Life in the city allows us to make use of many useful services and possibilities, and getting fresh drinkable water easily is one of them. However, if you are a fan of long hiking tours or wild campgrounds, knowing how to make water from the stream or river drinkable is an essential skill.
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Ways of Making Water Drinkable
Of course, everyone brings some water with them when heading to the wilderness. However, anything can happen and it is not a rare thing when people have to drink water from a stream to not dry out of thirst.
The major task in such situations is to cleanse the water and make it drinkable since streams and rivers are filled with lots of bacteria that can cause serious damage to our health, and in the worst cases even death.
If one is not an experienced survival trainer, it might be difficult for a person to recall the ways “wild” aqua can be purified, so we decided to provide you guys with several easiest methods that will be handy for everyone. Remember: we are not able to live without water for more than 72 hours, so read the following tips carefully!
1. Boil it – If you have a fire starter and pot
Boiling is the simplest way of purifying water. It usually doesn’t take much time either, unlike more bothersome methods. Just make sure it rolls for 5 min at least to remove bacteria for sure.
When we boil this liquid, heat destroys most bacteria and harmful microorganisms, but we must remember that only clear aqua can be boiled! So before placing it over the campfire, remove all the debris by filtering it.
If you boil water with objects like dirt, leaves, etc., it is still risky to drink it since heavy minerals from that debris will slip into the liquid.
2. Make a water filtration system
This method helps to remove any physical hazards from the water by pouring it through sand and charcoal. However, please remember that such filtration will not remove the harmful bacteria which means the liquid will have to be filtered once again more thoroughly by using other methods.
To create your own handmade filter, find a cone-shaped tank where the filtrating materials will be placed. In the wild, the simplest option is to take an empty plastic bottle.
Cut off its bottom, turn the bottle upside down, and place a piece of clean cloth inside so that it created a sort of filter. This sheet will prevent the particles of rocks and sand from getting into the purified liquid.
Now place charcoal, rocks, and sand inside, too, and pour the water you need to clean through this filter into the empty tank.
A note for you: if no bottles can be found, simply make use of a t-shirt or bundle of cloth, only remember to wash or boil it beforehand to be able to use it as a filter.
3. Purifying tablets
This handy invention must be on your packing list when getting ready for the trip. Those tablets (or sometimes drops) mostly contain compounds harmless for humans in such minor doses, but they are very effective for purifying aqua.
The only disadvantage of this approach is that the precise amount of liquid must be known to not over-use the tablets or not use too little of them. Which means one needs to measure it somehow.
The purifying procedure is not a big deal itself:
- Filter 20 liters (or whatever amount is required) of aqua until clear
- Pour it into the tank and add tablets according to the instruction
- Shake the tank for 10-20 seconds to mix thoroughly
- Let the liquid rest for at least 20 minutes prior to drinking it
4. Sedimentation
When dealing with very murky water, this approach is the optimal one to get rid of the floating debris and dirt. Simply leave the tank with dirty water stagnant for long enough for the dirt to sink down to the bottom, and then carefully pour the clean water into another container and purify using any method described above.
Be sure to not disturb the sediment, otherwise, the procedure will have to be repeated again.
These are the simplest way of purifying water and make it drinkable in the wild when you have the minimum of supplies for doing this.
