Water Treatment Process

“Water, water all over and not a drop to drink,” as the old stating goes. A more apt statement for these times might be, “water, water all over, but is it safe to consume?” And if it’s not, exactly what is a reliable water purification process?

Regretfully, in this day and age there are couple of, if any, places where the water is safe to drink without dealing with, no matter how excellent and welcoming it could look.

Water in the wild typically includes unsafe microbes, germs and parasites that can trigger a variety of disorders, such as giardia, dysentery, hepatitis, and hookworms. Luckily, however, we’re going to find out a few simple ways ways to cleanse water to make it safe for consumption.

I. How You Can PURIFY WATER– WATER PURIFICATION PROCEDURE: BOILING
The most basic approach to cleanse water is probably boiling.

You should bring the water to a full, rolling boil for a minimum of five minutes to be safe, with some professionals suggesting an even longer time. The disadvantage to boiling your drinking water is that it removes the oxygen and the water ends up tasting flat. You can enhance its quality by putting it backward and forward in between two containers to put oxygen back in, or merely shake it up.

II. WATER PURIFICATION PROCEDURE: PURIFIERS
There are also numerous chemical purifiers on the market. Iodine comes in either liquid kind, (which can be messy), or tablet form.

One to two drops or tablets will clear up a quart of water. Shake your canteen or container and wait twenty minutes before drinking. Water treated with iodine will have a darker color and a bit of an undesirable taste.

It is possible to mask this taste by extraing a powdered drink mix, however be sure to wait the twenty minutes before including it, as it will disrupt the iodine’s effectiveness.

Various other chemical treatments to cleanse water that work likewise to iodine are chlorine tablets, potassium permanganate, or halazone tablets. You should be able to select these up fairly cheaply at most outdoor stores.

You can even extra a couple of drops of bleach in a pinch, though I would not advise overusing this one. When using chemical purification to make sure all surfaces have actually been decontaminated, it is vital.

After waiting the twenty minutes, a little unscrew the lid of your water bottle or container and rinse around the threads and lid. The nice aspect of using tablets is the container is really small and mobile and can be slipped into a pocket, a plus if you do not want to hold a stove or pot, or make the effort to boil water. Chemical therapy can be done on the hoof with minimal stopping time.

III. WATER PURIFICATION PROCESS: FILTERS
Many work by pushing the water through a ceramic or charcoal filter and then chemically treating it. Typically, they have one hose with a float that goes from the water source to the filter and a 2nd hose, for clean water, that goes from filter to water bottle. Commercial filters are also great for when the water is on the murky or grimy side, as they will remove this.

IV. WATER PURIFICATION PROCEDURE: PRIMITIVE METHODS
Past these usual approaches, there are more primitive strategies for the severe survivalists (or the unfortunate individual who was caught not really prepared).

Keep rinsing the water repeatedly with the sand until it is looking clear. A variation of this is to dig a hole near where the source is and make use of the water that filters through into the hole.

Distilling is a technique that can be used for either collecting water or event fresh water out of seawater.

To collect water from the ground, dig a deep hole and place a gathering container or water bottle in the center.

Cover the hole with a clear sheet of plastic. The plastic has to be weighted in the center with a rock or heavy things so that it points down into the container.

Then, secure the sides of the plastic securely around the hole, such as by covering with dirt. The clear plastic acts like a greenhouse. The water in the soil evaporates as it heats up. When it strikes the plastic it runs down to the point and trickles off into the container. You can distill it by placing a little pot inside a larger pot if all you have is salt water. The salty water enters the bigger pot however not the smaller one.

Invert a lid over the pots that will point down into the smaller pot, then bring the water to a boil. As the water boils, fresh water will evaporate, trickle and strike the lid down into the smaller sized pot, leaving the salt, or other individual minerals behind.

If you do not have a smaller sized pot is to put a fabric over the pot the will absorb the steam, an option. When removing it to wring it out so you do not get burned, Use caution.

For an additional primitive approach of how you can purify water, see our article on Boiling Water with Stones.

Above all, be cautious and make use of common sense when picking where to gather your water.

Do the plants surrounding it look healthy?

Exist dead animals near by that might have infected it?

Don’t gather any water that looks stagnant. Usually, water that is more upstream will be cleaner than that downstream, however there are no assurances.

Do not immediately choose the fasting hurrying water, as fast water carries more sediment. You can prevent picking up a great deal of sediment by making sure you soak your water bottle completely under the water. This will prevent all the dirt and debris that floats on the surface.

With a lot of methods to purify water, there should be something for everybody and no need to ever take possibilities consuming neglected water.

There are die-hards out there who will say that the risk is small and not worth bothering with. A nasty case of beaver fever in the back country can be not only awkward, however life threatening.

Diarrhea and throwing up can trigger severe dehydration and sap your strength to the point that you can get yourself to security.