Survival Water Question

[limbs]

This is more of a general survival idea and question. Someone told me they collected rain water to drink. This is what they did: got a big drum, bottom layer sand, next layer charcoal, next layer sand and top layer pebbles. Then the watter was drained through all of that to drink. Can you really make rain water safe to drink that way?

 

[IndianaHiker]

After reading this article and many others I would say that the method listed above would be highly effective. I really don't think that the top layers of pebbles is needed nor is the charcoal. Many suggest just using the sand. They also caution that the water that stays above the sand will need to be removed sometimes it is biologically active.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Don't know why not. Rainwater is generally pretty clean. I'd probably put a few drops of chlorine dioxide (or dilute bleach) in it just to be on the safe side. That's more or less what friends of mine that live out in the country and use a cistern to catch rainwater do.

You might get a biofilm growing on the pebbles and stuff in the drum after a while. it would probably be a good idea to clean it periodically.

Seems like a lot of work to me, unless you're out in the

 

[outdoorchick]

I think this would certainly make drinkable rain water and may even be a little overkill, but I guess you can never be too safe.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Oops!! That'll teach me to hit post too quickly.

I was saying that it seems like a lot of trouble to go to unless you don't have a well or the well water is very hard.

 

[Camoguy]

Sounds good to me. We once had a flood that flooded out our water treatment plant and they got the water treated but it was so muddy we didn't want to drink it. So I ran it through a coffee filter to get the mud out. It did fine but honestly, I was thinking about treating it like I do when I'm out.

 

[oldmangunner]

Well, I suppose if 2012 really does happen and we all need to start drinking rain water we know what to do. Maybe I should add a drum and sand to my survival shopping list!

 

[Michael]

In general, rain water is about the safest stuff in the world to drink. Bacteria and viruses don't exactly evaporate, nor do amoeba or parasites. Salts are also absent from rain water. If your area has lots of sulfur vents, you might get extremely dilute sulfuric acid.

When collecting rain water to drink, I'd be more concerned about introducing bacteria to standing water than I would be about the water itself. You need to be more careful if you plan to store it for any length of time, but you can chug rain water all day long and be fine in most places in the world.

So if you're in a part of the world without huge spills of volatile chemicals, you probably don't need to worry about rain water. I mean, evaporation and subsequent condensation is a method for cleaning water. Rain is just a big version of a solar still.

 

[Grandpa]

I agree that the rainwater is safer than standing water. If you are going to collect it, get it right after the rain and keep the barrel dry and sanitized. However, out here, rain is usually preceded by wind so there may be dust particulates in the water to be settled or filtered out.

 

[oldsarge]

The company I work for has a filtration branch, sometimes I get to prep filter units for jobs. There are all kinds of different media used in filtration to accomplish filtering out different substances. The method you described would work out great in filtering rain water.

 

[dinosaur]

Limbs, It looks like your "survival" situation has a plethora of tools and materials atypical of the average. With all of that, I'd just build a still.

 

[ryoga-kun]

Have you built a still that generates enough water to be worth the trouble? I haven't been able to do so. If someone can, I'd like to know how.

 

[DThewanderer]

Me too. I am still stuck on what I collect the water in. I have empty oil drums I could modify and clean. Would that work or is there too much chance of contamination?

 

[Michael]

Have you built a still that generates enough water to be worth the trouble? I haven't been able to do so. If someone can, I'd like to know how.

Look up solar stills. They pull water from plants, detoxify river water, and even work for desalination. They're very simple and very safe, even if it's a pain in the bottom to dig a big hole in the ground. Depending on where you are, you may need to dig several of them per person.

 

[ryoga-kun]

Look up solar stills. They pull water from plants, detoxify river water, and even work for desalination. They're very simple and very safe, even if it's a pain in the bottom to dig a big hole in the ground. Depending on where you are, you may need to dig several of them per person.

Yeah I tried the living daylights out of it. Doesn't yield enough to be worth the trouble. I know all about digging. It just doesn't generate enough water and I only have so many cups.