Purifying Water From a River, Lake, etc...

I am the type of person that can follow a recipe and still screw it up! So the idea of purifying water and then drinking it.....well.... it kind of scares me!

What if I screw it up and make everyone sick???

After some hours of research I have found some exciting and reassuring products that even I feel comfortable with.

Okay before you start boiling and bleaching water your self, let's consider some products.....

Survival Water straw = $16 it can purify up to 5000 gallons ....GALLONS!! Let me do the math... that's almost 19,000 litres!!!!! Let me say that again....1 $16 straw can purify 19,000 litres.

EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE!!!!!!! EVERYONE!!!!!!!! I have 4 and gift them all the time.

Okay so spend $16 and you are done!!! RIGHT??? Well sort of...

This idea is great for drinking because it is a straw.... but what if you wanted a pot full of purified water to make dinner?? Are you going to suck it up and spit it into the pot??? YUCK!

So here is option 2 - A Purifying Water Pump.

I found one on-line but to ship it to Canada was double the price. So I contacted my favorite preparedness store (In Case Of) and they are expecting to have something similar and even better available for the end of November/09 for less money!! These pumps are light and fairly small. They can fit easily into a backpack with lot's of room to spare. They can be put right into the water source or any type of container.

Stay tuned I will be doing a group order for people when they come in.

Okay so now you have a water straw and a water pump......DONE RIGHT??? Sure but let me suggest one more item....

A Water Test Kit.

I picked up a couple at Walmart for $15 a kit.

Ah Ha!!! Now I can feel safe once I've purified the water. I can do a quick test to see if I have done it right!! I won't kill anyone after all!

These kits are a 1 time use. I figure as long as I continue to get the water from the same source and treat it the same way I should be okay.

Now we are done! Well sort of ....here are some other ideas you may want to consider.

The Do it yourself Old Fashioned way....

Clarify or Strain your water of impurities. Your water source will probably have "Bits and Pieces in it." It does't look appealing ...it kind of reminds me of that gunk floating around at the bottom of a fish tank. The fastest way to get rid of it is to run it through 3-4 coffee filters stacked together. As they clog up replace with 3-4 more. These filters are super cheap and always come in bulk!! Don't forget to add that one to your next grocery list. Go Figure??

Next if you don't have any fancy schmancy straw or pump you can boil the water. Most websites say to bring your water to a boil then continue to boil for at least 5 minutes. But because we are in Calgary you need to add 4 minutes for the altitude... so approx 10minutes of boiling.

If you can't boil it you can also bleach it. If your like me....you really don't know how much? a tablespoon? A teaspoon? a few drops??? What was it again??

First of all....all bleach's are not equal!!! Liquid household chlorine bleach can be used to purify water provided the label says it contains hypochlorite as its ONLY active ingredient. Do not use granular or powdered forms of household bleach as they are poisonous!

And forget those scented kinds as well!

Add 2 drops of bleach per quart of clear water,

8 drops per gallon, or

1 teaspoon for 5 gallons

(double this if the water is cloudy).

***Liquid bleach loses strength over time and in just one year of storage the dosage must be doubled to be effective.

Two year old bleach must not be used.

It is not potent enough to kill disease causing bacteria.

After adding to water, stir and let stand for 30 minutes before drinking. Liquid bleach will kill most common forms of bacteria but is totally ineffective against GIARDIA and other hardy forms of PROTOZOA.

Okay so for me and my house.....we have the following items

Suvival Straw

Water Bottles with a filter built in

Drinking water Purification Tablets (didnt' metion above but you can buy these anywhere)

Coffee Filters

The right kind of bleach. I rotate it so that it is never over a year old.

Water testing kit.

And.....hopefully by the end of the month we will have the New water Purification Pumps!

Hope this has been fun and full of ideas for you!

Get Going!! Get Prepared!! HAVE FUN!!