Stay Alive -- Emergency Water Collection and Purification eShort by John McCann

Author:John McCann [McCann, John D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4402-3537-5
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2011-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

Water purification

It is my opinion that any water found in the wilderness should be considered contaminated and purified before consumption. There are four water-borne enteric pathogens that can contaminate water: bacteria, viruses, protozoan cysts and parasites. Any of these can cause sickness or worse, and obviously this is undesirable in a survival situation. Contamination can also be caused by various other sources, such as chemicals, etc. Therefore, no matter how clear water may appear, always attempt to purify any water found in the wilderness.

Without carrying anything in your kit, water can be purified by bringing it to a boil. This assumes that you have the means to make fire, a container to boil water in, and the time to do so. It is better to carry a means to purify water, which requires less energy.

Pre-filters

Before discussing water filters, let’s first review pre-filters. When using chemicals to purify water, the length of time the chemicals take to properly purify the water is affected by the turbidity of water. Always start out with the clearest water possible. If using a mechanical filtering device, the filters can become easily clogged by sediment and other debris in muddy or cloudy water. My suggestion is to pre-filter water before attempting to purify or filter it.

When water is located in the field, it is not always clear and often contains a lot of debris or sediment. Pre-filtering reduces the turbidity. Keep in mind, this does not purify water, it only removes solid particles from the water. Pre-filtering can be as simple as straining the water through a bandana or t-shirt to eliminate as much debris or sediment as possible. Let’s examine some other options for pre-filtering water.

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