The flood waters are ridden with disease, and it only gets worse the longer it stays there. It's as simple as that. As soon as that water is out, they will probably start spraying for mosquitos big time.

Yes, Mother Nature. If you know how she works, she will take care of you no matter what the situation is. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

A sand filtration system will work if the water doesn't contain saltwater. It takes
some time however for the bacteria in the system to get used to digesting the
oils, etc. About 2 weeks. It is what many sewer plants use and it is a good method in 3rd world
countries for home use.
http://www.cawst.org/technology/watertreatment/filtration-biosand.php

3rd world countries? It's what's used in Minneapolis, at least until the new micro-filtration system is fully up to speed.

I would guess the sand filtration gets rid of the "chunks" and it is chlorination that does the actual sanitation -- much like a for a pool. I don't think sand filters or chlorination can take care of nasty chemical/petroleum products in water. Most cities are careful to take water from relatively clean sources.

With Regards to "Polar Pure"
I have used this, It is an Iodine treatment so you will have the iodine taste unless you add some other flavoring. Another downside is that when stored with other items in you pack for long periods of time it will turn things brown....even with the cap tight.

You may want to check out this site for how slow sand filtration works:

Slow Sand Filtration

Pete

Makes sense, considering I have a sand filter unit on my 35K gallon pool at home. Once you nuke the water with algaecide and chlorine, the sand filter makes that water pretty crystal clear. Of course, we're talking about a pretty closed system. I'd hate to see what two or three quarts of motor oil, some cooking grease, some raw sewage, and various other household chemicals would do to my pool.

We have aeration filter systems on our sewage treatment plants at home, similar concept to the sand filtration. One thing that really hurts their operation is when someone pours a bunch of toxic chemicals down their drain and it kills all the wee beasties in the tanks and basically brings the process to a halt until the sewage can be decontaminated and new microbes installed. Same thing can happen in a septic tank (ugh).