Survival Water Purification
Tips and Techniques

Survival water purification techniques are important to know.  I am truly hoping that clean, drinkable water will always come out of our faucets, but I'm a realist.

I hope we always have safe, clean water coming out of our taps, but I'm a realist.

Even if there isn't an EMP or social collapse, there are always ice storms or hurricanes or other disasters that could shut off water for a few days or even a few weeks.  It's simply wise to be prepared.

It happened to my brother a few years ago.  Ice knocked out the power lines on his property.  Because it was an individual's power line rather than one of the main lines, it was last on the list to be repaired, and he went for two weeks without electricity.  Without electricity he couldn't run his well which means in addition to no lights, he also had no water.  It happens.

To avoid the potential trauma of having no water or being forced to drink water that isn't clean, it's a smart move to learn several survival water purification techniques now and keep the necessary equipment on hand for emergencies.  Here are a few tips.

Invest In a Good Quality Gravity Water Filter and Purification System

This is the easiest and the healthiest way to ensure safe water.  Hands down, Berkey is the best water filter system out there and proved superior in independent testing. 

It's a filtration and purification system all rolled into one and a smart investment for everyday water use, not just for emergencies.

With a gravity water filter, you pour the water into the chamber on top. 

Hands down, the best and easiest way to purify and filter your water is with this Berkey Water Filtration System.

The water flows through ceramic filters which remove 99.99% of a ton of harmful elements, including fluoride, virus, pathogenic bacteria, lead, arsenic, pharmaceuticals, petroleum contaminants, and e-Coli, among others.  The clean water then drips into the lower chamber, which has a spigot for pouring.  Simple and effective.

If you don't have one of these, then you will need to clean your water by filtering it, and then purify that water by killing the pathogens which can't be filtered out.

Homemade Survival Water Purification Make a Homemade Filter

The first step in your own homemade survival water purification system is to clean your water.  If you have a plastic bottle, a piece of cloth, gravel and sand, you can make your own homemade filter to clean the dirt out of your water.  Please note, however that this won't get rid of harmful pathogens.  You will still need to purify your water, but it will get rid of dirt.  I've written about it before, and you can read it here.

Boil Your Water

After cleaning your water, there are several options for purifying it.  One easy survival water purification method is to boil your water.

Boiling your water will kill the harmful pathogens, making the water safe to drink.  Either drink it as tea or allow it to cool and drink it.

A camp cooking system is a wise investment to have for an emergency.

It is small,  has its own gas canister, lights easily and can boil water quickly and efficiently.

A cooking system like this one will boil your water quickly and easily.  Photo courtesy of Amazon.

Purify Your Water
Using Ultraviolet Light

An ultraviolet light purifier like this one kills bacteria, Viruses and protozoa.

Ultraviolet light will kill 99.9% of bacteria, Viruses and protozoa - the nasty bugs that can give you Giardia.

Please note that this system won't get rid of heavy metals or minerals, but it will protect you from getting a miserable case of diarrhea.

Treat Your Water

You can also treat your water with an electrolyte water purifier.  This one uses a brine (salt and water) mixture to disinfect your water and kill 99.9% of all the organisms in your water. 

It works by using electrolysis to chemically convert the salt into Chlorine and other oxidants. 

The process takes anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours to complete.

The nice thing about this unit is it has an on-board solar charging panel. 

No batteries to run down or have to replace.

An electrolyte water purifier like this one will purify your water within four hours.

Read this water filters review

Learn how to have water in an emergency

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