KMnO4 Toxcitity

[ChrisKavanaugh]

A few years ago Los Angeles completed a major sewage treatment facility. The engineer in charge turned a tap, filled a glass of sparkling clear water and offered it to the news reporter. She looked over the holding ponds of brown effluent, wrinkled her nose and refused. Worldwide, virtually 100% of our waters are now contaminated; agriculture runoff from chemical fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides and animal waste or offal, chemical contaminates from heavy industry, mercury poisoning in South America from gold mining operations, old fashioned critters from Mother Nature ( dysentary is the #1 killer of children worldwide) and deliberate poisoning of wells in fratricidal civil wars. I was in the arctic and came upon a beautifull pink patch of snow. Closer observation was not so pretty. It was the frozen jetsum from a passing airliner :yikes: A tourist to Mexico bought a alcoholic beverage and went into shock. The icecubes were contaminated and she died within hours. In some countries bottled water containers are artfully refilled with local sources and resold. I'm sure 99% of these horrors don't happen in Scotland and knowing your local environment, growing up with it's local flora as part of your personal chemistry makes it relatively safe. But if you travel, remember Wednesday Addam's admonition " Be afraid, be V-E-R-Y afraid."

 

[Schwert]

This is a post I made about 3 years ago at ETS. I updated the links to the Assembly of Life Sciences National Research Council publications which are really a very good, but long discussion, on drinking water. There are now multiple volumes, but in a quick look, Volume 2 is still the one to start with.

ETS also has numerous more recent discussions on water treatment, many on potassium permanganate and many on other methods.

I more or less still go with what I wrote 3 years ago....

So here goes:

Warning…long discussion follows. Get a cup of Coffee first.

Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) seems to have one of the desired attributes that make its inclusion in a PSK highly desirable. Many authors have cited multiple uses for Potassium Permanganate including: water purification, topical antiseptic/antifungal wash, fire starting, and signaling (snow dye). Like all other items that are selected for small PSK’s it is worthwhile to evaluate the efficacy of Potassium Permanganate for each of these reported uses.

Water Treatment

The primary role of Potassium Permanganate in a PSK seems to be as a water disinfectant. It has much greater storage stability than iodine or chlorine tablets and does not need special packaging within the kit. A common screw top plastic vial is suitable, as the chemical must only be protected from moisture and is readily available for use. It does not chemically degrade like iodine or chlorine tablets upon exposure to air. It does not sublime producing a very corrosive and staining gas and eat everything it touches in the kit. Very small amounts of Potassium Permanganate are also reported to be effective for water purification. This makes a small vial go a long way for water treatment.

However, the primary question is one of effectiveness against the water pathogens expected. The best source I have been able to find is the 1980 drinking water report from the Assembly of Life Sciences National Research Council. This report is long, but compares several methods of water treatment commonly used for municipal water systems. Potassium Permanganate is fairly commonly used in municipal treatment systems to kill algae and remove iron and manganese. It is not commonly used to kill pathogens, and is not considered effective for this large-scale use.

The first two links are to this report. The third link is to a much shorter review of various water treatment methods.

Drinking Water and Health
Volume 2
SAFE DRINKING Water COMMITTEE
Board on Toxicology and Environmental Health Hazards
Assembly of Life Sciences National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1980

http://www.nap.edu/books/0309029317/html/index.html

More Drinking water publications can be found here:

http://www.nap.edu/books/0309038979/html/related.html


AntiFungal/Antiseptic

Here it seems that Potassium Permanganate may have some utility. Making a moderately pink to red solution in water to treat fungal infections, wash hands, wash fruits and vegetables may have some utility. Trekking groups make reference to using KMnO4 solutions to treat locally procured produce. I could find no references that determined the value of such uses but what could it hurt.

Fire-Starting

Now here is a unique and fun use for this chemical. Mixed equally with sugar and sparked initiates violent oxidation of the sugar. According to David Alloway this reaction can also be initiated by friction with a knife or ground with a dry piece of wood. Potassium Permanganate simply mixed with glycerin also reacts to start a fire. Glycerin is a common constituent of brake fluid so this may be available in an aircraft or automobile accident.

Signaling

Using Potassium Permanganate to stain snow is a novel use. I can attest to the staining properties of very small amount of this chemical to bathroom grout. Fill your vials in the garage as the nearly invisible dust goes everywhere and the addition of water produces a very deep purple color.

Chemical Safety

KMnO4 is a strong oxidizer and the dry powder should not be allowed to make contact with the eyes or mucus membranes. Because the chemical is usually supplied as a fine powder, inhalation or contact with the eyes and mouth is possible. Solutions present much less risk.

My Opinion

I do not think that Potassium Permanganate is effective enough to be my primary water purification method. I carry iodine tablets (Potable Aqua, full-unopened bottle), and will fall back on KMnO4 if required with the understanding that it is probably not going to be very effective.

Treatment of fungal infections, washing wounds or food items does not seem to rank high on my likely use of this chemical.

I have used Potassium Permanganate and Glycerin to initiate fire in a lab setting. I do not carry glycerin and may not be able to locate it in an emergency, so I am going to practice the dry friction methods and sparking methods. I see some utility here even though I could probably prepare dry tinder and start a fire with the sparking device I carry without using KMnO4. Potassium Permanganate is an alternate to the 4 other fire-starting methods I carry (ferro rod, butane lighter, strike anywhere and LifeBoat matches along with some tinder). KMnO4 serves more as emergency tinder with some special reactive characteristics.

Visible and effective signals on snow may require more of this chemical than I am currently carrying. However it does produce an unusual color that contrasts well with snow, so this use does have practical value. The hardest part is to sprinkle the chemical lightly enough to produce a large signal.

So What

In an objective evaluation of the likely uses for my PSK shelter, fire and water are the 3 primary needs for which I carry multiple redundant devices. Potassium Permanganate makes the cut as an included item in my PSK as it serves as backup to my iodine treatment for water purification and as novel maybe useful fire-starting tinder. I carry two 0.5mL plastic cryovials one of KMnO4 and one of sugar. Violent oxidation of sugar is just too cool to not have as an option. It still comes down to the fun of building a PSK.

If you have read this far, thanks.

 

[Toddy]

I take the point of the last three posts, and your information is genuinely happily received, but I'd like to re-iterate my question.
Is ordinary, running water, not from an area subject to human sewerage or silage runoff, likely to be harmful? Or if it is, what's in it that's going to give me grief? I suppose I'd better qualify that by adding; in an area of cool temperate rainfall like the UK.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[innocent bystander]

Signaling

Using Potassium Permanganate to stain snow is a novel use. I can attest to the staining properties of very small amount of this chemical to bathroom grout. Fill your vials in the garage as the nearly invisible dust goes everywhere and the addition of water produces a very deep purple color.
.

:wave: I can testify to that - i spilt a few grains on the floor at work, and the poor chap who cleans the floor had to contend with a purple floor for weeks afterwards. Just couldn't get rid of it :rolmao:

There cant be that many places left in the uk where you could guarantee there isn't something in the water, short of the higlands and similar unfarmable places can there ?

 

[Schwert]

Toddy,

That is just too open a question. Only local information and practice can answer that.

I can say that I have drunk flowing waters from places I walked in the past without any ill effects. However these same pristine waters now cannot be drunk without significant risk of Giardia. Things have changed over the years but the water still looks the same. Only local information gave me this insite and I no longer drink these waters without filtration. This example is from high elevation in Montana...there are no farms on this watershed it is a defined Wilderness...however there are, and have been humans, and horses in here for a long time...somehow this watershed was contaminated with Giardia and the resident animals and human visitors keep it contaminated.

My guess is that there are many places that surface water can be consumed with no treatment, but you really cannot tell. Once when I was a kid we were hiking and stopped at a stream crossing and tanked up, filled our canteen and then proceeded up the trail. Right around the stream bend there was a dead elk laying in the water....blown up huge. We dumped the water in our canteens and filled them above the elk ): No effects....back then we never treated or filtered water.

 

[den]

Great stuff Dave :You_Rock_

 

[Toddy]

Toddy,

That is just too open a question. Only local information and practice can answer that.

Again I do take your point, but what *are* we likely to come across that may cause us grief from the wild water.
We don't get elk, but sheep have a horrible propensity for drowning themselves so we watch for those. Gardia is supposedly very rare here, having usually been brought in from abroad and seems to be more a swimming pool and communal washing facilities problem. Shrimps I just filter out, but I don't think they're carrying anything noxious anyway. I don't drink where the are ducks around, so what else is there?

Maybe this ought to be on another thread?
Any Mods about to decide please? :?:

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Schwert]

In a general overview water contaminates can be:

Biological---viruses, bacteria, protozoa and

Chemical---heavy metals or pesticides etc.

If a flowing stream is visited by animals of any sort, birds, livestock, deer, beaver, whatever then it will probably contain some concentration of biological organisms from their gut. These are common in all waters and illness is generally dependent upon the concentration and type of these contaminants. Fecal coliforms are probably the bacteria of most interest. They will be present in nearly all waters which are visited by livestock or game.

A high mountain stream rapidly flowing from snow melt or rain runoff will probably be more dilute in these things than a stagnant pool, but just because the stream is flowing strongly does not mean it did not flow through a field of sheep dung just around the bend.

Other organisms of interest would be Giardia, protozoa with major effects on our gut, and the weird organisms that are common in tropical zones like liver flukes and other nasty things. In Scotland, my guess (guess only mind you) is that fecal coliforms would be of interest and while we can get sick if exposed to enough of these or some of the very nasty ones we carry plenty of them around everyday without any issues. There is one strain of coliform (e coli 0157) that has been responsible for death or debilitating illness from improperly cooked food contaminated with cow feces. This has also been found in waters.

Take a look at this site:

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/management/joysmanual/streamcoliforms.html

They explain fecal coliforms a bit and show naturally occuring concentrations. Note that the Cedar river supplies water to where I live.

This Environmental Protection Agency report on coliforms is also useful

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ecoli.html

Chemical contaminants can be found in waters both due to natural occurrence and man-made disturbance or intentional disposal. So waters that have flowed through old mine tailings may be high is certain metals or waste products from the mine itself. Mercury, arsenic, lead, etc or from waste ponds etc that were used in the reduction of the ore to a metal.

Application of fertilizers herbicides or pesticides can also contaminate water from runoff or intentional misuse.

For the bushcrafter, water purification is generally concerned with removal or destruction of the biological contaminants via boiling, filtration or chemicals. Chemical contaminates are not generally removed unless a filtration system is used that incorporates an active carbon filter.

This is a good overview of water issues applicable to backcountry, particularily Giardia which according to this article was probably introduced to the backcountry by man and then sustained in the wildlife that live there.

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/health/wtrflfaq.htm

 

[spamel]

I think that if you are taking water from a natural source, sterilisation in one way or another has to be a priority. When I lived in Plymstock, just outside of Plymouth, as a child, I used to drink water straight from a stream on the outskirts of town. I drank from where the water was flowing over some stones, which agitates the water and gives it that white frothed up look. I have always taken my water from such a feature, there is less sediment and the like in there. I never suffered any stomach bugs when doing this.

Nowadays, I boil the water taken from such a source, as I am normally going to have a brew anyway. I also carry puritabs, and as previously mentioned, the purple stuff with all intentions of using it if I have to.

I don't know of any particular nastys in British waters, apart from Leptospirosis, which is apparently present in most British waterways and can seriously spoil your day, and various types of algae. Sometimes signs are put up warning of the presence of dangerous algae.

I think with the various methods of making water safe to drink open to us, we would be folly not to use them. Remeber: Safety first, fun later!