Sheltering in Place: Long term plans for water treatment.

While looking at water treatment options for BOB/INCH bags I came across the USMC/MSR MIOX and Potable Aqua PURE Electrolytic Water Purifier which use electric current run through a salt water brine to make chlorine bleach aka sodium hydrochloride. 
That got me to wondering.....could someone rig up a stationary set up, say using a solar cell for a power supply, to treat water if they're sheltering in place but their water supply is suspect?  
Not to mention a bleach solution could be handy for more than just treating drinking water.  Disinfecting surfaces and adding to rinse water used for dishes and cookware area few that come to mind.  The longer an emergency goes on the more important sanitation and hygiene will be.
On more than a few prepping sites I've seen discussions on how to best store bleach, comments reminding people that liquid bleach in long term storage will decay into salt water over time, and suggestions about storing "pool shock" or powdered sodium hypochloride along with the issues of it's shelf life and problems with storage as well as accompanying hazards.    Overall the conclusion I've drawn is that storing bleach, powdered or in liquid form, is more trouble than it's worth.

Happily the rabbit hole I went down after my curiosity was aroused while looking at those two water treatment units seems to be leading into practical, productive pay dirt.  I've run across a very bare bones bit of redneck engineering that purports a way through electrochlorination to make a sodium hydrochloride solution of sufficient strength to disinfect water fro drinking and other purposes.   What strength of solution this device produces I do not know, but I have hopes that one of you with access to such high end engineering facilities and high grade materials such as a garage, exacto knife,  2 liter plastic bottle, copper wire, and a source of 12 volt DC electricity...not to mention water and salt.....may be able to try this gizmo out and give a proper evaluation of it.    
The way I see it, storing salt is a lot easier than storing bleach, and salt is both cheap and useful for a great many things.  A person could store a 55 gallon plastic drum of it in the garage indefinitely with no problems.

So without much ado, allow me to present this marvel of redneck engineering....

Homemade production of bleach disinfectant



... otherwise known chlorine, bleach is today one of the best know disinfectants and is commonly used to treat drinking water in european water main.

The proposed method makes use of basic materials that can be found easily, anywhere.

Properties

Kills off effectively, in just a few minutes, the bacillus of:

tetanus, cholera, typhus, carbuncle, hepatitis, entero virus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, etc.

Uses:

to disinfect drinking water
to disinfect vegetables and kitchen ware (plates, pots and pans, cutlery)
to sterilize feeding bottle
to sterilize clothes, sheets, walls, floors (homes and hospitals)
to disinfect cuts, sores, etc.
to disinfect surgical instruments
to disinfect animals, stable walls, etc
to disinfect excrements

How to produce bleach at home

Materials:

a tall plastic, 1.5 bottle with screw top
a cylindrical charcoal stick taken from a large electrical torch (N.B. batteries with a plastic ring contain a carbon electrode while other batteries have a metal ring, and so being alkaline, they have a metal electrode)
a wax candle
a container
kitchen salt or for animal feed
water (preferably rain water or filtered water)
a container in which to mix salt and water
an electric current of 12 to 24 Volts (such as a car, jeep, lorry battery or even photovoltaic sun panels)

Procedure

Step one: preparing the materials

cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle

picture 1

A- where cut off

take the charcoal out the torch with tweezers. With a candle flame, melt away any wax residues. Clean the charcoal with a piece of paper.
make a hole in the bottle's screw top, big enough in order for the charcoal stick to be inserted; if necessary, seal the charcoal stick with a few drops of candle wax;

picture n. 1
picture n. 2

screw the bottle top back on;

picture 2

B the candle wax
C the charcoal,
D the bottle top

Take 1.5 litres of water and add a handful of salt (about 100 gr.)

Mix well until the salt is entirely dissolved into the water.

Pour the solution into the prepared bottle - right up to the top

picture 4
F water level

Connect the tip and the negative (black) electrode, without the plastic covering must be placed into the water.


What happens
From the charcoal bubbles of gas will develop (chlorine)thet will then transform the salty water into disinfectant bleach. The smaller the bubbles, the the better reaction. The wider the diameter of the carbon stick, the smaller the bubbles will be.

Even the black wire will produce bubbles but they will be of hydrogen and will bot be of any use..

After about one hour of reaction, the bleach will be concentrate enough. The reaction can be left for up to two hours. By then the liquid solution will be yellowish and will produce the typical smell of chlorine..

picture 5

G battery
H chlorine bubbles
I hydrogen bubbles

General formula:
1 handful of salt
+ 1 litre of water
+ 1 hour
= 1 litre bleach

Here is an example of how to make water drinkable:

To disinfect 5 litres of water add enough bleach to get a slight taste of chlorine (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) mix very, very well - because it's the contact of the chlorine with the water molecules that disinfect, and not the density of chlorine in the water.

Try tasting the water again after about 20 minutes. You may add some more bleach to get the slight chlorine taste - this will ensure the water remains sterile until its use. Remember, chlorine will be consumed in the presence of bacteria and micro-organisms.



*EDITED TO ADD*
I wonder if the stuff produced by this gizmo would be strong enough to cause some level of saponification if mixed with fats?  If so, while I doubt you'd be getting bar soap out of the mix even a watery soap that could be used for laundry or dishes might be useful at some point if supplies ran low.