I'm new to Potassium-Perm. I found it here in the drugstore in these nifty foil sheet 10-packs. Each blister in the foil pack holds enough to make 1 liter of strong purple solution.

How do you measure such a tiny ammount for water purification? I tried useing the point of my SAK blade and I got too much, the solution looked too strong. How much is enough? Mac

To purify water for drinking, you want it "just" coloured. As an antiseptic wash for wounds etc, a light pink; as an antifungal for athletes foot (tinea), crotch rot or ringworm, a full red saturated solution. The solution is a strong oxidiser, and can actually do harm to living tissue in a wound, so use sparingly. It will stain skin and clothes brown.

The solution works best on pre-filtered water - get rid of as much suspended clay and organic material as possible - even strained through a folded handkerchief or shirt.

Take a clear tumbler of water. Add one or two crystals. Mix well.

A little goes a long way. A few crystals ( a match-head worth?) would treat a full litre of filtered water.

Bones,

Thank you for the quick reply. I tried mixing some up the other night and got a slightly darker solution than the watery pink that I had heard about. The stuff is certainly compact.

It's also cheap. I can buy a foil flat of 10, 100 mg doses for R$ .90 which is about US $.25. Mac

I have used a sailmakers needle to dispense a small amount of KMnO4. These are triangular and the flats will work as a small spatula. A few grains of the material can be picked up to add to the water. I carry a few sailmakers needles in my kit and one in my calendar book binding. Here is a picture of a sailmakers needle.



A dry stick can also be whittled to a small flat spatula shape also...just be sure it is dry.

Make sure you are very careful with the dry powders. Inhalation of the material or getting in the eye can be very harmful.