Water is essential to our survival, and obviously the best course of action is having some stored in case of emergency.
If you do happen to get caught in a survival situation with no available drinking water, here are a few simple tips to help strain and treat the water you have access to. If you are in doubt of the quality of ANY water source, it is best to treat it first using these methods.
1 Straining and Aeration
Straining
A recommended first step would be to run the water through a clean cotton cloth, such as a handkerchief. This filters out some of the larger particles (like dirt and tiny organisms). Microfibre cloths also work quite well for straining.
Aeration
Aeration simply adds air to the water and reduces substances that affect the taste and smell of water. Partly fill a container with water and shake it vigorously.
2 Three Container System
According to the WELL Resource Center for Water Sanitation and Environmental Health, simply letting water sit in a container will also improve its quality. They recommend a three-container system:
Day 0
Store newly collected water
Day 1
Pour from container 1 to 2 (leave sediment behind)
Day 2
Pour from container 2 to 3 - Ready for drinking!
Process: Be careful to leave the particles or cloudy layers behind, which settle at the bottom. Discard the remaining water and continuously repeat this cycle. After two days of settling, the water in container three can be used for drinking.
3 Disinfection
Boiling Method
After straining the water, the most common way to disinfect the water is to boil it. There is some speculation about how long exactly to boil water in order to kill all the pathogens.
⚠️ The U.S. Center for Disease Control recommends boiling water for several minutes.
Chemical Treatment (Chlorine/Bleach)
Another common method to disinfect water is to chemically treat it by adding chlorine or bleach to it. This method is a bit trickier as there are many different kinds of bleach.
⚠️ Important Notes:
- • Use pure bleach only (no additives)
- • Household bleach loses strength over time
- • Powdered chlorine lasts 10 years
📏 Dosage:
For bleach with 6-10% chlorine:
3-4 drops per gallon of water
Process:
- 1 Add 3-4 drops per gallon and let sit for 30 minutes
- 2 Smell the water - you should faintly detect chlorine
- 3 If no smell, repeat and wait another 30 minutes
- 4 After a few hours, aerate by shaking vigorously to reduce chlorine taste
📚 Additional Resources
For some extra resources, visit the WELL Resource Center for Water Sanitation and Environmental Health's website. Using the above methods will assist greatly in getting safe water for you and your family in any emergency situation.
About the Author
Christine Brockman is a web writer, publisher and a survival fanatic. She enjoys the great outdoors; checking out the latest survival gear and camping with her family.