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I realize that there has been a bit of talk already about water purification but I found this blog and wanted to share this with you. I'll paste it in and also the link if anyone is interested. There's a lot of good stuff there, just like here, I figure we need all the help we can get.
WATER PURIFICATION. This subject is a product jungle, with advertisers threatening all kinds of deadly disease if you fail to buy their wonderful gadgets: Filters that cost hundreds and constantly need replacing. The best systems are WATER DISTILLERS, which collect the evaporated droplets of water, free of the contaminants which do not evaporate, but leave the contaminants which do evaporate (chemicals, fluoride, etc.) They cost between $600 - $1100. They also use huge amounts of electricity (~700 watts), are slow (12 hours per gallon), and require constant cleaning. To get the remaining contaminants out, you need a REVERSE OSMOSIS FILTER. These are as expensive as the distillers, and need constant replacement of filters, which are also expensive. Obviously neither of these fill the bill for practical survival.
A Cheap Solution: Stick 3 coffee filters over the base of a plastic planter/flower pot (with holes at the base); put a second pot over this to hold the filters in place. Turn topside-up, fill with water & let it trickle through into a pitcher. This will eliminate the greater part of physical contaminants, even microscopic ones, and it's cheap. Then boil the filtered water 7 to 15 minutes to kill off any remaining organisms, if necessary. For long term water storage, add 16 drops of bleach - "sodium hypochlorite" - type (such as "Clorox") - per gallon of water. Water thus treated should be good for 1 year or more. (The bottle must remain sealed).
WATER PURIFICATION. This subject is a product jungle, with advertisers threatening all kinds of deadly disease if you fail to buy their wonderful gadgets: Filters that cost hundreds and constantly need replacing. The best systems are WATER DISTILLERS, which collect the evaporated droplets of water, free of the contaminants which do not evaporate, but leave the contaminants which do evaporate (chemicals, fluoride, etc.) They cost between $600 - $1100. They also use huge amounts of electricity (~700 watts), are slow (12 hours per gallon), and require constant cleaning. To get the remaining contaminants out, you need a REVERSE OSMOSIS FILTER. These are as expensive as the distillers, and need constant replacement of filters, which are also expensive. Obviously neither of these fill the bill for practical survival.
A Cheap Solution: Stick 3 coffee filters over the base of a plastic planter/flower pot (with holes at the base); put a second pot over this to hold the filters in place. Turn topside-up, fill with water & let it trickle through into a pitcher. This will eliminate the greater part of physical contaminants, even microscopic ones, and it's cheap. Then boil the filtered water 7 to 15 minutes to kill off any remaining organisms, if necessary. For long term water storage, add 16 drops of bleach - "sodium hypochlorite" - type (such as "Clorox") - per gallon of water. Water thus treated should be good for 1 year or more. (The bottle must remain sealed).
