Solar Stills operate on the same principles that produce rainfall. The sun is allowed into and trapped in the Still. The high temperatures produced destroy all pathogens. The water evaporates, and in this process, only pure water vapor rises in the Still, only to condense
My desert survival kit: Pocketknife Clear plastic sheet, folded into pocket size (pocket determines size) Long string.
Directions: 1 pick location with things growing (indicates water below ground) 2 cut small twigs, leaves, etc. & a couple of thin branches. 3 cut a small piece of the plastic sheet and make a 'bowl' over a scaffold of bent twigs 4 dig a small hole (branches make digging sticks) 5 set bowl in bottom of hole 6 place greens/vegetation around bowl and in hole 7 cover top with clear plastic sheet 8 place rocks on edges of plastic sheet 9 place one small rock on top of plastic, located directly over bowl beneath 10 wait
sun's heat will evaporate moisture from vegetation
condensate drips down sheet to lowest part/ below rock
condensate drips into bowl
Repeat as needed.
Note: Same idea works on brackish or sea water
Warning! Never scoop out any cactus and ingest sap. You can cut up cactus to place in hole, then drink condensate.
Nuther solar still: a black plastic garbage bag, placed over a living branch of a tree for the day. Change trees every day, so you don't damage a tree too much.
Idea that has worked for a friend: Pipe (pvc ok, 4 to 6 inches) about 1 1/2 feet long. A layer of muslin A layer of some very fine material A layer of sand A thick layer of REAL charcoal -- NOT charcoal briquettes! Another layer of sand and all the other stuff above in the opposite direction.
Pour the water into the pipe at the top, where you have left a bit of a depression in the muslin to "hold" the water as you pour it. Change the charcoal fairly often.
For charcoal: Cook wood in a closed container until it's black. It won't burn in the container because it doesn't have enough oxygen, and a CLOSED container will allow steam & such out without letting too much oxygen in. I saw a show where they were making huge batches of it the old-fashioned way -- it was really great!
It takes a matter of hours for the wood to become completely black. That carbonization is what "catches" the particulates in the water.
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, ... he is very apt to spread discontent ..." - H.L. Mencken
Complete Water Purification usually requires two setps , removal of chemical contaminants , and removal of biological contaminants.
Biology Vs Chemistry
Biologically contaminated water is water that contains micro-organisms such as Giardia (a common micro-organism that, if not killed, leads to intestinal disorders), bacteria, or viruses that can lead to infections.
Toxic water sources contain chemical contamination from pesticide runoffs, mine tailings, and so on.
The most commonly used methods are :
Boiling Note that Boiling the water ONLY works to kill the biologicals , chemical impurities have to be removed in other ways.
Chemical Treatment Note that Chemical Treatment , works on the biologicals , chemical imputiries have to be removed in other ways.
Filtration. There are a number of devices on the market that filter out microorganisms. A water filter pumps water through a microscopic filter that is rated for a certain-size organism. http://www.osmonics.com/products/Page697.htm
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, ... he is very apt to spread discontent ..." - H.L. Mencken
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, ... he is very apt to spread discontent ..." - H.L. Mencken
People can last weeks without food before succumbing to starvation.
Water loss can cause death within days.
For those with a fixed location: Rain water, even if contaminated can be captured and filtered into a cistern.
For those on the go "bugging out etc."
Dew can be captured with sheet plastic under a pile of rocks.
Black rocks get hotter during the day, and also give off more heat at night.
In the desert: find shrubs growing in a wash (dry streambed) dig there until you find damp sand. The sand can be squeezed in a shirt to press out some water.
Solar distillation is still my top low tech recommend.
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, ... he is very apt to spread discontent ..." - H.L. Mencken
SYDNEY, Australia, February 2, 2000 (ENS) - Filtered coffee can remove from 78 to 90 percent of dissolved heavy metals such as lead and copper from tap water, providing coffee lovers with a safer, healthier drink, an international scientific team has found.
Toxic metals like copper and lead get into drinking water from storage tanks, copper pipes and solder, and from natural sources, says Dr. Mike McLaughlin who works with the Land and Water division of the Australian government research arm, Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
The softer the water, the higher the level of heavy metals in solution is likely to be.
Both copper and lead have long term toxic effects on humans, and lead is strongly linked to intellectual impairment, especially in infants and young children.
But coffee grounds have a remarkable ability to mop up the heavy metal atoms, research by the Australian, Chilean and U.S. scientists shows.
Quote:
As a result of Dr. McLaughlin's question, the researchers decided to run an experiment to find out exactly how much heavy metal does survive the coffee-brewing process, and how much is trapped in the grounds.
To their surprise, they found that normal filtered coffee removed 78 to 90 percent of copper and lead from the water, using three different commercial brands of coffee.
"The reason is that coffee grounds have uncharged or negatively charged molecules in them, whereas dissolved heavy metals are positively charged. As a result, the heavy metal ions bind strongly to the coffee," explains Dr. McLaughlin.
The deeper the bed of coffee in the drip-maker, the more effective the removal of heavy metals. We consider that the main factor influencing the extent of metal removal is contact time, the scientists found.
Dr. McLaughlin says that it is highly likely the process also removes other heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and zinc from drinking water, although this remains to be tested.
"It is also possible tea-bags and tea leaves may work in the same way, but not as well as coffee," he says.
The researchers say the results of their study are important for formulating reliable risk assessment models for drinking water standards which protect the health of the public.
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, ... he is very apt to spread discontent ..." - H.L. Mencken
So, I'm thinking about getting a berkey water filter. Should I get the berkey light, or the big berkey. I'm just going to use it in my home for now. Also, is this a good price? They have 5% off for Alex Jones listeners which is kinda cool. www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com
Joined: Nov 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 1,836 Location: Northeast USA
Re: Drink « Reply #8 on Nov 11, 2008, 2:26pm »
The Berky Light is good because you can see the level of the water wheras the Big Berky you cant unless you open up the top portion.
Plus the Big Berkey has the ceramic sterasyl filters wheras the Berky light ships with the carbon block style filters which are superior in my opinion. But..I have well water and dont have to worry about flouride in it.
They wont filter out flouride unless you get the special elements for it.
The Ecolo-Blue filter takes water right out of the air and produces up to 7 gallons a day.
No flouride there.
Its expensive...but if you buy bottled water it pays for itself pretty quick.
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