system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does standing water help you fight bacteria?
gpt
If you have it, treat the water with a small quantity of ordinary household bleach, about 1ml per liter. Mix well and let it stand a while; 10 minutes or so. It's not perfect, especially for some of the nastier bugs; boiling or high quality filtration are better options by far. But bleach is better than nothing. 

For hand washing, *somewhat* dirty water is better than none, as most of what you're doing when you wash you hands is literally washing the bacteria away with the soap. But this depends *highly* on how contaminated the water is, and with what.

Also, the brown color may have more to do with particulates (flakes of metal from pipes, silt) than bacteria. If the pitcher of water sits,  undisturbed, for a day or so, does it become more clear? Maybe with a layer of crap at the bottom?