To the best of my knowledge, KMNO4 works directly by oxidization. I think that the "trouble" with trying to find this info is largely due to circumstances: All the mainstream treatses on use of KMNO4 revolve around munincipal use. Rather than get long-winded, there is some very interesting information here that I believe leads to some interesting conclusions for the careful reader. It seems that whacking coliforms is fairly simple; some other tough guys take higher concentrations. Besides the cost, the residual pink color is deemed objectionable in tap water, and the precipitation of manganese dioxide (think carbon-zinc battery black gunk) is quite objectionable if floculation is not used.<br><br>There are some useful inferences to be made from the studies on how much for how long kills what. I don't have any KMNO4 on hand, but someone who does could make up those "noteworthy" concentrations and obseve/record the colors... another approach would be to pre-measure smaller amounts for use in stipulated amounts of water - I have to give some thought to packaging, but it's feasible. Something like "use 1 for drinking water, 4 for antiseptic wash, and 8 for anti-fungal" (hope you like purple toes LOL) - these dimensionless numbers for illustration only.<br><br>Has anyone used the Chlor-Floc stuff yet? I see it's available and apparently (this snuck up on me) is the current issue water disinfectant. I think I see a potential drawback to it - does anyone else?<br><br>If I recall correctly, iodine-based disinfection is most likely to whack the nasties. Use enough and drink the result. One gets used to it - and I think iodine-stained instant mashed potatoes are kinda interesting anyway <grin>. Chlorine-based will not effectively take out some of the tough bugs at advisable dosages unless one is equiped to test for residual chlorine (Field Sanitation, Lister bags, test kits - arrrgh! it's coming back to me...) Am I remembering this correctly? Filters are filters - caveat emptor; read Doug's reviews, read other 3rd party reviews, etc.<br><br>In a "drink-or-die" situation, let's not forget that we can strain the big stuff out and simply drink the water if it's not loaded with mineral poisons (I try to not drink effluent from old mines no matter how nice it looks - got enuff heavy metal in me already - some areas it's not safe to assume that the stream you see isn't loaded up from old mines... I don't worry too much about the bugs as long as I'm upstream of the cow when it does its thing...)<br><br>I think that KMNO4 is really cool stuff, I've used it for algecide/non-toxic herbicide in various situations but I'm not sure I'll carry it in my PSK - it's in the category of "useful to know" info that clutters up my poor feeble mind, I guess.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom<br><br>