How To Treat Water During An Emergency Survival Situation: A Guide
Knowing how to treat water is an essential survival skill. What you need most in an emergency situation is clean, drinkable water. You can survive without almost anything, but you need water if you want to survive for more than three days. All water that you find out there in the wilderness might not be clean enough for you to drink, so you must have a few water treatment options up your sleeve.
How To Treat Water During An Emergency
Pump Filters
Pump filters are a great option if you don’t have a lot of water at your disposal and have to make do with water collected from puddles. This is because pump filters can extract water from the shallowest of puddles. It typically consists of a small unit that goes into the water and a hose and main filtration unit that fills up with clean water. All you have to do is sink the unit in the water, and start pumping. Pumping the water can require hard manual labor, depending on the type and quality of the pump you have, but otherwise, this is a pretty convenient tool to have around. Seal the clean water up, and let the filter parts dry out before packing that up too.
Bottle Filters
Bottle filters can be your best friend if you’re always on the go and have frequent access to bodies of water. The bottle filter is simply a water bottle with a water filter attached to the cap. It needs no additional time and effort; the water is filtered as it goes from the bottle into your mouth. It could, however, become a nuisance when you have to carry a heavy water bottle around.
Gravity Filters
Let nature do its job. Gravity filters – named so because they don’t require any external pumps and pressure to push water through, use the force of gravity to effectively filter water. A gravity filter has reservoirs attached to the ends of a hose, where one reservoir is on top of the other. As the water trickles down into the bottom reservoir, you will see that it is spotless and pure. You will have to fill the reservoir, seal it, and hang it up on a tree branch, but that’s all you have to do. The entire process will take up to half an hour. One drawback with gravity filters is that it needs a large enough body of water to work effectively, like a lake or stream, and not a mere puddle.
Chemicals
The use of chemicals can be one of the easiest and most convenient ways to purify water in an emergency situation. Collect water in a container, put a purification tablet into the water, and wait for it to work its magic. However, the chemicals take their time, and you might not always have the luxury of time in an emergency. Chemicals like purification tablets can take anywhere from 30 minutes to up to 4 hours to work, depending on the type and amount of water you’re treating. Thus, though convenient, it is not always the quickest. It is best to keep chemicals as a back-up option, to be used when other methods of filtering are not available.
Boiling
Boiling is the most old-school but sure-shot way of filtering and purifying water. However, it might not be the most convenient option as you need access to fire and a pot, which might not always be available in an emergency situation. It can also be pretty time-consuming, depending on the amount of water required, as the water needs to come to a boil and then cool down before it is drinkable. If you have access to essential equipment and don’t need large amounts of water, boiling can be a good option.
Why You Should Know How To Treat Water If A Disaster Strikes
Do you know how to treat water if the SHTF or some other emergency survival situation kicks off? Well, if you haven’t given how you will get water, much thought you should. Because there will be times when clean and safe drinking water will not be readily available to everyone. You can’t go without water for too long, so if something happens, how will you get water to drink?
During a natural disaster or catastrophic event, you might find a viable water supply. However, how do you know the water is safe to drink? You can never know for sure, that’s why you must know how to treat water.
What Could Happen To Your Water During An Emergency Situation
If and when disaster strikes, you could end up with no water leaving you thirsty, dehydrated, and near death. Many events could result in the total collapse of local governments. Activities such as hurricanes, flooding, and water pipe breakages, could result in an emergency situation where you do not have clean water to drink. If the regular water service to your home is interrupted, you will have to look for other ways to get water for:
- Cooking
- Drinking
- Washing
If you are a prepper or survivalist, you likely have some bottled water stored and stashed away, but this is not a long term solution. Or maybe you have water tanks hidden away on your property or a system in place to collect rainwater.
Where To Look For Other Sources Of Water
In the event of an emergency when you need water, some places you could look include:
- Pools
- Lakes
- Rivers and
- Streams
If you receive advanced warnings of a pending disaster or emergency, use this time to get prepared. First, fill as many containers as you can with clean water. Start with your bathtubs, sinks, pots, and any other containers that can hold water without leaking. Water can even be extracted from your hot water tanks if it comes to that.
Nearby lakes and rivers can be excellent water sources if they are not yet contaminated. If these sources have already been polluted, the water will have to be filtered before it is usable — more about water filter later. Local swimming pools are another excellent source of water.
But it is essential for me to note and you to remember the best water sources are flowing and not stagnant. Avoid water that is dark in color or that has a questionable odor unless you are skilled and adept at purifying contaminated water.
Final Thoughts
All these options are great at treating and filtering water. Always keep two or more water treatment options in your bug out bag, and be ready to treat water according to the situation that you’re in.
