Water Purification Methods
A quick and effective way to purify water is through the use of purification tablets. These tablets can be bought at camping stores or through online stores. One tablet only purifies one liter of water, so you’ll need to have a bulk supply of these.
The shelf life for the tablets is two years – so if you stock up, you’ll have to replace unused ones every two years. If the tablets get wet before being used, they lose their effectiveness.
This isn’t an item that you want to use beyond the purification effectiveness date because unpurified water can make you sick. Any time you use water that isn’t purified, you have to purify it yourself to make it safe for consumption.
Straining the water
If the water you have is polluted, you have to strain it before you boil it. To strain the water, place a clean cloth, paper towel, or coffee filter over a container. Pour the water over this strainer to get rid of flaking material or sediments.
Once you strain it the first time, place a clean cloth, paper towel, or coffee filter over a second container and strain it again. After straining it, boil the water for at least ten minutes to make it safe to drink.
Use liquid bleach instead of granular forms
If you’re out of any method to purify water, you can use liquid bleach to purify the water. Never use the granular forms of household bleach because those are poisonous.
After you’ve strained the water, use two drops of bleach per every liter of water. If the water is cloudy, you should use four drops. For the drops, you should keep a clean eye dropper stored to use for this purpose only.
Once you’ve added the drops, mix the water and bleach thoroughly by shaking the container or stirring the water vigorously. After you’ve mixed it, let the water stand for thirty minutes and you should be able to detect a slight chlorine smell.
If you can’t smell any chlorine, repeat the process and let the water stand for an additional fifteen minutes. The bleach used must be within date. Chlorine weakens over time and any bleach that’s more than two years old won’t work to purify water.
When you purchase bleach, mark it with the date to ensure that you’ll be using bleach that can make your water supply safe if you need it to. Water has viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens in it – especially when it comes from a stream or river.
Don’t drink water with pathogens
Drinking water that has these pathogens in it can cause severe sickness. For example, E. Coli is often found in water. Once the water is purified or boiled, it kills the E. Coli bacteria.
There are also parasites that can be found in water. Cryptosporidium is one of these dangerous parasites that can make you very ill and can even be fatal. The reason why Cryptosporidium is so dangerous is because of its small size, which is half the size of a red blood cell found in the body.
The problem with Cryptosporidium is that it’s immune to chlorine disinfection. Cryptosporidium is often found in rivers, lakes, and streams, and is caused by animal feces.
To save you time and to ensure you’re drinking water thoroughly purified, the best route to take is to stock up on bottled water. Bottled water often lasts for a couple of years and it’s an easy way to make sure your family will have what it needs in the case of an emergency.
