4 Ways to Get Drinkable Water for Survival Preparedness

Untreated water carries many hazards. Wide varieties of disease-causing agents such as bacteria, viruses and impurities are found in untreated water. These dangers include cholera, amoebas, bacteria and other parasites, dysentery, coli poisoning, giardia, schitzomonasis, diphtheria, hepatitis, typhus, and the list goes on. Proper water treatment techniques are important to know for survival preparedness to keep you healthy in an emergency when you need to be at your best.

Knowing these dangers exist in untreated water, what can you do to disinfect water and protect yourself from these hazards? A few options exist for minimizing your risk of getting sick from dirty water. According to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), you should always use bottled water that has not been exposed to outside elements when possible. Do no attempt to disinfect water to drink unless it is absolutely necessary for survival.

Treatable water can found around the house in a variety of locations such as in the hot water heater and by melting the ice in your freezer. Avoid getting water out of places where the water is still and stagnant. As a general rule, running water is usually cleaner than still water. Before attempting to treat any water, making sure it looks clear to the eye is the first step. If the water is cloudy, filter it through some fabric or a water filter if you have one. If you don’t have anything on hand to filter the water, let it sit so the sediments and impurities can settle, then skim the clean water without stirring up the sediments.

Once you have clear water, you have different options from which to choose to treat and make it drinkable-

1. Boiling-Bring water to a rolling boil and let it boil vigorously for 1 minute for altitudes lower than 1 mile, 3 minutes for altitudes higher than 1 mile. Warning-boiling only kills MOST pathogens. Some argue that you must boil water at 160 °F for 30 minutes to kill all parasites. Keep in mind that the longer you boil water the more it will evaporate and the more fuel you use, using up two valuable resources. Use good judgment when deciding if boiling water is the right water-treating action for you. Water will be warm after boiling so pour water back and forth into two containers to cool it down and to get rid of the boiling taste. Also you may let is stand for a couple of hours or add a pinch of salt to every liter.

2. Chemicals-Like boiling, filter water as best you can and let it settle before treating it with chemicals. Two chemicals commonly used to treat water that are readily available in stores are chlorine and iodine. Both of these chemical are more effective when used in warm water, but again heating water takes fuel and water evaporates, so use discretion. Like boiling, chemicals remove MOST disease-causing organisms, not all.

3. Bleach-Household chlorine bleach is also useful to help disinfect water. Many chlorine bleach containers have instructions on their labels for treating water. The bleach-to-water ratio will vary according to the percentage chlorine content in the bleach. For detailed instructions on bleach-to-water proportions, go to the EPA’s website.

4. Filter-Various water filters are available on the market today. Use discretion when choosing a filter. Check ratings and customer reviews before purchasing a filter. As with other water treatment methods, filters may not remove or kill all disease-causing agents, so do not attempt to treat water when treated water is already available to you.

Survival preparedness information used in this article was obtained from the author of SurvivalPreparedness911.com, EPA.gov and SurvivalTopics.com.