Like most of us, I'm fairly well versed on the risks and available treatments to make backcountry water contaminated by bacteria, cysts and viruses safe to drink. But I wonder about dealing with water that may be contaminated by various industrial chemicals, fertilizers, and all the effluvia that may find its way into surface and subsurface waters, especially in the frontcountry.

This may be a particular concern in the aftermath of disasters. Obviously, there are many such contaminants that simply cannot be dealt with by any any reasonable filtration or treatment process, but I wonder if there any available practical ways to recognize, identify or test for any of these contaminants, short of just giving some to someone I don't particularly like and seeing what happens?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

big problem.
I wouldn't touch it - if it was doubtful.
warning signs - color, odor, any kind of surface slick or discoloration, anything that poisons the grass on the side of the pond. don't drink it. you can't filter out chemical contamination.

Pete

Having done some work at a major research institute I've had the opportunity to check out their mobile field lab department, which is equipped to deal with that sort of situation.

Their mobile unit looked quite impressive, a modified army truck transformed into a small lab on wheels. I remember they had a number of suitcase-sized kits containing various reagents for detecting specific kinds of chemical contamination. IIRC, several such kits would be needed in an event of heavy contamination from unknown sources. There was also a portable XRF device used as a quick but not very precise means of identifying some types of contaminants (heavy metals probably).

It went well beyond my knowledge of chemistry but I was quite impressed by the amount of gear they had available. Even more so when I learned that it was only good enough to carry out very basic field analyses. For really accurate results samples would need to be examined in a proper lab back at the institute.

So I wonder what an average person could do when in doubt about contaminated water. Probably very little. It seems that even distillation cannot remove all the typical contaminants:

"Removal of organic compounds by distillation can vary depending on chemical properties of the contaminant. Certain pesticides, volatile solvents, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene and toluene, with boiling points close to or below that of water will vaporize along with the water as it is boiled in the distiller. Such compounds will not be completely removed unless another process is used prior to condensation."

http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1493/build/#target2

Tom L ... "Removal of organic compounds by distillation can vary depending on chemical properties of the contaminant. Certain pesticides, volatile solvents, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene and toluene, with boiling points close to or below that of water will vaporize along with the water as it is boiled in the distiller. Such compounds will not be completely removed unless another process is used prior to condensation."

Tom ... an excellent quotation. And for me - this just goes to prove why it has been an absolute disaster to introduce these compounds into our world (on a large scale). I'm not against sensible uses of technology. But we NEED to take great care to prevent these compounds from getting into our soil and drinking water. And to be honest, we just have not done this. The same thing can be said about pesticides. Some of these chemical compounds are absolutely lethal chemicals - that is what they are designed to do. Kill life. Yet, we happily spray them all over our gardens and croplands, and imagine that our environment will be safe. We have the illusion that if we are only ingesting pesticides in the "parts per million" then life will be fine. But how do we know that. It may be possible that some people are sensitive to these toxins, in much lower doses than parts per million.

Good post. No easy answers.

Pete

Distillation will remove MOST contamination, but as posted above it WONT remove volatile hydrocarbon contaminants that have a boiling point similar to water.

Distillation followed by filtration through activated carbon should render the water safe.

It is worth noting that some organic contaminates are long term cumulative poisons, and might be less of a concern in a short term emergency.
A level that is considered unacceptable in a piped city water supply that people drink for a lifetime, might be acceptable in a short term emergency.

In case of TEOTWAWKI, production and use of most toxic materials would probably cease, so it would not be a long term problem.

Respectfully... any reference to an authority saying that?

Cant find a link, but I have read this in a Royal Navy engineering textbook. something like

"drinking water on board HM ships is normally produced by the distillation of seawater. In the open ocean nothing else is required. Distillation removes not only salt but also other harmful material, viruses and bacteria. However in ports, rivers and estuaries, the sea water is liable to contamination by oils and solvents and depending on the boiling points, these materials may pass through the water maker. The distilled water should be additionally treated by passing through activated carbon filters in such places."

In an emergency I am afraid many people will be too thirsty to think much of health risks

If clean water is not stored before hand, people will drink whatever is available.

adam2 ... "some organic contaminates are long term cumulative poisons"

can you explain more. I'm not arguing with you. I would like to know more. do you know where they accumulate in the body?

Pete

Activated charcoal filters will remove some chemicals, notably chlorine. I have a dim recollection that iodine will also remove some metals. I wonder if typical county health departments have the capacity to test water samples for such contaminants? I'll ask when I meet with them next, and post their reply here.