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Survival Water Filter With a Used Water Bottle
April 4, 2013
When you are out in a remote area trying to survive, one of the most important things that you need to do is stay hydrated. The signs of dehydration are headache, extra tiredness, and clumsiness. Dry or windy conditions will steal extra water from your body through your skin, nose, and mouth.
It is always wise to carry water with you when you are out in remote locations. However, you will eventually run out of water. A water filter is something that most hikers take with them if they are on an overnight trip. There are many rivers and streams in most mountainous areas that hikers count on to replenish their water supply.
If you are only planning on hiking or hunting for a part of a day you probably would not bother packing a water filter, as you can carry enough water to stay hydrated. But what happens if you get lost or injured and you have to spend several days in a wilderness area? How will you find clean water to drink? Here is a skill you should know in order to stay alive.
The easiest way to get water is to find a river, stream, or pool. But the water is usually not safe to drink without getting sick. What you can do is construct a simple but effective water filter. All you need to have with you is a plastic water bottle and a small knife.
To make the water filter, cut the bottom off of a water bottle. With the neck of the bottle pointed down begin filing the bottle with the follow items.
The first item you want to put into your bottle is charcoal. 1-2 inches in the neck of the bottle with the largest chunks in first so you can remove the cap and the pieces at the bottom will not fall out. The best source of charcoal is from a fire or an old tree hit by lightning.
Then find some sand, such as from a stream bed and add that on top of the charcoal. About one to two inches of it is fine. Then place small rocks on top of the sand to fill the bottle to the top. Place some cloth over the top to filter out any large chunks that might be in the water. Use what ever you have available. This is not critical, but a good first step in cleaning the water.
Remove the bottle cap and start pouring water through your new filter. It will take quite a bit of water before it will start coming out clear. This is a normal procedure that you should do with any new carbon based filter. After running a few gallons through it the water will be surprisingly clean. The charcoal is going to filter out virtually all of the impurities out of your water.
If you can, boiling water is the surest way to kill any harmful things in your water, but you may not always have a metal container to do that in.
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