Water Purification

A person can go a long time without food but can only go only a few days or less without water. In a survival situation, finding water and making it safe to drink should be one of your top priorities.

There are commercially available water filters that you can carry with you on hiking and camping trips. There are also Iodine Tincture water purification tablets available to treat unsafe water.

The filters and tablets do get rid of most harmful bacteria and cysts, but you also want to make sure your water source is free of man-made chemicals and pollutants. Don't collect water from near roads or downstream from mine sites, factories, cities and towns, or any human habitation. Don't collect water that has went through agricultural areas because they may contain fertilizers and/or pesticides.

There are other ways to filter water such as using a cone of birch bark. Fill the cone with charcoal, sand, and grasses and run water through it. You will need to make sure the cone is tied with some kind of cordage for it not to open it up. There should be just a small opening at the bottom.

Using a solar still will get you the most pure form of water that you can get. Instead of going through the whole process here, I'll give you a link to someone who has already written the steps out (link).

Another way of treating water is to boil it. Boiling kills off the bacteria and virii that's in the water. If you don't have a container that can be placed on a fire, you may be able to use stones that are heated up by the fire and drop them into your container. This works well for Nalgene Lexan wide-mouth bottles. Keep adding small rocks until your water starts to boil. By the time it takes the water to boil, all pathogens will be killed. If you are at very high elevations, you may want the water to boil for a minute longer.