Filtering And Disinfecting Water From A Lake

[gouda]

I have eventually got to the stage where i need to sort out the filtering and disinfecting of the water supply that I will be using which is from a lake (basically a big dug out hole filled with water from local paddies)

I don't plan to drink this water just use it for washing showering flushing etc.

The set up is as follows

(1) water is pumped from a submersible hanging from a raft, about 1m below the water surface (10m deep so hopefully not too many big particles sucked in)

(2)this goes into a 2000l storage tank

(3)a automatic pump then pumps into the building.

Crossy posted the following suggestion when I posed the question of pumping from the lake a while back.

"Pump 60m to a coarse particulate filter (get one of the cotton ones that can be washed) to take out the really crunchy bits then into your tank. Pressure pump from the tank to the house via a finer particulate filter and probably a carbon filter too (to remove or at least reduce any chemical nasties in the water).

I would add a very fine particulate filter to the bathroom / shower feed to keep out the bigger bugs as this is the point where the water may enter your body. "

Can someone explain what a cotton filter is? also what other filter materials would you recommend, (don't have much clue of whats in the water .. anyone know where i can get a sample tested in bangkok? will be heading off to BKK soon)

Any brands recommended, I checked out the Mazuma website but didnt find it very helpful. Where is a good place to get filtering equipment?

Further I wish to continuously cholrinate /disinfect the water , does anyone have any experience of this?

I have found a inline chlorine feeder which uses trichlor tabs and was thinking of placing this before the storage tank, maybe even dangling one inside the tank too...

May even get a water purifier thing with RO or UV for the kitchen sink so can wash veggies etc...

any good advice will be greatly appreciated

[Artisi]

If you are collecting water from the local paddies, you will need a proper water treatment system unless of course you are happy to introduce all the chemical residue and other nasties from the local farming community.

A "filter" and a few tablets won't purify the water to a level you would want to introduce into your house for cooking, showering or washing.

[cavok]

I have eventually got to the stage where i need to sort out the filtering and disinfecting of the water supply that I will be using which is from a lake (basically a big dug out hole filled with water from local paddies)

I don't plan to drink this water just use it for washing showering flushing etc.

The set up is as follows

(1) water is pumped from a submersible hanging from a raft, about 1m below the water surface (10m deep so hopefully not too many big particles sucked in)

(2)this goes into a 2000l storage tank

(3)a automatic pump then pumps into the building.

Crossy posted the following suggestion when I posed the question of pumping from the lake a while back.

"Pump 60m to a coarse particulate filter (get one of the cotton ones that can be washed) to take out the really crunchy bits then into your tank. Pressure pump from the tank to the house via a finer particulate filter and probably a carbon filter too (to remove or at least reduce any chemical nasties in the water).

I would add a very fine particulate filter to the bathroom / shower feed to keep out the bigger bugs as this is the point where the water may enter your body. "

Can someone explain what a cotton filter is? also what other filter materials would you recommend, (don't have much clue of whats in the water .. anyone know where i can get a sample tested in bangkok? will be heading off to BKK soon)

Any brands recommended, I checked out the Mazuma website but didnt find it very helpful. Where is a good place to get filtering equipment?

Further I wish to continuously cholrinate /disinfect the water , does anyone have any experience of this?

I have found a inline chlorine feeder which uses trichlor tabs and was thinking of placing this before the storage tank, maybe even dangling one inside the tank too...

May even get a water purifier thing with RO or UV for the kitchen sink so can wash veggies etc...

any good advice will be greatly appreciated

Sent you a PM Gouda

Cheers,

cavok

[welo]

Hey, why go private! This is a very interesting topic, not only for the OP. Why not share your wisdom with all of us!

welo

[chrgrims]

we are looking to clean the water from a well on the property, so we have a bit of the same problem. My choice as of now is Pure cleaning system. Its based on distilllation.

But i think this system is too small for cleaning water to be used in shower etc. So, i am interested in hearing about cleaning systems for things like this.

Edited June 13, 2009 by chrgrims

[sometime]

I have eventually got to the stage where i need to sort out the filtering and disinfecting of the water supply that I will be using which is from a lake (basically a big dug out hole filled with water from local paddies)

I don't plan to drink this water just use it for washing showering flushing etc.

The set up is as follows

(1) water is pumped from a submersible hanging from a raft, about 1m below the water surface (10m deep so hopefully not too many big particles sucked in)

(2)this goes into a 2000l storage tank

(3)a automatic pump then pumps into the building.

Crossy posted the following suggestion when I posed the question of pumping from the lake a while back.

"Pump 60m to a coarse particulate filter (get one of the cotton ones that can be washed) to take out the really crunchy bits then into your tank. Pressure pump from the tank to the house via a finer particulate filter and probably a carbon filter too (to remove or at least reduce any chemical nasties in the water).

I would add a very fine particulate filter to the bathroom / shower feed to keep out the bigger bugs as this is the point where the water may enter your body. "

Can someone explain what a cotton filter is? also what other filter materials would you recommend, (don't have much clue of whats in the water .. anyone know where i can get a sample tested in bangkok? will be heading off to BKK soon)

Any brands recommended, I checked out the Mazuma website but didnt find it very helpful. Where is a good place to get filtering equipment?

Further I wish to continuously cholrinate /disinfect the water , does anyone have any experience of this?

I have found a inline chlorine feeder which uses trichlor tabs and was thinking of placing this before the storage tank, maybe even dangling one inside the tank too...

May even get a water purifier thing with RO or UV for the kitchen sink so can wash veggies etc...

any good advice will be greatly appreciated

Sent you a PM Gouda

Cheers,

cavok

More than likely cavok is trying to make a few Baht off selling a system, seeing that he is a newbie.

[gouda]

thanks to those who replied

well it looks like i'll opt for one of my original choices, which is a slow sand/biosand filter, followed by a further UV purification system in the kitchen , although will check out what pesticides the local farmers use as there may be traces of these

for those who face a similar challenge e.g. well /surface water.. check out slow sand filters on the web.. up to you if you believe what is published but i'll be giving it a go...

[stevehaigh]

i just built a slow sand filter at my place. we have government water from an open pond and its very murky, even after using one of those pure water filter things you can buy in home pro for about 20k baht.

anyhow, my design is a concrete base and 7x 120cm concrete rings, rendered inside and out for water tightness.

in the concrete slab base there are two 1" water drains, one at the bottom for cleaning out and the main one which connects to some 1" PVC pipe in a 'H' shape, and drilled with hundreds of small holes.

the bottom 20cm of the tube is gravel, then about 1m of course sand (saai yaap) then 70cm of fine sand (saai la-iiat) then 30cm of fine swimming pool filter sand.

i use the old pure water filter which has a carbon post filter as a pre filter to the SSF (slow sand filter). the idea here is to get the large particulates out of the water before going into the SSF. the pure water filter has a backwash system so i figure its easier this way for maintenance.

the water pressure on the main supply line is good so there is plenty of pressure to get the water though the pure filter and up 2.8m into the top of the SSF. there is a float valve controlling water flow into the SSF so it is always fill to about 20cm from the top. this means there is a layer of water on top of the SSF filter bed of about 1m deep at all times. if gov't water cuts out, it provides a bit of a buffer until i find a temporary water supply because its very bad to let your SSF dry out (kills the microbiological action)

anyhow, the output side of the SSF goes into a 6000liter plastic tank that has a pump to the house.

so far, i'm just flushing the system for about 1 to 2 weeks to get the dirt out from the sand and rock i put in there and get the bio layer to develop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_sand_filter

already i can see a big improvement in the color of the water coming out after just 2 days. this is only from the mechanical filtering effect at this point i think since the Schmutzdecke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmutzdecke is unlikely to have developed yet. i hope in about 2-3 weeks i will have crystal clear water coming out of the thing and total cost, about 10,000 baht.

Edited October 3, 2010 by stevehaigh

[JAS21]

I was just looking at How to get to Koh Chang, when I read about some 'balls' you put into the water, have a look at this months iamkohchang.com/, you might find some useful info....