Homemade water purifier

[ridgerunner33]

Hopefully none of us will be reduced to this,but just in case.A water purifier can be nade out of a 5 gallon bucket,by layering sand and crushed charcoal from a fire.Layer several inches of sand in the bottom of a clean bucket with a layer of about an inch of charcoal on top.you will need several layers of both,ending up with sand on top until about 2/3 of the bucket is full of layering.Then you would fill the bucket to the top with water 2 to 3 times and allow to drain through hole you have punched in the bottom.Your bucket purifier at this point should be ready to use.I have tried this with lake water and it worked.Of course it did'nt taste like bottled water,but I believe it would work in a survival situation,and can be obtained with easily to get items in a survival situation.

 

[jloneill17]

thanks for the hints and idea.

 

[Outlander]

I have used this method several times and works well....primarily for chemical and metals. Still I would want to boil the water to kill any nasties that make it through (I am speaking from a very bad experience where I used this process and did not boil). RidgeRunner did say this was a last resort method.

A solar still is another option. Not as fast as the above-method but it works. Survival is all about having options and knowing when to use them.I learned this method years ago.

Here is a link that does a good job of explaining how to construct a solar still.

http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/dec/stories/water.html

 

[prepared]

I made one out of a berky filter and some 5 gallon buckets. Works great.
http://prepyourfamily.blogspot.com/2009/08/homemade-water-filter.html

 

[jloneill17]

Thanks Rob, that solar still is cool.

 

[jsquared]

Ive done a bit of research into homemade water filter setups and have always read not to rely upon a standard sand or sand/charcoal filter for anything but filtering out large particles and smell (like processing rain water). For anything that comes from the ground and not the sky you still have to boil or treat the water to make it safe to drink. Still, in an emergency, its better than drinking straight from the gutter!

A slow sand filter with a biological layer is a lot safer but takes some work and know-how (and time) to get going, and has to be maintained every month or so. But, it will last forever, no need to replace filters or components, and is a miracle of freakin God if you ask me. Creating a self-contained ecosystem that gives you clean water? Too cool.

One good thing to maybe keep around the house is a bucket of activated carbon, both for first aid (poisoning) and for a makeshift water filter. In a SHTF scenario you can find it in pharmacies, hardware stores (look in the gardening section for the loose stuff, and can also be found inside some HVAC filters), pet stores that sell a lot of aquarium supplies, and home brewing supply stores (as if they wont be raided the first day haha).