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Wolf Den FoodsWolf Den FoodsSurvival Book

Field tools

Dose, kit, words

Arithmetic you should not do in the dark, a shelf you can tick off, and the language the rest of the book uses.

Water calculator

Public EPA / CDC emergency disinfection figures for unscented household bleach. Prefer boiling when you have fuel.

EPA emergency disinfection

Add

8drops

About 0.08 tsp of unscented bleach into 1 gal. Mix. Wait 30 minutes.

Per-gallon baseline

8 drops / gallon for 6% bleach, clear water. Faint chlorine smell after 30 minutes means the dose took. No smell: repeat and wait 15 more.

Order of operations

  1. 01If the water is cloudy, first pour it through a clean cloth, coffee filter, or settled clay, then treat the clearer water.
  2. 02Use regular unscented liquid household bleach with 5–9% sodium hypochlorite. No fragrance, no splash-less thickener if you can avoid it, no color-safe, no scented laundry bleach.
  3. 03Dose from the EPA table. Mix thoroughly.
  4. 04Wait 30 minutes. The water should have a slight chlorine smell. If it does not, repeat the dose and wait 15 more minutes.
  5. 05If you still have no chlorine smell after the second dose, the bleach may be spent — use another method (boil) or a fresh bottle.
  6. 06Boiling is still the most reliable method when you have fuel: a rolling boil. At elevations above 6,500 ft, boil 3 minutes. Arizona high country counts.

Do not use these for drinking water

  • — Scented, splash-less, or ‘color-safe’ bleach
  • — Pool tablets that are trichlor or dichlor (stabilized cyanurates) for drinking water
  • — 3% hydrogen peroxide as a drinking-water plan
  • — Povidone-iodine (Betadine) as drinking-water drops
  • — Untreated surface water that still has particles — filter first, then disinfect

Starter checklist

0 / 18 in the den

Water first

Hygiene

Cleaning

Food

Medical

Pest

Containers

Glossary

Acid
A compound that donates hydrogen ions. Vinegar and citric acid are the household set. They neutralize bases and can free chlorine gas from hypochlorites.
Alkali / base
The opposite of acid. Lye, washing soda, lime, and to a milder degree baking soda. They neutralize acids and burn skin as the pH climbs.
Available chlorine
The oxidizing power left in bleach or pool shock. Heat, time, and sunlight spend it. A dated bottle in an Arizona garage may be water with a memory of chlorine.
Caustic
Alkaline enough to destroy tissue. Lye and slaked lime. Flood with water, 15 minutes, then medical care. Do not ‘neutralize’ a skin burn with vinegar.
Desiccant
Something that holds water so your stores do not. Silica gel is reusable when oven-dried. Calcium chloride is stronger and turns to brine.
Food grade / USP / ACS
Grade is not marketing. Food grade (or GRAS) is for mouths and plates. USP is pharmacy grade. ACS is laboratory. Pool, masonry, and drain-opener grades stay out of the kitchen.
HDPE
High-density polyethylene, recycle code 2. The usual plastic for lye, vinegar, and many dry powders. Not magic — acids and solvents still pick their own fights.
Humectant
Pulls moisture from air. Glycerin, calcium chloride, lye. They clump or dilute themselves if the lid is loose — a monsoon problem.
Oxidizer
A chemical that feeds fire and reactions by donating oxygen or taking electrons. Bleach, pool shock, permanganate, nitrates, peroxide. They live alone.
ppm / mg/L
Parts per million, same number as milligrams per liter in water. Emergency chlorination aims for a residual you can barely smell after 30 minutes, not a swimming pool.
Shelf-stable
Does not mean ‘ignore.’ Heat, light, oxygen, and humidity are the four thieves. Arizona takes the first and, in monsoon, the fourth.
Stock solution
A stronger mix you dilute at the point of use. Pool-shock stock is the example. Label it so no one drinks the stock.