wrote on Aug 9^th, 2012 at 5:27pm:

wrote on Aug 9th, 2012 at 3:36pm: Thanks for the links. Interesting and the most common is the use of Chlorine in the water. I do that at present with the tablets designed for swimming pools and a carbon filter to fix the taste. However water then goes to a septic tank (which won't like any chlorine) and plants which likewise could do without the chlorine. This all brings me back to looking at the local traditional way of using lime, but how much? We do exactly the same and 'touch wood' we haven't had any problems in 5 years.The chlorine doesn't stay too long in the water as it evaporates as gas,hence the smell and the need to keep the tablets topped up.

Sorry guys, only just seen this thread. Coldalba, you seem to be worrying about the chlorine too much. It's simple to remove.


If you are using 'Activated Carbon' and not just ordinary powdered or granulated Carbon, there should not be any Chlorine left in the water at all anyway - so long as you have enough carbon and change the carbon now and then so the pores are not all blocked with contaminants.

If you are really worried about the chlorine, why not pass it though a open topped vessel with a large surface area and aerate it with a small (solar powered?) fountain? looks good and is guaranteed to remove the chlorine simply after a while simply by evaporation. this works the same way as when you fill a large bucket from a cold tap turned on full and get a strong whiff of chlorine - it's the chlorine coming out of the water you can smell.

Alternatively, pass it though a slow sand filter with an activated carbon layer incorporated. That will also do it.

Hope this helps. As a Biologist, this and sewage treatment methods, and grey water treatments, are also exactly the sort of business I'm setting up when I move over.

BTW, if you are worried about the amount of lime to use and whether it is still too high a level in the water, why not buy a 'PH meter' or some 'litmus paper', or a simple water test kit?

Please also bear in mind that putting lime into a cisterna is not the same as putting into a well where the water is continually replaced as it's used. The water in  cisternas is usually only  replaced when the levels are low. If you have too much lime in the bottom of your cisterna, then as the water level drops, the concentration of lime in the water increases. This doesn't happen with wells since the water level stays the same. Neither does it happen with chlorine since it evaporates naturally over time and so concentration drops instead of increases.



John

:-?