In This Article

Drinkable Water

 Avoid Bad Water
Finding Supplies
Water Treatment
Solar Still
Bleach Chart

Related Articles

The Necessity of Safe Drinking Water
 

Draining a Water Heater for Water
 

Draining Water Pipes For Drinking Water

Finding Water Where There is None

Finding Drinkable Water
Updated: Sunday, 03 January 2010

 Water is an essential of life. We all need at a minimum at least two liters of water every day to carry on normal body functions and be healthy. Under many circumstances more water is required to maintain adequate health. Many facts about water were discussed in the previous article( The Necessity of Safe Drinking Water). In this article we will consider where and how to obtain safe drinking water after disasters or when in the wilderness.

Water supplies may fail because of power outages, pump station failure or contamination of the supply. Authorities may advise all water should be boiled if used from the tap. If this order occurs and affects your area, you should always boil the water in accord with the recommendations of local authorities ( At least a rolling boil for more than 1 minute.). If you are advised the water supply is contaminated and must be boiled you should boil water before use for the following

Contaminated Water Should NOT be used for

• Cooking
• Drinking
• Brushing Teeth
• Making Ice Cubes
• Making any drink
• Washing dishes and eating utensils
• Washing hands with soap and clean water (or any body parts exposed to contaminated water)
• Cooking surfaces (cutting boards and counter tops where food may be placed and so on)

If the water supply fails completely and no other sources are available, then it is time for plan b, locating other sources of clean drinking water.

Places to find already safe drinking water

Bottled water is a good source, you should have a three day supply of water stored in your home according to the needs of your family size and climate. This water is available immediately without treatment as long as it hasn't been contaminated by contact with flood water..

A water well (if safe for drinking) is generally a reliable back up as long as the volume of water needed does not exceed the capacity of the well. If a water well is exposed to flood waters then it should not be used until properly tested and disinfected.

Other sources of water may be provided by government authorities as soon as possible after a disaster. These sources may require that you bring containers to collect purified water or they may be provided in already bottled form.

Other Sources in the Home

  These sources are usually available if the water system supplying your home hasn't been contaminated.

• Hot Water Tank

• Water pipes

• The Toilet Tank on the back of the toilet, NOT the bowl.

• Ice Cubes from a ice maker

  Tapping these sources should supply enough water for a few days even for a average family after your stored supply of water has given out. The average hot water heater contains 30 to 50 gallons of water.

Coping with a complete water supply failure

  If the water supply completely fails and supplies are low then it's time to find an alternate source of water. These alternate sources include, streams( not from industrial plant waste water), lakes and ponds.

Notes of caution

•  Sea water or salt water should never be used for drinking unless it is distilled.  The salt content of this water is to high and will only heighten the danger of dehydration and death or serious health complications.

• Water in water beds often contains pesticide additives, do not use for drinking.

• The water collected from alternate sources should be considered contaminated and unfit for any of the uses mentioned above. This water must be properly treated to make it safe for sanitary uses. For some of the dangers of contaminated drinking water see the previous article The Necessity of Clean Water.

  Proper treatment of contaminated water is not difficult and can be done with different methods depending on your circumstances. Proper treatment will be accomplished by a combination of methods to produce the best results possible.

Methods of treating contaminated water

• Distilling

• Boiling

• Filtering

• Chemical Treatment

• Settling/ Cloth filter

Stage 1 Selecting the water source

  Select a source of water that can be accessed as needed and does not contain industrial waste or chemical pollution. Chemicals and other pollution can render the water unusable, in some cases, even if distilled. Flood water should be considered to contaminated for drinking because of industrial and household chemical contamination. Flood waters also contain raw sewage so it is best to avoid it completely if it's possible. Avoid water that is stagnant or heavily polluted. If you have a choice choose a source of running water such as a stream or river before a lake, choose a lake before a pond. Examine your new water source by looking for green vegetation growing around it, if there is no growing vegetation or even worse dead vegetation around the water avoid it and continue looking. Examine the area for the bones of small animals, mice, birds and so on around the area. If these are present consider it contaminated and select another source. If a dead animal is lying in a stream, move upstream a good distance to gather water.

  Once a supply is selected water can be gathered directly from it or a hole can be dug about 8 feet away from the supply and lower than the water level and be allowed to fill with water, this acts as a natural filter ridding the water of contamination in the air such as radioactive fall out.

  It is a good idea to locate a backup source of water in your area now in your area before it is needed. This may save much time and energy later if you face a catastrophic disaster. This will allow time to find out about possible pollution and other hazards. If a water source cannot be located, other methods for detection will be discussed later.

Stage 2 Clearing up visible impurities

  The first step in treating your new water is to filter it through a cloth, coffee filters or other filter. Alternatively you can let the water set until all the impurities have settled out then carefully scoop water from the top of the container. After the first step of clearing the new water of visible impurities has been completed the water should be clear and look clean. Water that cannot be cleaned to a clear liquid should not be used. After the clearing process the water can move to the next stage of treatment.

Stage 3 Killing Microorganisms

  The final stage of water treatment is to kill any disease causing microorganisms that are likely inhabiting the water by using one of these processes.

Distilling

Kitchen stove or camp fire method 1

Using a inverted lid in a large pan with a bowl or cup tied to the lid( or in the bottom with plenty of room so the water doesn't boil from the dirty water in the pan into the clean water cup or bowl.) clean water will condense on the lid as the water boils and drip into the clean water holder.

Cloth method method 2

If plenty of water is available you can use this method but it is very wasteful of water unless the cloth covers the water container well. Place the water in a pan and heat to boiling, hang a clean cloth over the pan in the steam that rises. Wring out the cloth regularly into a clean container to collect the water.

Solar Pit Distilling

  A simple solar distiller can be created from a piece of plastic sheeting or a large garbage bag. a cup or other item to hold water, a rock and a length of vinyl tubing.

The pit size should allow the plastic bag (split down the sides to make one sheet) or plastic sheet to fit over it and seal around the edges. The depth should be about 18" to 30"

Adding vegetation or pouring any contaminated water into the still to we the soil will increase the water produced. (make sure contaminated water can't run into the clean water collection cup or doesn't splash into it, this would contaminate your water. Place the cup in after wetting the soil) If this is your only source of water dig many stills to increase water production.

Digging a pit around the outside of the solar still, about 10" from the plastic anchoring will hold unsafe or salt water allowing it to slowly filter into the pit through the soil and be processed in the still.

How it works

  The Solar still is heated by sunlight, this causes water to evaporate from the soil and any plant matter you have added under the plastic sheet covering the pit. The plastic sheeting is held in place all around by rocks and dirt.  This water is trapped by the sheet so it condenses on the bottom and runs to the middle of the sheet because the small rock is weighting down the sheet in the middle. The water drips into the cup that is buried in the middle of the pit, directly under the rock. This water can be sipped out through a long piece of tubing (such as aquarium tubing) that is placed from in the bottom of the cup up to the surface to a convenient sipping height if such is available. Alternatively the cup could be accessed occasionally to collect water and the sheet, any vegetation or contaminated water replaced in the pit.

Boiling

  Boiling water for at least one minute (near sea level) at a rolling boil should kill all the disease causing organisms. Two to five minutes may be more effective depending on your elevation (example, boil for 15 minutes at 10,000 feet above sea level). After boiling the water will be safe to use, if it isn't contaminated with harmful chemical pollution. Do not boil the water for long periods of time because this will reduce the water volume but may not reduce any chemical, heavy metal or other contamination. In effect this increases the danger of any other contaminating substance by making it more concentrated. Most water is considered safe to use after boiling at a rolling boil for over one minute.

Hiking or Survival filters

A number of filters are available that will clean the water for you to safe drinking levels and remove many contaminates. There basically two types of filters in this category. They should not be used unless the filter material is less than 1 micron.

Straw filters

Some units have a container into which the contaminated water is placed. A filter unit with a straw attached is placed into the container Others are simply a large straw with a filter built in. As water is sucked up into the straw by one drinking, the water is filtered through the filter element rendering it safe to drink. These units are usually less expensive.

Pump filters

Pump filters have a hose that can be dropped into the water supply. The water is then pumped, by using a handle on the unit, through the filter element and discharged into a container, usually attached to the bottom of the filter. The advantage of this system is the water is stored and can be used for drinking or other uses such as preparing drink mixes, washing, sharing with others and so on..

Chemical Treatment

Iodine or Chlorine based pills or drops can be purchased and added to the clean water container. Stirred and then allowed to stand for some time. This method kills most problem causing organisms but is not completely effective since many variables such as the temperature and amount of contamination affect the action of any treatment. The pills should contain 5.25 to 6.0 percent sodium hypochlorite as the only active ingredient

Filtering can be followed up by chemical treatment to increase effectiveness.

Plain (UNSCENTED) Clorox bleach can be used in this manner to treat water, below is the amount of bleach to add to the water to treat it. (4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)

Wait 30 Minutes after treatment before drinking the water.

(If the strength of the bleach is unknown, add ten drops per quart or liter of filtered and settled water. Double the amount of chlorine for cloudy, murky or colored water or water that is extremely cold.)

Above are the basic methods of decontaminating water, there are other very effective devices worth considering such as, one that uses ultraviolet light and another model uses small batteries and salt to treat even large volumes of water. Further research can be done in this area.

Protect your treated water supply

Don't allow the water to be contaminated again by handling with contaminated hands or placing it in contaminated containers. Remember the lid and any part of any container used in the treatment or for drinking must also be decontaminated. Cover the water to keep contaminates out and don't store it for long periods of time.

Finding Water Where There Is None >>

 

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