10/25/2018 / By Zoey Sky
As a prepper, you can ensure the quality of your water supply by learning about water purification. This knowledge can also help you choose the best water bottles and filters when you’re looking for prepping gear. Refer to these five tips about water purification so you can gather potable water when you’re out in the wild or if you need a clean water source for your homestead. (h/t to Survivopedia.com)
With the exemption of minerals and pharmaceuticals, there are three types of disease-causing pathogens in water:
Water already contains minerals, but these minerals are eliminated when water is distilled or purified via reverse osmosis (RO). These processes remove at least 99.5 percent of the impurities from water, but they also remove the “good” minerals.
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People who advocate water re-mineralization do so for several reasons:
With RO, clean water is filtered out while the brine/excess water is disposed of. Most reverse osmosis systems produce at least three gallons of brine to make one gallon of fresh water.
To make up for the lost water, preppers re-route brine to a container so the excess can be used to water plants. The brine can also be used for processes that don’t need purified water.
The distillation process simulates the hydrologic cycle of evaporation (boiling to steam), precipitation (precipitation in an apparatus, e.g., a condensing coil), and condensation leading to rain (water cooled via a fan that then drips into a sterile container). Like water, some chemicals evaporate and re-condense and pass through with the “pure” water.
When choosing a water filter, keep in mind that high-quality RO and distiller units come with a reliable carbon filtration, like a carbon block, to safely eliminate various contaminants. (Related: Preppers chemistry: How to make your own activated charcoal water filter and hand warmers.)
The fastest ways to die of dehydration is to consume saltwater. Thankfully, scientific advancements have determined various ways to make saltwater safe to drink.
One such method is through desalination or removing the water’s salt content. In a survival method, you can do this by distilling the water through evaporation.
Another method that you can use is heat. Heat the saltwater until it steams, then capture the steam to gather potable water. Doing this makes the water evaporate while the salt and other impurities are left behind. While this method requires a lot of energy (e.g., heat), it’s a cost-efficient way of gathering water because you won’t waste too much fuel like with boiling.
Did you know that at least two million Americans get sick because of water contamination? The next time you feel thirsty, step away from the tap and pour some water from a water filter pitcher instead. Just because water comes from the tap means its automatically safe to drink. Water can easily get contaminated because of outdated plumbing or equipment that don’t filter out modern contaminants like chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
If you have a well in your property, drought, flooding, hydraulic fracking, or mining activity in the area may disrupt the water tables and contaminate the water. Streams and other unpurified water sources can get polluted with chemicals (like antibiotics, fertilizers, and pesticides) because of runoff from farms or industrial plants. These water sources can also be exposed to leaky sewage systems and animal waste. Additionally, acid rain and smog can pollute water.
When testing water, keep an eye out for common contaminants and pollutants like arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium/Chromium 6, and lead.
Keep these five important tips in mind when filtering or purifying water so you can stay safe even after SHTF.
You can read more articles about water safety at CleanWater.news.
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