Emergency Water

In a disaster situation one of the most important and necessary items to have is clean drinking water. It is always better to plan ahead than trying to figure something out when you are under a lot of stress.

Gravity Water Filters

There are several gravity water filters you can choose from. I have a Berkey gravity fed water filter that can produce about 30 gallons per day. A set of filters will provide about 2,000 gallons of clean water which is great for a long term water solution. Here is just one of the sites where they can be            purchased   -  http://www.getberkey.com/berkey-water-filter-systems/

Personal Water Filters 

You can also purchase personal  water filters at Prepper Conferences, Gun Shows and camping supply stores. These are great for emergencies, hiking or if you enjoy primitive camping.

I’m Dying of Thirst Water

I would only use this method in an extreme emergency. If you can find a river, stream or pond (flowing water is better), find an area where the bank is somewhat sandy. Dig a hole about 2 – 3 feet from the water’s edge and it will fill up with water filtered by the sand.  This filtered water     will keep you alive and hydrated. Do not drink directly from the river, stream or pond as you will       suffer greatly.

Purify Water (Boil)

Collect water from some source and filter through a shirt or a better option would be a coffee   filter. Heat the water until it comes to a full boil and boil for about 5 minutes. Let cool and drink.

If you do not have electricity, do you have a means of heating your water to sterilize it? Consider one of these -

Camping stove with bottled gas
Sterno stove
Solar Oven
Cured wood to make a wood fire

Distilled Water

Distilled water is simply water that is turned into steam which is then condensed back into a liquid. The impurities stay in the pot as they are too heavy to travel with the steam. One way of making distilled water is by using a fruit steam juicer. This consist of a bottom pot that will hold the impure water to be steamed, a middle pot that looks like a bundt pan with a drain hose that will collect the distilled water and a top pan/pot that will hold ice or cool impure water so the steam can condense on the bottom of the pot and drip back into the middle pot. Simple enough. The biggest problem with this method is the ice or water in the top pot must be changed often as it gets hot. It takes a lot of time and energy (fire) to get a significant amount of distilled water.

Another method is to use a pressure cooker. Put a heat resistant plastic tube over the escape vent on the top cover and put a stainless steel tube in the other end of the plastic tube. Then the tube should coil down into a bucket of cool water and come out the sealed side of the bucket. The water coming out of stainless steel tube will be your distilled water. Again, you must keep cool water in your bucket with the tube in order to condense the steam.

Purification Drops

You can buy liquid purification drops at most stores that carry camping equipment.

Water Bladder

A water bladder can be bought at camping or survival stores. This can be filled to provide you with water through short time emergencies until services are restored.

Containers

At the first sign of an emergency or potential emergency, fill every container you have including the bath tub(s). These will help with short term emergencies.