How to Purify Water During an Emergency

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Pots
Pots
Small Plastic Containers
Paper Or Plastic Cups

Boiling

Step 1

Fill a pot with water.
Step 2

Let any particles in the water settle to the bottom of the pot, or filter them through a paper towel or clean cloth.
Step 3

Bring water to a rolling boil for 3-5 minutes.
Step 4

Pour the water back and forth between two clean containers to restore oxygen, thereby improving taste.
Step 5

Let the water cool before drinking.

Disinfecting

Step 1

Fill a clean plastic container with water.
Step 2

Let any particles in the water settle to the bottom of the container, or filter them through a paper towel or clean cloth.
Step 3

Add 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water.
Step 4

Stir the water and let it stand for 30 minutes.
Step 5

Check for a slight bleach odor. If there is none, add another 16 drops of bleach and let the water stand another 15 minutes.

Distilling

Step 1

Fill a cooking pot half full of water.
Step 2

Let any particles in the water settle to the bottom of the pot, or filter them through a paper towel or clean cloth.
Step 3

Tie a paper cup to the handle of the pot's lid so that it hangs right-side-up when the lid is upside-down. Be sure that the cup is not trailing into the water.
Step 4

Boil the water for 20 minutes. The water vapor will be mostly free of impurities.
Step 5

Condense back to water, and drip from the lid into the cup.

Comments

MyJB said

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on 5/14/2009 Interesting.

jonesyboogieman said

on 5/12/2009 3) Learn how to shut down your home systems (water, electrical, gas) and then drain your plumbing at the lowest point into buckets or a bathtub for more emergency water. If you don't shut your home systems down, for instance during a flood, you run the risk of having a gas leak, electrified flood water, AND your plumbing getting contaminated by backed up flood/sewage.

on 5/12/2009 Additional Tips: 1) Purchase water purification tablets as part of your first aid / emergency preparedness kit, and consider buying a hand pump with filter or a UV water purifier (it looks like a big pen light that you turn on in your container of water for a minute or two to kill parasites and such. They're usually good for 1000 litres of use.) 2) Store your own water. You'll need about 1 gallon per person per day. Water stores for long periods. Get a rain barrel or two. And every time you go grocery shopping, by a couple of gallons and set them aside. (This goes for food too.) Now you've got a good emergency plan started! Easy-peasy. 3) Learn how to shut down your home systems (water, electrical,

on 5/12/2009 @Haoie - Boiling water can be done on a fire or even in a solar "oven". I once used a plastic coke bottle to boil water beside a camp fire, just to test the theory. It worked, but warped the bottle so it's only good for one or two uses. Finding bleach to disinfect water is easy if you're in a populated area, even a small town, if you don't have any at home yourself. I recommend having water purification tablets instead of bleach. Besides, if you're in a populated area during a relatively typical emergency (ie. power failure, tornado), or you'll likely be rescued shortly if lost (ie. at a national park), drinking questionable water as a last resort as still better than going without because emergency aid is nearby, or will be able to help you soon.

on 5/12/2009 @Sohan1 - You can go a couple of weeks without food, a couple of days without water, but ONLY a couple of minutes without air.And what's in the air gets in the water, and then in the food.