How to Purify Water When Camping
Wilderness camping means going without adequate plumbing, which means no safe water. You can bring your own water in, but if you are hiking or backpacking, all of that extra weight will invariably slow your movements. You need to know how to purify water when you go camping if you want to avoid a case of the runs.
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Things You'll Need
- Water container
- Silk or cotton filter
- Coffee filter
- Bandanna
- Metal pot or tin can
- Bleach
- Iodine
- Water purification tablets
Instructions
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Collect water from a running source. Stagnant water in pools and ponds is a breeding ground for bacteria, but fresh, rapidly running water from a stream or the like is much less likely to contain such pollutants. You will still need to purify it, but it makes a far better starting source.
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Carry the water in a clean container, free of any other pollutants.
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Strain the water through a silk or cotton filter. This will remove the dirt particles and other impurities, but it will not remove any micro-bacteria from the water. In a pinch, you can strain the water through a coffee filter or a bandanna.
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Place the water in a metal pot or tin can, and bring it to a boil over a fire. In this case, boiling means roiling, bubbling water, not simply steam rising from the water.
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Boil the water for at least 10 minutes to kill all the germs. It's okay to leave it boiling for longer than 10 minutes if you want to be safe.
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Remove the water from the heat and wait for it to cool.
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Add a few drops of unscented household bleach to the water. You only want to add about four drops per quart. If you use more, the bleach will burn your mouth and stomach.
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Stir the bleached water thoroughly, and let it stand for at least 30 minutes to give the bleach time to kill any germs. You should be able to detect a faint smell of chlorine in the water.
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Use water purification tablets to purify the water. Tablets are available at any camping store. You can find a directory of camp stores on the Camp Channel website (see Resources below).
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Make sure the tablets you use are fresh. When the seal of the bottle is broken, the tablets will only stay potent for another 6 to 12 months.
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Tips & Warnings
Bleach and iodine make the water taste terrible. If you intend to use them, take along some powdered drink mix to help sweeten the taste.
Be sure to use regular, unscented bleach to purify water when camping. Bleach with special chemicals or softening agents is not advisable because it may make you sick.
