Can you make surface water safe to drink by adding 6 drops of sodium hypochlorite to an 8 oz class of river water?

It all depends on how much soil and organic material is suspended in the water. Six drops is enough to treat 3 quarts of clear water. There's no way of knowing how much bleach to add to water that isn't clear because the stuff in the water can react with the bleach and more or less neutralize it.

Sanitizing river water .....

Your numbers are all very vague and subject to interpretation. Basically, "it depends." What is the concentration of the NaOCl? How contaminated is the water? Practically speaking, people use bleach (a solution of sodium hypochlorite) to disinfect water all the time. Speaking of time, there is some standing time involved before you can safely drink the water.

Here's one suggestion from http://survivaltopics.com/better-than-bleach-use-c...

To use household bleach for disinfecting water:

1. Add two drops of bleach per quart or liter of water.

2. Stir it well.

3. Let the mixture stand for a half hour before drinking.

The website above advocates their brand of Ca(OCl)2. Either way, it is the presence of the hypochlorite ion that does the disinfecting.