bottles is not all the same!
It may be helpful to know plastic bottles that once held water shouldn’t be reused, because each time they are, more and more plastic leaches into the water. Bottles also should not be left in the hot sun too long to avoid plastic in the water.
This guidance the spiritual messengers of God suggested to a family in Globe of several ways they could obtain safe drinking water might be a good place to start thinking about it. And here’s more Aka told us through the years. Read the AUP March-April 2016 newsletter, “Rays of Philosophy”.
This is shared to encourage you to think about safe drinking water if the tap goes out. Before deciding how you will prepare, you may want to study more specifics or learn what’s commercially available today. There’s plenty of information for you to discover.
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One graduate student majoring in environmental engineering (drinking water and wastewater management) was asked to consider Aka’s guidance for removing Agent Orange in 1970. His recommendations are included here.
A study ––
Below is a project a student volunteered to do to help us think about how we might obtain good drinking water nearby (from north of Tucson, Arizona, to north of Winkelman, near the southern tip of the red area shown).
We asked the graduate environmental engineering student to offer his opinion about some of our drinking-water questions. We asked him––how can we purify water from muddy ponds in the desert where cattle drink, or from toxic ponds containing mining tailings? Is this even possible? We’re not recommending that you try his suggestions; everything is at your own risk. This report is simply to study these questions to provide more information. You may find some ideas you never considered, such as purifying bad water in phases with different processes before you use your store-bought filter for the final step.
First, the graduate student defined the question about what might be found in groundwater near the church.
1. What are mining by-products (near Christmas Mine by the Christmas mountain in Winkelman, Arizona)?
Mining activities usually affect the surrounding water environment by producing a drainage stream high in acidity, suspended solids, iron, sulfate, and trace metals
2. The effect that is most relevant to this project is the high acidity and metal content, and high suspended solids in this runoff water.
Regarding the acid drainage and metal leaching in the runoff water from mines, sulfide mineral oxidation is the key concept behind. Although these sulfide minerals are very insoluble in water (meaning they do not dissolved in water for a significant amount), problems arise when these minerals interact with the dissolved oxygen in the water that infiltrate through the soil (be it from natural weathering, or application by human during mining activities).
These are major mechanisms and sources of acid runoff and the release of mineral ions from the mining sites. The acidity of these water can even go below pH 1, which is extremely acidic and inhospitable for most living organisms.
In terms of the suspended solids, a number of impurities such as bacteria and viruses could potentially be on them, which may give sensitive populations various diseases such as diarrhea.
Based on the mining sites search, most mines in the Winkelman area are multi-metal mines3, meaning that most of them excavate for not only one type of metal, but multiple. This will inevitably give rise to tailing water containing a number of heavy metals at extremely low pH values.
2. Toxicity of mining by-products
According to the US-Mining website, registered mines in the Winkelman area excavate for the following minerals: Copper, Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc, Gypsum-anhydrite, Asbestos, Diatomite, Iron, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Sulfur, and Vanadium. These minerals, except for Gold and Asbestos (let’s talk about Gold and Asbestos at the very end, as its toxicology is unique), could pose harm to human body if present at a high enough concentration in water. Also, the oxidative state of these minerals, particularly the cations of the minerals after dissolving in water, can sometimes be very crucial for the toxicity of the mineral. Another important characteristic to remember is the effect of pH on the toxicity of metals, which may vary significantly among different metal species.
Gold, due to its extremely stable nature, poses no practical harm to human in the environmentally relevant conditions (pH, temperatures, humidity etc.). Asbestos, which is an outlier within this whole group of minerals, poses a toxic effect on human through inhalation, rather than ingestion. Therefore it is not of our concern in our case concerning only water, for it is very resistant to chemical corrosion and stays undissolved even in low pH environments.
Acids, such as sulfuric acid that is generated through mining practices, are more considered corrosive rather than toxic. Nevertheless this low level of pH brought by acids does need to be taken care of with proper techniques.
3. Concentration of mining by-products
The elements of concern from the above mentioned minerals are Cu, Pb, Ag, Zn, Ca, Fe, Mo, W, and V. As stated earlier, any one of them would pose a threat for people’s health if they were present at a high enough concentration. However, in reality due to various constraints in the environment, there are only a few of these elements of the minerals that are of concern. To elaborate such constraints, one of the most important concept is a “water extractable metal concentration of the soil”, which is different from the “total metal concentration of the soil”. The former has a practical meaning, which is essentially the maximum amount of metal that is “leachable” from a fixed amount of contaminated soil. In other words, the amount of metals released by the mining facilities, such as that into a tailing pond, would almost certainly not be equal to the actual amount of metals in the groundwater or surface water, assuming that the mining companies abide by regulations and do not dump wastewater straight into the surface water. Other typical constraints include but not limited to the solubility of the minerals under certain pH, temperature etc.
In addition to the minerals, certain negatively charged anionic non-mineral ions are also of concern, which usually accompany the release of cations as the water has to maintain electro-neutrality (meaning you will not get electric shock by touching those water).
Before considering treatment, it is important to know the levels of different ions in the groundwater that is beneath the mining activities. Table 1. summarizes such information to facilitate comparison. It can be seen that for cations, despite unavailable data with Mo and W, which are generally more of a inhalation hazard rather than ingestion hazard, the real concerns only limit to Pb and Ca, or in their common names, lead and calcium. For anions, three stand out and they are sulfate, nitrate and chloride ions. However, it is noteworthy that two of the above mentioned ions are listed as secondary standard by the US-EPA, meaning that their presence do not affect potability of the water, although there may be some aesthetic concerns (described in the footnote of the table).
Table 1. Groundwater metal ion concentrations around typical mines, together with regulations from both the US-EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
References
1. Aqueous pyrite oxidation by dissolved oxygen and by ferric iron, Carl O Moses, D Kirk Nordstrom, Janet S Herman, Aaron L Mills, 1987, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
3. http://www.us-mining.com/arizona/winkelman
4. Acidification and toxicity of metals to aquatic biota. P.G.C. Campbell, and P.M. Stokes, 1985, Canadian Journal of Fish and Aquatic Science.
5. Variations in heavy metal contamination of stream water and groundwater affected by an abandoned lead–zinc mine in Korea, Jin-Yong Lee et al, 2005, Environmental geochemistry and health
6. Silver and other metals in some aquatic bryophytes from streams in the lead mining district of Mid-Wales, Great Britain, K.C.Jones et al, 1985, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution
7. Heavy metal contamination from mining sites in South Morocco: Monitoring metal content and toxicity of soil runoff and groundwater, Hicham et al, 2007, Environmental Monitoring Assessment
8. US-EPA, available at: http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/#one
Some proposed treatment approaches for purifying water to drink
Suggestions by a graduate student in environmental engineering (water and waste disposal) to the Association of Universal Philosophy for a volunteer project, Fall 2015:
With the likely contaminants identified in that locality, the environmental engineering graduate student discussed common water purification methods, and tried to answer questions about a few commercially available portable water bottles and countertop gravity-fed filters. Also, he designed a way to pre-treat highly contaminated water for a group of about 15 people.
The environmental engineering student was asked to determine which, among several suggested filters, might be best. Since more highly contaminated water would require more purification before using commercially available filters, he also designed a “treatment train” to use as a first, important step.
1. Commercially available filters:
If groundwater is to be used as the source water, this section should be referred to, which includes an evaluation of commercially available filters based on the published results. He writes:
1.1 Berkey gravity-fed countertop system:
This is a system based on three contaminants removal mechanisms, according to the website (http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-answers/performance/how-berkey-purifies/). First is a microfiltration membrane, second is an “adsorption and absorption” media, and the third barrier is an ion exchange resin. They did not disclose anything about the “adsorption and absorption” media, so it is very hard to determine the actual mechanism behind this step. According to the linked lab reports, this system seems to have achieved over 99% reduction in most of the chemicals they tested, both the organics and inorganics (http://berkey.atomicdesignweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/14-260-NM-Black-Berkey-Purification-Element-Chem-Red-Test-.pdf ). In addition, for microorganism reduction, more than 99.9999% of tested virus and bacterium were removed (http://berkey.atomicdesignweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AnalyticalServices-Final-Complete.pdf ).
This all seems too good to be true, based on my experience in the field for more than four years. However, despite days of effort, I was not able to identify what this “adsorption and absorption” media was, so I cannot conclude saying they overestimated the removal. In water and wastewater industry, this adsorption is usually done by activated carbon, however, activated carbon is typically not used in a configuration of a filter bed because of the high pressure drop, especially using the powdered activated carbon. Therefore I would not know the pathogen removal capacity if one were to pack activated carbon (again, I am just assuming it is densely packed activated carbon) for pathogen removal. This has to be determined in a laboratory. Besides, activated carbon are known to be a nice harbor for bacteria and protozoan in water, so after certain period of use, it is inevitable that these microbes grow inside the carbon filter, further reducing the flow out of the filter. This clogging effect can range from a day in hot weather or a month in cold weather. However again I cannot guess what this material is because Berkey recommended possible cleaning frequency from a day to years (http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-answers/how-to/black-berkey/clean/).
There is a caveat: They tested different chemicals individually, not at once. Therefore the performance of the removal of a mixture of chemicals cannot be guaranteed — removing 99% of individual chemical does not guarantee 99% removal of all chemicals in a mixture, because there may be competition between different contaminants over the binding sites, which will significantly impact the behavior of and the interactions between various contaminants in the filter. In addition, they never tested water of high organic loading (such as a pond of water full of animal waste), which can be a nightmare for any kind of filter because high loading of organics can easily foul the filter, making not only the contaminant removal ineffective, but also the flow of the water extremely slow out of the filter. So far as I can tell they only conducted experiments in clean drinking water spiked with various contaminants at relatively low concentrations.
On the other hand, if the filter is capable of removing contaminants as they advertise, the Berkey filter should be able to achieve these goals listed in Table 1: Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chloride, and nitrate. The only two goals that are not achieved are Calcium and sulfate, which is simply because the manufacture did not publish such information on their website. However, it should be pointed out that sulfate is a secondary standard set by the US EPA, so there is no health related threat regarding this chemical despite the potential aesthetic issues, which is not much of a concern in an emergency situation. For Calcium, it is only given by the World Health Organization as a recommended value, because there is no actual immediate risk involved in drinking too much Calcium: A person would need to drink water of high Calcium content for years before they would develop symptoms such as kidney stones, which is far less of a concern compared to a lack of water to drink.
Therefore by judging from the lab report on their website, the Berkey filter alone should be able to provide safe water given that the source water is from the groundwater near the Globe area.
1.2 Seychelle Advanced filter for their flip-top water bottle
The entire Seychelle system appears to have the following configuration, in the order of treatment: A membrane of 2 micrometer pore size implemented, which removes “contaminants and pollutants”, according to the manufacture. In environmental engineering, 2 micrometer is a large pore size, through which a number of pollutants such as viruses and bacteria can get through, not to mention smaller dissolved organic molecules. However, this first barrier is effective against larger particles such as silt.
In addition, Seychelle system has a granular activated carbon layer, which is supposed to be capable of retaining a number of organic pollutants, with the efficiencies of most tested chemicals reported to be more than 99% (http://www.seychelle.com/filtration.html).
Due to a lack of dedicated cation removal technologies, such as ion exchange, the Seychelle system has therefore a reportedly “worse” heavy metal removal than the Berkey system (under the “FILTERING TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON”: http://www.seychelle.com/filtration.html).
Another thing is that Seychelle only has a report of “bacteria removal” available, with an average of 99.9% reduction for tested bacteria. There was no mentioning about viruses. [Note: The student didn’t see the Advanced filter, which Seychelle reports remove 99.9999% and thus, many larger viruses; he only saw the Regular Seychelle filter on-line for his report.]
Therefore, solely based on their published data, owing to an unsatisfactory removal of heavy metals Arsenic and Cadmium, the Seychelle filter alone is NOT recommended to treat groundwater near the Globe area.
1.3 Zerowater pitcher
According to Zerowater website, the pitcher uses the following technologies in sequence: Activated carbon, which retains organic substances to a certain size; Redox alloy in combination with carbon, which based on my understanding chemically reduces certain metal ions to metals, which are subsequently trapped by the densely packed carbon bed; Ion exchange to further remove cations and/or anions, depending on the type of resin they employed; Membrane to remove particles (http://www.zerowater.com/filter.aspx#null ).
Based on the lab report found on the website (http://www.zerowater.com/comparison-chart), if the filter is capable of removing contaminants as advertised, the Zerowater pitcher should be able to meet goals for these contaminants: Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chloride, and nitrate. The two goals not achieved are Calcium and sulfate, which again may be simply due to a lack of requirement from US EPA because they are not considered primary contaminants currently.
Therefore, judging from the lab report, the Zerowater pitcher alone should be able to provide safe water given that the source water is from the groundwater near the Globe area.
But what about more contaminated water sources?
2. Engineering solution in addition to the commercially available products
If water from wastewater ponds, tailing ponds is to be used as the source water, this section should be referred to, which includes feasible engineering solutions to be incorporated before applying the commercially available products. The goal of these engineering solutions is to reduce a large fraction of contaminants in water to be treated (heavy metal removal ~ > 60%, organic removal ~ > 60%), so as to greatly alleviate the loadings onto a commercially available water purification product.
Several key considerations in the design of the treatment train include ease of material preparation, ease of assembling the system, and performance of the system.
The wastewater to be treated, likely contain high levels of manure (pond water at the farm) and/or heavy metals (mine tailing pond). Key treatment methods include: 1) coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation 2) granular activated carbon filtration 3) ozonation. 1) can remove a large fraction of a variety of contaminants, such as heavy metals, organic matter (manure). 2) can further polish this partially treated water by adsorbing both large and small organic materials. 3) helps to break down large molecular weight organics, and also offers some level of disinfection.
It is noteworthy that in an industrial setting, representative and accurate bench-scale and pilot-scale tests are usually done to estimate the dosage of the chemical, contact time of the water etc.. However, such resource and information is not available for this design project and therefore I could only apply my previous experience with wastewater and/or water treatment to give some general guidelines instead of designs with extreme details.
2.1 Treatment train proposal
The treatment train starts with pH adjustment, followed by coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, granular activated carbon filtration, ozonation, granular activated carbon filtration again, and the chlorine dioxide disinfection. Based on the conservative approach of treatment, i.e. if available and feasible, as many barriers as possible will be applied to remove contaminants. Therefore after the proposed treatment train, a commercially available filter should be used in combination in order to achieve the best possible results, given limited resources.
2.1.1 Materials
The approximate material requirement to treat water for the consumption by a maximum of 15 people is listed below, based on the daily consumption of 2 gallons of water per person per day:
2.1.2 Treatment unit construction
See the flow diagram below for reference. However, detailed treatment execution should follow section 2.2:
- pH adjustment: A Brute 32 gallon trash can (#1) should be prepared
- Coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation: Carried out in the same Brute 32 gallon trash can (#1)
- Granular activated carbon filtration: Drill a hole 2 inches above the bottom of the Brute trash can (i.e. the center of the circle should be at this place). The hole should have a diameter of 0.79 inch. After drilling the hole, fix one sheet of cheese cloth on the inside of the hole with hand, meanwhile pour the granular activated carbon into the trash can, the depth of the activated carbon should be half of the total depth of the trash can. After finishing with filling a half trash can of activated carbon, release the hand holding the cheese cloth. Prepare two of these units
- Ozonation: A portable ozone generator should be prepared. Note that the tubing connecting the gas diffuser and the ozone generator should be about 5 feet long. This tubing should come with the ozone generator, which should be inquired with and requested from the sales representative, because this tubing needs to be corrosion proof as the ozone is highly oxidative
-Chlorine dioxide disinfection: No specific construction is needed.
2.2 Treatment train operation
Water to be treated should be first loaded into container 1), the pH of which should be tested with a pH strip. Under most circumstances, for manure containing wastewater, the pH should be between 7 to 9, and for mining tailing water, the pH should be below 6. Therefore, if pH of the wastewater is between 7 to 9, directly add 100 mg prehydrated alum per 1 liter of water (a scale up calculation required) while stirring vigorously with the stick for approximately 20 seconds, and then slow down with the stirring speed dramatically to about 4 revolutions per 10 seconds. This reduced speed of agitation is crucial to the success of the method, as stirring too fast will break the flocs formed. Look at the water carefully, as flocs of coagulant will be formed and water will start to become clearer. However, if pH of the wastewater is below 6, scoop out pellets of NaOH one by one and dose into the wastewater while stirring (DO NOT ADD THE PREHYDRATED ALUM NOW!). Test the pH of the wastewater frequently until it is at or above 6, using the pH strip. Next add 100 mg prehydrated alum per 1 liter of water while stirring vigorously with the stick for approximately 20 seconds, and then slow down with the stirring speed dramatically to about 4 revolutions per 10 seconds. Wait for at least half an hour to let the flocs settle. It will be a little hard to see, as the water might not be very clear, so please pay close attention.
Next syphon the supernatant in container 1) into container 2) slowly and carefully. Make sure that no sediment is syphoned to container 2), otherwise it defeats the purpose of the above mentioned process. The bulb pipette and the plastic tubing can be used for such purpose (use the bulb pipette to initiate syphoning). Make sure the water level in container 2) is not higher than half of the height of the container. To stop syphoning, simply pull the plastic tubing out of container 1).
Lift container 2) and pour the solution into container 3). This should be done by at least two adults as it may weigh more than 130 pounds. Use caution. After the water has broken through the activated carbon filter in container 3), water will very likely come out of the hole at the bottom of the side of the container at an average flow rate of 0.46 L/s. Catch this water with container 5).
Put the ozone diffuser attached to the ozone generator into the solution in container 5), try to land the diffuser at the center of the bottom of the container. Turn the ozone generator on while stirring the solution with a wooden stick. Keep purging ozone gas into this solution and stirring until an observable change in color of the solution happen. This could take from a few minutes to over an hour depending on a number of factors such as the organic content in the water to be treated, and the ozone production capacity of the ozone generator, to name a few. Upon observing the change of color of the solution, keep purging for another 5 minutes while stirring.
Transfer this solution to container 6), and use caution as discussed above. Catch the effluent with container 8). Add ClO2 tablets at a dosage of 400 mg per liter of water treated. Stir the water well and seal the top with an aluminum foil to prevent dissociation of ClO2. Wait for a recommended time of 4 hours for optimum disinfection results.
Solution in container 8) should be passed through a Berkey or Zero Water filter for further purification before drinking.
The overall time of the treatment train is around 5 hours, to produce approximately 16 gallons of potable water for 8 people to live on for a day in the desert. The time limiting steps are the ozonation and ClO2 disinfection steps.
3. Boiling water
As no two substances have the same boiling point, boiling water (Referring to the collection of the condensate for drinking, not the water being boiled) is among the simplest and effective ways to treat water. Therefore, if fire is available, boiling water and collecting the condensate is a highly recommendable way for water purification.
To do so, bring the water of concern to a full boil, water vapor will come out of the solution at 100 oC. This vapor can be captured by covering the boiling pot with an inverted larger pot, slightly tilted to one side so the accumulated condensate could flow into another reservoir. This condensate will be free of mostly any contaminants. This is how doubled distilled water in high end laboratories is produced.
The disadvantage is that wood or propane canisters will be required to boil water, which may require some preventative preparation.
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Editor’s note: In this article, we have shared some ideas for finding and purifying water to drink after a disaster. It is intended to help you to think of ways that you might provide drinking water that is safe for yourself and others. A disaster doesn’t have to be so much of a disaster if you’re prepared, beginning with water.
Here are some more ideas from the March-April 2016 Association of Universal Philosophy newsletter “Rays of Philosophy” on finding water.
God bless you.
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Read more about this and how people who came to Ray Elkins in Globe received help and healing from the spiritual messengers of God speaking through him. See “There’s more than one kind of disaster that can be brought on by man.”
Read part 3 to see more helpful suggestions Aka makes of how to have food. “Prepare for the Time of the Great Famine (Part 3) — Food for Thought.” (Click title.)
Also see other articles in the on-line publication, “Prepare for the Time of the Great Famine.”
Please understand these ideas are shared only as thoughts, intended to encourage you to do more research on your own or to consult with experts. This is not medical or health advice, so consider this at your own risk. These ideas are shared to remind many that sometimes water is not safe to drink, or that there may be no water flowing through the tap. If we prepare for this, we’ll be so glad we did.
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Would you like to join in association with the spiritual messengers of God in the Association they ask us to form?
Learn much more. “What do the spiritual messengers of God tell us?”
Listen to their recorded words.
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“New words shall be written upon the sky, but they must be written in men’s hearts first.” (The spiritual messengers of God, December 1, 1972)
You can see more of the messages that Aka, spiritual messengers of God, spoke from 1970 to 1989 at amazon.com/author/assoc.universal.philosophy
The words of Aka are copyrighted 2000 by A. Ray Elkins, Globe, Arizona
