Another way to purify water is to use a small amount of regular liquid bleach.
Water storage treatment bleach.
Use regular household bleach with the only active ingredient sodium hypochlorite.
Stir and let stand for 30 minutes.
If your long term water storage is from your well there will be nothing to inhibit organic contaminants if there are any so it may be a good idea to add some chlorine bleach.
But they may be a consideration in the storage or treatment option you choose.
Newer regular liquid bleach which has been available for several years now contains a concentration of 8 25 sodium.
One option is sodium hypochlorite bleach but has been manufactured so that there are no impurities in it and as a result it is the only bleach product.
For many years regular bleach contained a concentration of 5 25 sodium hypochlorite.
Emergency water storage.
This article provides simple directions for routine non emergency cleaning and disinfection of water storage tanks using household chlorine bleach.
The water treatment we and many other companies carry would purify the stored water up to 5 years so you don t need to worry about changing it out or over contaminating the water with bleach.
Add 1 4 teaspoon 16 drops of bleach per gallon of water if the water is cloudy and 1 8 teaspoon 8 drops if the water is clear.
The water should have a slight chlorine odor.
Certainly if sourced from a pond or stream you should treat the water to eliminate organic contamination.