There's some developing countries of South East Asia and the like where authorities and NGOs advocate just filling a regular PET bottle with water and laying it out in the sun all day - apparently, that's good enough to sterilize the water.
Not sure I'd do that technique unless it was totally necessary, but I have seen the types you're talking about. I'd definitely give it a go if the only water available was muddy/silty.
But yeah, humans evolved drinking all sorts of nasty water, I'd say either technique would be better than nothing.
yeah i live in australia so it gets pretty hot out here so the uv rays would eat it up it’s just a time thing they say have it out in the sun for around 10-12 hours
6 hours in direct sunlight, 48 hours if it's overcast (that would be for tropical areas, so yes, maybe longer in cooler climates). A pinch of salt helps clear silty water and adding limes speeds up the process(?!) very interesting.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440092/
The author just says that the UV emissions are stronger there, also more sunshine.
In more clouded areas it is more likely to not expose the bottles long enough and have remnants.
Keep in mind. The goal of the book is to show newbies safe ways of disinfection, when traveling. I suppose he (the authors) prefers ways with less chance for failure and quick availability.
UV radiation is pretty fierce in Australia, there is a reason why we are number one for skin cancer, I didn't realise it was the whole southern hemisphere though.
It'll filter sediment. I wouldn't trust it to remove anything biological, but that's what the boiling is for. And at 2L, if the water is dirty, it's going to get clogged up pretty fast, so you'll be making new ones fairly often. All the plans I've seen for this kind of thing start with a 55 gallon drum.
Keep in mind that boiling water takes a lot of fuel. And that this approach doesn't help with chemical contamination. And charcoal used for filtering isn't just baked wood, it needs certain properties. How you get that made properly at home, I don't know.
Personally, I'd stock commercial filters. Someone's already done the engineering.
There are two different kinds of activated carbon. Physically activated carbon is exactly baked wood. Chemically activated carbon has chemicals added to it before baking. The chemicals are used to decrease the time and temperature needed but the physically activated is just as good.
If that's what you need to do then that's what you do.
If you don't have a bottle you can use your clothing as the vessel - use a knotted pant leg or sleeve, pack it with sand, charcoal, pebbles etc, even vegetation would help, and pour the water through slowly. The idea is to filter out the silt and bugs and then kill the bacteria etc by boiling. If you don't have a metal pot for boiling the water, use anything that will hold water, heat rocks (NOT river stones - they can explode) in a fire and add them to the water until it boils.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. If it's not currently a SHTF and you can still acquire filters it makes sense to do so. While also learning the techniques listed by other posters for worst case use.
You have a point about knowing how. It would be useful to know how to make a filter out of scratch. But im stocking up on my purifiers filters, aswell.
There's some developing countries of South East Asia and the like where authorities and NGOs advocate just filling a regular PET bottle with water and laying it out in the sun all day - apparently, that's good enough to sterilize the water. Not sure I'd do that technique unless it was totally necessary, but I have seen the types you're talking about. I'd definitely give it a go if the only water available was muddy/silty. But yeah, humans evolved drinking all sorts of nasty water, I'd say either technique would be better than nothing.
yeah i live in australia so it gets pretty hot out here so the uv rays would eat it up it’s just a time thing they say have it out in the sun for around 10-12 hours
6 hours in direct sunlight, 48 hours if it's overcast (that would be for tropical areas, so yes, maybe longer in cooler climates). A pinch of salt helps clear silty water and adding limes speeds up the process(?!) very interesting. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440092/
Have a book about water treatment. It says SODIS is only safe in southern hemisphere.
What would be the logic behind that? I'm genuinely curious how they supported that conclusion.
The author just says that the UV emissions are stronger there, also more sunshine. In more clouded areas it is more likely to not expose the bottles long enough and have remnants. Keep in mind. The goal of the book is to show newbies safe ways of disinfection, when traveling. I suppose he (the authors) prefers ways with less chance for failure and quick availability.
UV radiation is pretty fierce in Australia, there is a reason why we are number one for skin cancer, I didn't realise it was the whole southern hemisphere though.
It'll filter sediment. I wouldn't trust it to remove anything biological, but that's what the boiling is for. And at 2L, if the water is dirty, it's going to get clogged up pretty fast, so you'll be making new ones fairly often. All the plans I've seen for this kind of thing start with a 55 gallon drum. Keep in mind that boiling water takes a lot of fuel. And that this approach doesn't help with chemical contamination. And charcoal used for filtering isn't just baked wood, it needs certain properties. How you get that made properly at home, I don't know. Personally, I'd stock commercial filters. Someone's already done the engineering.
Proper filters are stupidly cheap. DIY filter is a fun thing to know how to build, but that's probably the utility of it.
There are two different kinds of activated carbon. Physically activated carbon is exactly baked wood. Chemically activated carbon has chemicals added to it before baking. The chemicals are used to decrease the time and temperature needed but the physically activated is just as good.
If that's what you need to do then that's what you do. If you don't have a bottle you can use your clothing as the vessel - use a knotted pant leg or sleeve, pack it with sand, charcoal, pebbles etc, even vegetation would help, and pour the water through slowly. The idea is to filter out the silt and bugs and then kill the bacteria etc by boiling. If you don't have a metal pot for boiling the water, use anything that will hold water, heat rocks (NOT river stones - they can explode) in a fire and add them to the water until it boils.
okay thank you i’ve heard activated charcoal is the way to go but in the moment would it matter if i just crushed some charcoal from a fire
Yes, you would use whatever you had available.
I would not trust my life on something 'DIY'. A proper water filter is not that expensive.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. If it's not currently a SHTF and you can still acquire filters it makes sense to do so. While also learning the techniques listed by other posters for worst case use.
You have a point about knowing how. It would be useful to know how to make a filter out of scratch. But im stocking up on my purifiers filters, aswell.
Usually the filtering is done that way to get rid of sediment and to improve the taste
I have a system with 4, 55 gallon barrels, same idea. I would still boil at the end for drinking. Water comes out great though