Is Your Water Safe, and Do You Have Emergency Water Filtration?
Using sound judgment to be more self-reliant.
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Water mains rupture, supplies get contaminated, flood waters may fill an area with water yet are unsafe to drink. Do you have emergency water filtration, or know how to improvise it?
In this article, we’ll discuss three emergency water filter options that you can rig up from common materials. We invested in a Big Berkey a while back and use it daily, but sometimes we’re stuck in situations where we need to work with what’s available.
The EPA tracks 90 different water pollutants, from acrylamide to xylenes. In our area (and many other agricultural areas), we have issues with nitrate and bacterial contamination from agricultural runoff.
Well testing in 2013 found 1 in 5 wells in our county tested positive for E coli, Coliform and nitrates. (Thankfully, not our well. We do get it tested annually, just in case.)
Agricultural runoff was also linked to the toxic algae bloom that caused a water crisis in Toledo, Ohio. Flooding can overwhelm storm sewers and septic systems, flushing sewage into streets and homes.
Public utilities are required to give notice if measured pollutants reach unsafe levels. The EPA website suggests, “If your water comes from a household well, check with your health department or local water systems that use ground water for information on contaminants of concern in your area.”
GET TESTED! The only way to know for sure is regular testing. Recent testing done on a number of wells in our area indicates that pollutant levels can fluctuate throughout the year, so if you suspect you are in a high risk area, test more frequently, or filter your drinking and cooking water. We filter all our drinking water through either the Big Berkey or the Reverse Osmosis filter.
What do you do if there’s a disaster situation and you don’t have access to a commercial water filter? These filters will not make water safe, but they will reduce particulates. The following three methods can be used to “de-chunk” the water.
Use an old sock (or new sock if you must) to filter out debris. All cotton is preferred, as synthetic fibers are too smooth to offer good filtration. If possible, fill with sand to provide an additional layer of filtration.
It should be noted that the first flush of water through the sand filter will likely wash out loose dirt particles, if there are any, so the water may initially be cloudy. It took me several cups of water through our sand pile sand to get a clear flow of water.
When filling the sock with sand, it’s helpful to tuck it into a large cup or can to hold it wide open. (This is also a great trick for filling pastry tubes.)
To make it a little easier to pour the water in, I wrapped the top of the sock around an old wide-mouth canning ring, and huge the whole contraption off of our deck stairs. You could use part of a coat hanger, some sticks – whatever you have handy.
My husband learned this one back in Boy Scouts. Just take a section of branch about four inches long, skin it and whittle it to size to fit inside a section of hose or a bottle opening.
Let water gravity feed through the branch “plug”, allowing the natural passages within the branch to act as filters. As I have not spent much time on my whittling skills, it was a little tricky for me to get the branch just the right size.
Soaking the whole thing once I got the stick in the hole provided a nice, snug fit. This is a pretty slow filter, and the branch section will get clogged fairly quickly. The water will also taste like “tree” (tannins). Maybe a sugar maple would be a good choice? 😉
In a study of the dechunking abilities of different fabrics, “Cloth Filter and Turbidity Research on the Effectiveness of Using Cloth as a Filter to Remove Turbidity from Water“, burlap was the clear winner for filtration effectiveness.
While all the natural fabrics tested (burlap, cotton and silk) all offered filtration, triple folded burlap (8 layers of fabric) provided the best filtration and the fewest number of cloth fibers in the filtered water. One of the most interesting results of the study (to me) was that filtering the water through polyester actually increased turbidity readings. The researchers hypothesized that the polyester was shedding bits into the water. Either way, the results are clear – stick to natural fabrics.
After you get the floaties out, boil for 15-20 minutes. The boiled water will taste flat. Aerating will improve the taste. Blow bubbles in the water with a straw, or place in a sealed bottle and give it a good shake.
Now for the final step. Once you have filtered out the big chunks, you need to do the final filtering. Use any of these gravity or mechanical filters:
We recommend these because they don’t require power. You need them to filter out bacteria and other microscopic bad stuff that the rough filters will not remove. Using one of the basic pre-filters we noted above, extends the life of the these filters.
Last Updated: Jan 9, 2020
Would love to win.
This would be so awesome to win as we have a well and people around us are finding arsenic in their wells. I know the Berkey filters out arsenic so this would be great to have.
Would love to get one of these. Especially out here cause our water has a funky taste to it. The dog won’t even drink water from the tap.
Although our well water is drinkable, it has a high particulates, sulfur and iron content. Lots of staining and rotten egg smell without filtering.
I would love to win this it’ll be a great relief knowing, that i can provide & am prepared to give my family clean safe water especially if God forbid our water was tampered with an any way.
I need this!! How do you win it?
You should be able to see a rafflecopter widget at the bottom of the post where you enter your contact information.
They’re -great- on so many levels; ease, no plumbing, effectiveness, longevity.. serves well from urban to rural..
Ever since we unpacked ours, it’s lived on our kitchen counter.
Thanks for the opportunity to enter this giveaway. Fresh drinking water for you and your family is at the top of every prepper’s must have list.
Hope to win!!
Hi-
Where is the best place to order one? This sounds great!
Pricing is pretty similar between the various online retailers. Our post sponsor carries them, of course, or they can be purchased directly from Berkey. If purchased on Amazon, they do qualify for Prime free shipping. We purchased this unit with the ceramic filters for our home use.
I really need one of these!
Just what I could use
I would love to have one of these units. My water sucks. I’m surprised my clothes are not all faded by the high chlorine in my water. It smells more like the old city pool. I buy and use bottled water to make coffee or tea. I have not hooked up the ice maker in my freezer from fear of contaminating it. Can you imagine the awful taste of ice tea with chlorine treated ice cubes.
I have been looking at this filter system on this website for over two years now. I know the cost will not go down and the fact that the responsibility to be able to obtain clean water is huge. We live in an area that has experienced the power outages for up to 10 days. That can be a very long time to not have secure safe drinking water. I would win this and show it to my surrounding neighbors to encourage them to get one also.
These emergency water filtration ideas area brilliant. I actually heard that burlap could be used for this, and after reading your useful post I now know how to do it. Thanks!
Mixing a little Alum into the water will cause particulates to drop to the bottom. It can be found in the spice section of your grocer. Municipalities have also used alum for the same purpose.
Laurie,
I came across this post on Pinterest and it was very informative.
My family is only beginning its journey to a more sustainable and renewable lifestyle and this post was helpful in many ways.
Thanks for sharing.
Alicia @livejoyinspire
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