Water Filtration

Water filtration is going to be your biggest concern if civilization as we know it breaks down.  It is likely that you will be able to find sources of water, but how clean is that water going to be?  You survived the end of the world, now you need some way to make sure that the water you drink doesn’t kill you.

You can go weeks without food, but only a few days without water.  Water is required for your body to digest food, so if you don’t have a water supply, there is no point in eating.  Drinking water can also keep hunger at bay, for a time.

If you have some base set up, the first thing you’re going to want to do is set out some container to catch rain or snow.  This is going to be your best source for relatively clean water.  Our ancestors did it for millennia.  The rain barrel is a fixture of American farm life. 

Still you’ll need some way to treat other sources of water.  You can drink water (not anti-freeze) out of a car radiator, as long as it’s treated properly.  That may not be the most preferred source for water, but other sources can be worse.

If you are on the move, and don’t yet have a base camp set up, finding or making drinkable water is imperative.  A portable water filtration system can be made using this same basic method as is shown here. 

If you have a base camp set up, you can make a water filtration system big enough to meet the needs of many people.  Remember, clean drinking water can be used as currency to get other things that you will need or want.

In order to make your water filtration system, you are going to need two containers, sand, and charcoal.  The basic setup is very easy and straight forward.  You just make alternating layers of sand and charcoal in one of the containers, and pour the water on top. You catch the water that comes out the bottom of the filter container in the second container.  It really is that simple.

Setup

You will need two containers, one for the filter container, and one for the storage container.  If you can’t find two containers the same size, you’ll want to make the bigger one the storage container.  The more water you can store, the better off you’ll be.

Take the designated filter container and poke holes in the bottom of it.  A standard plastic trashcan works very well for this.  It also has the advantage of being able to poke holes in it using heat.  You can heat a rod on a fire, and melt the holes in the bottom. 

You’ll want to use the cleanest trashcans you can find, or better yet, have buy them now, and set them aside for just this purpose.  It’s always better to have what you need before you need it, than to have to scrounge around for things later.  

Even if you have to scrounge, it’s likely that you’ll be able to find new trashcans at the local hardware store.  Most people are going to be looking for what they consider useful.  That means if you can’t eat it, drink it, shoot it, or trade with it, it’s not going to be useful to them.  Fortunately, you’re thinking ahead, and planning, instead of reacting.

Be sure to make plenty of holes, and keep them fairly small.  When you are done poking holes in the bottom of the filter container, it should resemble a shower head.  If you are using a trash can for your water filtration, be sure that you poke holes in the lowest points of the bottom, otherwise you’ll collect water there that you can’t get to.

You’ll want to place the filter container where you plan to keep it.  Once the filter is made, it will be far too heavy to lift without equipment, or even move easily.  Place the filter up high enough to slide the storage container under it.

Once you’ve got plenty of holes punched in the filter, you’ll need to create some sort of screen to keep the sand from pouring out the holes.  You can use cloth in the bottom, the advantage is that the cloth will also act as a filter.  You can take an old shirt and lay it in the bottom of the filter container.  If you’re using a t-shirt, cut the seams and remove the sleeves so that you have two pieces. This will allow you to cover a larger area of the bottom of the filter with the cloth.  A bed sheet can be cut or torn, and works great.

If you don’t have any cloth, you can use gravel and pebbles.  Just be sure that the gravel or pebble are bigger than the holes you’ve punched in the filter container, so they don’t drop out.  This screening material is just to keep your filter material in the filter container.  It doesn’t need to be anything fancy.  If you’re using gravel or pebbles as your screen, you’ll want about a 2 inch layer of the material at the bottom of the filter.

Now pour a layer of sand over the screen material.  You can find sand all over the country.  If you live near the coast, you’ll have beaches.  Anywhere else, you’ll want to raid a construction site where they are mixing concrete, or if you know where to find one, a concrete mixing plant.  Every larger city should have several.

The sand needs to be clean, you don’t want it if it’s been mixed with anything else.  For a trashcan filter, you’ll want to pour about a three inch layer of sand in the bottom.  Smooth out the layer of sand, then add a layer of charcoal, also about three inches deep.

You will continue to add layers of sand and charcoal until you have the filter almost full.  You’ll want to leave a few inches at the top of the filter, so that when you pour water onto it, the water doesn’t over flow the filter.  A good solid filter won’t allow water to pass easily through it, so the water will stand on top at first, before it soaks into the filter.

Do not compact the sand or charcoal!  You need airspace in the filter for the water to run through.  When you add your first batch of water, the filter material may settle, that’s ok.  Between adding water, and its own weight, the sand and charcoal will compact on its own.

Make sure the filter container is above the storage container, and pour your water into the filter.  It will take quite a while for the water to percolate through the filter.  The longer it takes the better the filter.