Purifying water

[eleyah]

Yup... the charcoal does the trick. May not remove microbes. Boil the water, then put it through the filter to remove the particulate matter. What do you think?

That was my thought... maybe using a gallon milk jug would be better and could separate the different layers with coffee filters or cheesecloth. You also would have to pour the water in slowly. Just tossing around some economical ways to filter small amounts of water perpetually for drinking. Thanks for your input.

 

[Grafted In]

Here is an idea i had for a water filter using simple material yet in my mind should be effective . Take a 2 liter bottle and a funnel. fill bottle 1/2 full of play sand. Then add a 3" layer of activated charcoal. finally fill the rest of the way with pea gravel. You could make several of these rather inexpensively and store for later use.
When preparing to use them for filtering rain water you have collected or cistern water etc. drill a small hole in the cap of the 2 liter bottle. use a rubber band to secure a couple of coffee filters to the cap. then turn upside down and cut a hole in the bottom of the 2 liter bottle to pour the water through. Of course you would boil this water first and let it cool. add a purification tablet or small amount of bleach. I would guestimate that a filter like this would be good for at least 5 to 10 gallons. In my opinion.

I welcome any suggestions or critiques on this idea. God bless

You'd have to run tests on the media you choose. A few years ago there was a huge recall of bags if play sand. It was found to be contaminated with a toxic material. Silica is also a health hazard when breathed in.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Yikes... asbestos!

 

[eleyah]

Just curious, how did you choose on the location of your well? Was/which technology used to find it? Thanks!

Our old well was cast iron and the pumps kept plugging up due to a breech in the well case. We just used a local reputable well guy to drill the well and now have a six inch pvc well casing. I was present when they drilled the well and the guy commented that he could tell when drilling it by the stuff coming out... bedrock etc that this was a very desirable and was in his term a very good well. I also might add that i prayed over the whole process and asked God to bless it.


My thought was to place a hand pump on top of the well and use it to pump the water instead of an electrical pump

 

[Grafted In]

The problem is, in part, that man has concentrated chemicals, minerals and elements to the point that it's very difficult to find anything as it was natural. Hard to trust any source of anything anymore.
For example, remember several years ago when the Chinese government recalled several metric tons of lead because it was suspected to contain toys.

 

[Grafted In]

Activated Carbon, though more expensive, does a far better job.

 

[Grafted In]

Part of the problem is that you cannot really trust your source of purification products.

 

[eleyah]

In the meantime i have purchased several 5 gallon water containers from a local farm store and have filled them with our well water which first passed through a whole house filter, then a softener and finally a reverse osmosis filter. I just know that that will be good for the short term ... its the long run that i am trying to prepare for.

 

[MWood]

Activated Carbon, though more expensive, does a far better job.

Activated charcoal removes heavy metals, bad odors, and bad tastes, and little more.

Edit: It removes the Chlorine too.

 

[Fireinfolding]

I buy that fish aquarium activated charcaol and make my own air filters for an older model air purification system we have, it works great too, beats buying them already made

 

[Grafted In]

My post was not correct. Activated charcoal and activated carbon are the same. Seems I got slickered a few years back. The source oF my info told me activated carbon was made from the harder form of coal.
I am sorry for post bad info.

 

[eleyah]

Part of the problem is that you cannot really trust your source of purification products.

I realize that concern is there but i still think it may be a better option than sticking a lifestraw into a mud puddle and proceeding to drink. Also i have much faith in the power of praying over an endeavor and asking the Lord to bless it. Thanks for your input.

 

[Alithis]

charcoal filtering is the most useful for us to know i think .

activated charcoal is best but we cant make it ..it take a process and 1000 degrees c . apparently it oxygenates the charcoal powder or something like that making it far more effective .. but all it means is you can filter far more water through it in a shorter time .. normal charcoal powder under a sand filter does work just as well but slower and the filter must be changed more often -where possible ALWAYS BOIL WATER .. -if water is exposed to air for more than 48 hours .. ALWAYS BOIL WATER ..

do not filter boiling water .. the filter works best at 18 to 21 degrees c.(room temp)

 

[vinsight4u]

/

 

[BookishGirl]

I have heard that water should not be stored in old milk containers, because
milk jugs and such are too hard to get very clean.

Can anyone corroborate the truth in this? I have started to wash milk jugs to use for water storage, but I would like to know if this is unsafe.

 

[Fireinfolding]

Can anyone corroborate the truth in this? I have started to wash milk jugs to use for water storage, but I would like to know if this is unsafe.

It is rumored if you do a google search its best not to use them for drinking water, you could check with FEMA because folks are saying that FEMA reccomends that you dont use those either.

Not that you cannot use them for other things, you could label them for flushing water.

I heard milk jugs (because of how thin they are) dont last, and this from others experiences which tell how they began to leak, whether they dissinigrate or not I dont know.

For our drinking, we use Simply Apple containers, they are a smooth and thick plastic, easy to clean, and have previously contained juice instead of milk.

 

[Fireinfolding]

Here you go, http://www.ready.gov/water

Look under the title

PREPARING YOUR OWN CONTAINERS OF WATER

It says dont use those.

I get lazy sometimes and dont fetch links

 

[BookishGirl]

Here you go, http://www.ready.gov/water

Look under the title

PREPARING YOUR OWN CONTAINERS OF WATER

It says dont use those.

I get lazy sometimes and dont fetch links

Thank you.

 

[Fireinfolding]

You're welcome

 

[William67]

We have recently had a new well dug and if the power went out could i just rig a mechanical pump up and still get water? Would the ground water become tainted after an emp event?

An EMP would not contaminate the well. Nuclear fallout would, but just an EMP wouldn't. But if a foreign power or terrorist group did manage to detonate a nuclear device at a high altitude, the fallout would be scattered over a very wide area as most of it would be caught in the jet stream. A Mass Coronal Ejection which can also cause an EMP, would leave no fallout.

Also, most of the material from a nuclear detonation has a short half-life. Within a few months, most of the radiation would have dissipated. Its only the long term material, which can have a half-life measured in thousands of years, which is the danger.