Water Purification (Info)

Last weekend, Ellie and I made plans to go out and practice purifying water, however Saturday morning brought, yet another snow storm. This impeded our ability to practice purification so we have rescheduled for this coming Saturday. Over the past week, I gathered information on several different methods that we will possibly use to purify water.

The first thing we will do is dig a hole 2-4 feet from a creek and gather the water that appears at the bottom. This water is generally pretty clean, however we will use further steps to ensure that it is safe to drink.

One thing we will do to further the purification is boil the water for 5 to 10 minutes to kill off all living organisms and some chemicals. This method will definitely be the easiest and most reliable. The only problem I see us facing is not being able to make a hot enough fire to boil the water enough.

The second option is a filter made from a cone of birch bark. This cone is then filled with layers of sand, charcoal, grasses and other sediments. The charcoal serves to remove chemical impurities, and the other layers help to remove small particles and sometimes even bacteria. I think this will be one of the most challenging methods we attempt because it is fragile and intricate. 

This picture (found on google images) is a completed birch bark filter.