265. Disqualifying the Water

40:9 If someone who did not wash his hands touched water, the water does not become ritually impure. Therefore, after the using the bathroom, one may scoop water out of a barrel in order to wash his hands and the water remaining in the barrel may still be used for ritual hand-washing. However, if this person rubs his hands together in the barrel to wash them, or even dips his pinky into the barrel to wash it, then the rest of the water is unfit for hand-washing because it is water with which work has been performed (see 40:8). 40:10 Salt water, foul water, or bitter water that are unfit for a dog to drink, may not be used for hand-washing. (Bi’ur Halacha 160:9, s.v im hakelev, cites the Talmud in Zevachim 22a that the standard is what a cow will drink. Since a dog will drink things a cow wouldn’t, he says that the matter needs further investigation.)